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The Bible suggests that those who divorce and remarry should be put to death.
圣經里建議那些離婚之后又再婚的人，應該被處以死刑。
Why? Well because the New Testament defines divorce as adultery; the Old Testament prescribes death for adultery.
為什么？因為根據新約，離婚則視為"奸淫"，而舊約里規定了"奸淫"者要處以死刑。
Again, this doesn't sound very good.
同樣，聽起來也不是那么舒服。
The Bible suggests that slavery is morally acceptable.
圣經里認為奴隸制是符合倫理道德的。
People don't believe me when I tell them this.
我跟別人說起這些來，他們甚至不相信這真是出自圣經。
And I say, "Okay, I'll read to you."
好，我來給你讀一下：
This is from Leviticus 25:44-46: You may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are round about you.
利未記25：44-46："至于你的奴仆、婢女，可以從你四周的國中買。
You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their families that are with you, who have been born in your land; and they may be your property.
并且那寄居在你們中間的外人和他們的家屬，在你們地上所生的，你們也可以從中買人，他們要做你們的產業。
You may bequeath them to your sons after you, to inherit as a possession forever.
你們要將他們遺留給你們的子孫為產業，要永遠從他們中間揀出奴仆。"
Who says this, according to the Bible?
這些話是誰說的？根據圣經的記載。
God says that, according to the Bible.
這是上帝的話。
And yet, we have a hard time imagining how an all-good, all-loving God could condone an institution like slavery.
我們怎么能想象，擁有至善大愛的上帝，竟然可以容忍像奴隸制這樣的制度。
And it's not just the Old Testament, either.
而且不只是圣經舊約。
St. Paul says in Ephesians, "Slaves be obedient to your earthly masters, in fear and trembling, in singleness of heart as you obey Christ."
圣保羅在新約的以非所書中說："你們做仆人的，要懼怕戰兢，用誠實的心聽從你們肉身的主人，好像聽從基督一般。"
Again, you look at this and say, "Well, what's a believer to do?"
看到這里，你可能要問："虔誠的信徒該怎么做？"
One thing I think you can do is to say maybe the Bible is wrong about certain things.
我的看法是，你可以承認，也許在某些事情上，圣經里的文字并非永遠正確無誤。
This does not mean that God is wrong.
這并不意味著我們說上帝是錯的。
Rather, maybe human beings have been wrong in discerning God's word.
更有可能是人把上帝的言語理解錯了。
After all, we should not confuse complete faith in God with complete faith in our ability to discern God's voice.
畢竟，對上帝全心全意的信仰，和對我們人類自己理解上帝意旨的能力的自信，是不能混為一談的。
And, in fact, any honest look at history should tell us that we should be wary of people who are too certain that they speak directly for God.
事實上，我們只要用客觀的態度回望歷史，就會發現那些堅稱自己是上帝意旨直接傳達者的人，往往都值得我們高度警惕。
But, some people want to say, "No no no, the Bible is God's word.
有人也許要說："不不不，圣經是上帝的言語。
The Bible is infallible.
圣經一貫正確。
The Bible contains no error."
天衣無縫，無懈可擊。"
And, I say, "The Bible contains no error? What are you going to do with those slavery passages?"
而我要說："圣經真的沒有謬誤嗎？那些支持奴隸制的段落你怎么看？"
And you know what the people say to me? They say, "John, you are pulling those passages out of context.
你猜他們怎么回答我？他們說："約翰啊，你怎么說是在斷章取義，
You can't just take passages out of the Bible and quote them as if they mean the same thing today as they did for the people at the time.
你怎么能離開上下文，單獨引用某一段圣經，然后把這段本來只適用于古代的話，硬是和現在這個時代作對比。
You can't just pull the passages out of context!"
你這分明就是斷章取義嘛。"
And I say, "Well, wait a second! If it's not okay to do that with the slavery passages, why is it okay to do that with the homosexual passages?"
等一下，如果贊同奴隸制的段落我們不能這么來理解的話，為什么反對同性戀的段落就可以這么做呢？
Because, after all, the context surrounding same-sex relations was very different in Biblical times than it is during our own day.
畢竟，對于同性關系來說，圣經時代的環境背景和現在的環境背景截然不同。
