On September 10, the morning of my seventh birthday, I came downstairs to the kitchen, where my mother was washing the dishes and my father was reading the paper or something, and I sort of presented myself to them in the doorway, and they said, "Hey, happy birthday!" And I said, "I'm seven." And my father smiled and said, "Well, you know what that means, don't you?" And I said, "Yeah, that I'm going to have a party and a cake and get a lot of presents?" And my dad said, "Well, yes. But more importantly, being seven means that you've reached the age of reason, and you're now capable of committing any and all sins against God and man."
9月10日,在我7岁生日的早晨, 我下楼去厨房,看见我母亲在洗碗 我父亲在看报纸 当他们发现我出现在厨房门口的时候,他们祝贺我说: “嘿,生日快乐。”我回答,“我7岁了” 我父亲微笑着对我说: “你知道那代表什么,对吧?” 我回答说:“当然,代表我会有个生日宴会,生日蛋糕, 还会收到许多礼物。”我父亲说,"是的 但是,更重要的是,7岁意味着你已经到了理性的年龄了 现在你已经有能力犯下所有亵渎上帝和人类罪恶了。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
Now, I had heard this phrase, "age of reason," before. Sister Mary Kevin had been bandying it about my second-grade class at school. But when she said it, the phrase seemed all caught up in the excitement of preparations for our first communion and our first confession, and everybody knew that was really all about the white dress and the white veil. And anyway, I hadn't really paid all that much attention to that phrase, "age of reason." So, I said, "Yeah, yeah, age of reason. What does that mean again?" And my dad said, "Well, we believe, in the Catholic Church, that God knows that little kids don't know the difference between right and wrong, but when you're seven, you're old enough to know better. So, you've grown up and reached the age of reason, and now God will start keeping notes on you, and begin your permanent record."
我原来就听说过“理性的年龄”这种说法。 在我二年级的时候,玛丽凯文姐姐曾经随口和我提起过 但那只是在学校二年级的课堂上。并且当她提到这个词的时候 也都是因为我们都沉浸在为了我们第一次宗教告解与交流 做准备的兴奋之中。 而且大家都知道那只是意味着白色的礼服和面纱 无论如何,我真的没太在意"理性的年龄”的这种说法 所以我说,“好吧,理性的年龄,再告诉我一遍,那是什么意思?” 我父亲说,“我们信仰天主教 我们认为上帝知道小孩没有辨别是非的能力½ 但你到了七岁的时候,你已经有这种能力了。 你长大了,到了理性的年龄,现在, 上帝会开始记录你的行为,这个记录将会成为你永恒的档案。” (笑声)
(Laughter)
我说:“哦~~~等等,你的意思是:
And I said, "Oh ... Wait a minute. You mean all that time, up till today, all that time I was so good, God didn't notice it?" And my mom said, "Well, I noticed it."
在今天以前,我一直是个好孩子,但是上帝从来没有注意到?” 妈妈说:“啊,但我注意到了。”
(Laughter)
(笑声)
And I thought, "How could I not have known this before? How could it not have sunk in when they'd been telling me? All that being good and no real credit for it. And worst of all, how could I not have realized this very important information until the very day that it was basically useless to me?" So I said, "Well, Mom and Dad, what about Santa Claus? I mean, Santa Claus knows if you're naughty or nice, right?" And my dad said, "Yeah, but, honey, I think that's technically just between Thanksgiving and Christmas." And my mother said, "Oh, Bob, stop it. Let's just tell her. I mean, she's seven. Julie, there is no Santa Claus."
