評論
打印
"We can't call ourselves Christians and then deny safety to our friends when the showdown comes," she contended, "that isn't what God teaches."
她堅持說：“我們自稱基督徒，而在關鍵時刻卻不讓朋友們來避難，上帝不是這樣教導我們的。”
"That's nothing but religious pap," he retorted with a degree of anger. "God created the family as the basic unit of society," he reasoned. "That should make it plain that a man's primary Christian duty is to protect his family."
他生氣地反駁說：“那只是毫無意義的宗教說教。” “上帝創造了家庭這個基本的社會單位，”他據理力爭，“也就是說，保護他的家人是每個男人作為基督徒的首要責任。”
"But don't you see?" she protested, "we must prepare to purify ourselves... to rise above this 'mine' thinking and be as God's own son, who said, 'love thy neighbor.'"
“但是你沒有看見嗎？”她抗議道，“我們必須要凈化自己……超越這個‘我’的境界而像上帝之子般行事,他教導我們要‘愛汝鄰居’。”
"No," he replied, "I can't buy that. Then, after a moment's thought while he groped for the words to make her understand the truth which burned in the core of his soul, "It is my family I must save, no one more. You. These kids. Our friends are like the people of Noah's time: he warned them of the coming flood when he built the ark on God's command. He was ridiculed and scoffed at, just as we have been ridiculed. No," and here his voice took on a new sad sureness, "it is meant that if they don't prepare, they die. I see no need for further argument."
“不。”他回答說，“我不信那個。”隨后一會兒，他絞盡腦汁地尋找說辭，好讓她明白他烙印在靈魂深處的真理。“我必須要保護我的家人，你和這些孩子，其他人一概不管。我們的朋友就像諾亞時代的人：諾亞按照神的命令建好了諾亞方舟，警告別人洪水即將到來，卻受到譏諷和嘲笑，就像我們曾受到嘲笑那樣。所以不行，”這時他的語氣堅定，又顯得悲哀，“這就意味著， 如果他們不作準備，他們就得死。我認為無需繼續爭論。”
With seven minutes left, the first knock rang the shelter door. "Let us in! For God's sake."
還剩七分鐘時，避難所外首次傳來敲門聲。“讓我們進去！看在上帝的份上! ”