我想:“之前我怎么可能不知道这件事呢? 他们一直告诉我,我怎么没领悟到呢? 当了那么久的好孩子,但什么功劳也没有。 最糟的是,我竟然到了这条重要信息对我来说完全没有用的那天 才发现这个事实。” 我接着说:“爸爸妈妈,那圣诞老人呢? 我的意思是,圣诞老人知道你乖不乖,对吗?” 爸爸说:“是的,但宝贝, 我觉得那只限于感恩节和圣诞节之间。” 妈妈接着说:“得了吧,鲍勃,直接告诉他吧, 你看,她已经七岁了。朱莉,世界上没有圣诞老人。”
(Laughter)
(笑声)
Now, this was actually not that upsetting to me. My parents had this whole elaborate story about Santa Claus: how they had talked to Santa Claus himself and agreed that instead of Santa delivering our presents over the night of Christmas Eve, like he did for every other family who got to open their surprises first thing Christmas morning, our family would give Santa more time. Santa would come to our house while we were at nine o'clock high mass on Christmas morning, but only if all of us kids did not make a fuss. Which made me very suspicious. It was pretty obvious that it was really our parents giving us the presents. I mean, my dad had a very distinctive wrapping style, and my mother's handwriting was so close to Santa's.
其实,我并没有受到太大的打击。 我的父母曾精心编造过关于圣诞老人的故事: 他们是怎么与圣诞老人商量和决定 尽管圣诞老人都在平安夜 亲自给其他人送礼物 让他们能够在圣诞节当天早上打开礼物, 我们家会给圣诞老人多一点时间 让他在圣诞节早上九点,我们在弥撒的时候 来我们家送礼物,而且前提是我们小孩子没有制造任何麻烦。 这曾经使我感到十分可疑。 相当明显,其实是我们的父母在给我们礼物。 爸爸有一个非常独特的包装礼物风格, 而我母亲的笔迹是如此接近圣诞老人的。
(Laughter)
Plus, why would Santa save time by having to loop back to our house after he'd gone to everybody else's? There was only one obvious conclusion to reach from this mountain of evidence: our family was too strange and weird for even Santa Claus to come visit, and my poor parents were trying to protect us from the embarrassment, this humiliation of rejection by Santa, who was jolly -- but let's face it, he was also very judgmental. So to find out that there was no Santa Claus at all was actually sort of a relief.
况且,圣诞老人去遍其他人家里后 还要在绕回来到我们家,这样怎么算节省时间呢? 这一大堆证据之中,我得出了一个明显的结论: 我们家太奇怪了。 连圣诞老人都不想拜访 而我的父母只是想保护我们 不让我们受到代表欢乐的圣诞老人拒绝访问我们家的羞辱。 但事实是他不光代表快乐,他还很喜欢评判别人。 所以,对于发现圣诞老人不存在的事实,我其实松了一口气。
I left the kitchen not really in shock about Santa, but rather, I was just dumbfounded about how I could have missed this whole age of reason thing. It was too late for me, but maybe I could help someone else, someone who could use the information. They had to fit two criteria: they had to be old enough to be able to understand the whole concept of the age of reason, and not yet seven. The answer was clear: my brother Bill. He was six. Well, I finally found Bill about a block away from our house at this public school playground. It was a Saturday, and he was all by himself, just kicking a ball against the side of a wall. I ran up to him and said, "Bill! I just realized that the age of reason starts when you turn seven, and then you're capable of committing any and all sins against God and man." And Bill said, "So?" And I said, "So, you're six. You have a whole year to do anything you want to and God won't notice it." And he said, "So?" And I said, "So? So everything!" And I turned to run. I was so angry with him. But when I got to the top of the steps, I turned around dramatically and said, "Oh, by the way, Bill -- there is no Santa Claus."
离开厨房时,我不是特别的惊讶 只是有点错愕 我怎么会对”理性的年龄“这个概念一无所知。 现在知道这些对我来说是太迟了,但我还有可能帮助别人, 那些需要这些资料的人。 他们要满足两个条件: 第一,他们的年纪应该足够大,大到 能够了解这“理性的年龄”的概念;第二,他们还没有到七岁。 答案很明显:我的弟弟比尔。他六岁。 我在离家大概一条街的地方找到了比尔 他在一个公共学校操场上。那天是星期六 比尔一个人在那里,冲着一面墙踢球玩。 我跑到他面前,说:“比尔! 我刚意识到,理性的年龄在你七岁以后就开始了, 从你七岁生日的那天开始,你就有能力犯下所有亵渎上帝和人类罪恶了 比尔说:“那又怎样?“ 我说: 你现在六岁。你还有一整年可以做你要做的事 而上帝不会注意的。“他又说:“那又怎样?”我冲他嚷嚷道: “那怎样?为所欲为!“我转身跑了。我真的很生他的气。 但当我跑到最高一级楼梯时,我戏剧般的转过身 说:“对了,比尔,圣诞老人不存在。" (笑声)
(Laughter)
但那时我还不知道
Now, I didn't know it at the time, but I really wasn't turning seven on September 10th. For my 13th birthday, I planned a slumber party with all of my girlfriends, but a couple of weeks beforehand my mother took me aside and said, "I need to speak to you privately. September 10th is not your birthday. It's October 10th." And I said, "What?"
我的七岁生日不是真的在九月十号。 我为了十三岁的生日筹备了一个通宵派对, 但是几个星期前,妈妈把我带到一旁,说: “我要单独跟你说点事情。 你的生日不是9月10日,是10月10号。“ 我说:“什么?”
(Laughter)
(笑声)
And she said ...
她说:“听我说。幼稚园的报名要求是在9月15日之前出生。“
(Laughter)
"Listen. The cut-off date to start kindergarten was September 15th."
(Laughter)
(笑声)
"So I told them that your birthday was September 10th, and then I wasn't sure that you weren't just going to go blab it all over the place, so I started to tell you your birthday was September 10th. But, Julie, you were so ready to start school, honey. You were so ready." I thought about it, and when I was four, I was already the oldest of four children, and my mother even had another child to come, so what I think she -- understandably -- really meant was that she was so ready, she was so ready. Then she said, "Don't worry, Julie. Every year on October 10th, when it was your birthday but you didn't realize it, I made sure that you ate a piece of cake that day."
“所以我告诉他们你的生日是九月十号, 但我不确定你会不会到处告诉别人你真实的生日日期, 所以我也告诉你,你的生日是九月十号。 朱莉,你当时已经完全可以开始上学了,亲爱的。完全可以。“ 我想了想,当我四岁的时候 我已经是四个孩子当中最大的了, 而且还有另外一个孩子在我妈的肚子里。 所以她的意思应该是,她真得很需要我能够上学了, 真得很需要。她接着说: “不用担心,朱莉,每年十月十号,你生日的时候, 虽然你不知道,我一定让你 在那天吃一块蛋糕。“
(Laughter)
(笑声)
Which was comforting, but troubling. My mother had been celebrating my birthday with me, without me.
这令我感到安慰但很郁闷 。 我的妈妈一直在和我一起庆祝生日,在我不知情的情况下。
(Laughter)
这条消息真的很让我郁闷,
What was so upsetting about this new piece of information was not that I had to change the date of my slumber party with all of my girlfriends. What was most upsetting was that this meant I was not a Virgo. I had a huge Virgo poster in my bedroom. And I read my horoscope every single day, and it was so totally me.
不是因为我不得不告诉我所有要好的女朋友 我需要更改我派对的日期 最让我恼火的是:这意味着我不是处女座。 我卧室里贴了一张很大的处女座海报, 我每天都阅读我的每日星运,而且星运里说的的根本就是我嘛。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
And this meant that I was a Libra? So, I took the bus downtown to get the new Libra poster. The Virgo poster is a picture of a beautiful woman with long hair, sort of lounging by some water, but the Libra poster is just a huge scale. This was around the time that I started filling out physically, and I was filling out a lot more than a lot of the other girls, and frankly, the whole idea that my astrological sign was a scale just seemed ominous and depressing.
然后现在弄了半天我是天秤座的? 于是,我乘巴士到市中心买新的天秤座海报。 处女座的海报中画的是一个长发美女, 懒洋洋的躺在水边。 而天秤座的海报画的只是一个巨大的天平 那时的我正好处于女孩子开始发胖的时候, 而我比其他的女孩子发胖得更多 而且说实在的,当我知道我的星座是一个秤之后, 觉得既不祥又沮丧。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
But I got the new Libra poster, and I started to read my new Libra horoscope, and I was astonished to find that it was also totally me.
但我还是买了新的天秤座海报 并开始阅读我新的天秤座星运, 我惊讶地发现,它描述的也完全是我。
(Laughter)
直到多年以后,当我回想起
It wasn't until years later, looking back on this whole age-of-reason, change-of-birthday thing, that it dawned on me: I wasn't turning seven when I thought I turned seven. I had a whole other month to do anything I wanted to before God started keeping tabs on me. Oh, life can be so cruel. One day, two Mormon missionaries came to my door. Now, I just live off a main thoroughfare in Los Angeles, and my block is -- well, it's a natural beginning for people who are peddling things door to door. Sometimes I get little old ladies from the Seventh Day Adventist Church showing me these cartoon pictures of heaven. And sometimes I get teenagers who promise me that they won't join a gang and just start robbing people, if I only buy some magazine subscriptions from them. So normally, I just ignore the doorbell, but on this day, I answered. And there stood two boys, each about 19, in white, starched short-sleeved shirts, and they had little name tags that identified them as official representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they said they had a message for me, from God. I said, "A message for me? From God?" And they said, "Yes." Now, I was raised in the Pacific Northwest, around a lot of Church of Latter-day Saints people and, you know, I've worked with them and even dated them, but I never really knew the doctrine, or what they said to people when they were out on a mission, and I guess I was sort of curious, so I said, "Well, please, come in." And they looked really happy, because I don't think this happens to them all that often.
整个“理智的年龄“,”生日变换“的事件 我才突然觉悟,在我以为我已经七岁的时候 我还不到七岁!在上帝开始记录我的言行之前,我还有一整个月 我还有一整个月去做任何想做的事。 啊,生命真残忍。 有一天,两位摩门教传教士来敲我的门 当时我住在洛杉矶的一天主干道边上 在这个街区里到处都是 挨家挨户上门推销的人 有时候基督复临安息日教会的老妇人们会来 给我看一些天堂的卡通图片。 又有时候,一些青年会来, 他们发誓,只要我向他们订阅杂志 他们就不会加入帮派,不会抢劫。 由于这些理由,平时门铃响了我都不去管它,但这一天我应了门。 两个看起来差不多十九岁的男孩子站在那里, 穿着笔挺的短袖白衬衫, 戴着耶稣基督后期圣徒教会的小名牌, 说明他们是这个教会的正式代表。 他们说,他们给我来了上帝的旨意。 我说:“给我的旨意?来自上帝?“他们说:“是的。“ 我在太平洋西北地区长大 接触过很多来自耶稣基督后期圣徒教会的人 知道么?我曾经和他们一起工作甚至约会 但我从来没有真正了解他们的学说 或他们在传播福音的时候对别人说的理论。我想那时我只是一些好奇 就说:“请进来吧。“ 他们看起来十分开心, 因此我认为这种待遇对他们来说是很难得的 (笑声)
(Laughter)
我请他们坐下,给他们倒了两杯水-
And I sat them down, and I got them glasses of water -- Ok, I got it, I got it. I got them glasses of water. Don't touch my hair, that's the thing.
行了,我搞定了。我给他们倒了两杯水。 别动我的头发,我知道
(Laughter)
(笑声)
You can't put a video of myself in front of me and expect me not to fix my hair. Ok.
你不可能让我看着自己的直播 然后希望我不要整理我的头发。 (笑声)
(Laughter)
现在行了。我让他们坐下,给他们倒了两杯水,
So I sat them down and I got them glasses of water, and after niceties, they said, "Do you believe that God loves you with all his heart?" And I thought, "Well, of course I believe in God, but you know, I don't like that word 'heart,' because it anthropomorphizes God, and I don't like the word, 'his,' either, because that sexualizes God." But I didn't want to argue semantics with these boys, so after a very long, uncomfortable pause, I said, "Yes, yes, I do. I feel very loved." And they looked at each other and smiled, like that was the right answer. And then they said, "Do you believe that we're all brothers and sisters on this planet?" And I said, "Yes, I do." And I was so relieved that it was a question I could answer so quickly. And they said, "Well, then we have a story to tell you."
在完成了基本的礼节之后,他们说,“你相信上帝是真心爱心你的吗?” 我想:“我当然相信上帝, 但是,知道吗?我不喜欢“心“这个词, 因为上帝好像被拟人化了, 我也不喜欢“他的”这个词,因为这样上帝就有了性别 不过,我不想和这些男孩争辩语义, 所以很窘的沉默了很久后,我说: “对,对,我感到上帝的爱。“ 他们相视一笑, 这就对了! 然后他们说: “你相信同在这个星球上的我们都是兄弟姐妹吗?” 我回答:“对,对,我相信。“ 我感到十分庆幸 那是一个我轻易就能回答的问题。 他们说:“我们有一个故事给你听。“
And they told me this story all about this guy named Lehi, who lived in Jerusalem in 600 BC. Now, apparently in Jerusalem in 600 BC, everyone was completely bad and evil. Every single one of them: man, woman, child, infant, fetus. And God came to Lehi and said to him, "Put your family on a boat and I will lead you out of here." And God did lead them. He led them to America. I said, "America?
然后便给我讲了一个关于利哈伊的家伙, 他生在耶路撒冷公元前600年。 显然,在公元前600年的耶路撒冷, 每个人都是坏人,邪恶的人。每个都是。 男人,女人,小孩,婴儿,胎儿。 上帝来到利哈伊,对他说,“把你的家人叫上船 我会带你离开这里。“ 神真的带领他们 带领他们到美国。 我说:“美国?在公元前600年,从耶路撒冷坐船到美国?”
(Laughter)
From Jerusalem to America by boat in 600 BC?" And they said, "Yes."
他们说:"没错。“
(Laughter)
(笑声)
Then they told me how Lehi and his descendants reproduced and reproduced, and over the course of 600 years, there were two great races of them, the Nephites and the Lamanites, and the Nephites were totally good -- each and every one of them -- and the Lamanites were totally bad and evil -- every single one of them just bad to the bone.
然后他们告诉我里哈伊和他的后代 一代代的传承下去,600年之后 他们分成了两个族系:尼法族和拉玛奈特族 尼发族的每一个人都是好人 而拉玛奈特族的每一个人都非常邪恶 每个人都邪恶到骨子里去了 笑声
Then, after Jesus died on the cross for our sins, on his way up to heaven, he stopped by America and visited the Nephites.
那时,在耶稣基督因为人类的罪恶而死于十字架 他在向天堂飞升的途中在美国停了一会,拜访尼法族人 笑声
(Laughter)
告诉尼法族人他们是非常非常好的人
And he told them that if they all remained totally, totally good -- each and every one of them -- they would win the war against the evil Lamanites. But apparently somebody blew it, because the Lamanites were able to kill all the Nephites. All but one guy, this guy named Mormon, who managed to survive by hiding in the woods. And he made sure this whole story was written down in reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics chiseled onto gold plates, which he then buried near Palmyra, New York.
每一个都是 所以在与邪恶的拉玛奈特族人的战争中,他们会胜利 但很显然有人把这事搞砸了 拉玛奈特族人最后杀死了所有的尼法族人 只有一个叫摩门的尼法族人活了下来 因为他藏在了树林里 并且他把这整个故事 用埃及的象形文字刻在了金器上 并将金器埋在了巴尔米拉,纽约
(Laughter)
笑声
Well, I was just on the edge of my seat.
我当时坐在椅子的边缘
(Laughter)
笑声
I said, "What happened to the Lamanites?" And they said, "Well, they became our Native Americans, here in the U.S." And I said, "So, you believe the Native Americans are descended from a people who were totally evil?" And they said, "Yes." Then they told me how this guy named Joseph Smith found those buried gold plates right in his backyard, and he also found this magic stone back there that he put into his hat and then buried his face into, and this allowed him to translate the gold plates from the reformed Egyptian into English.
我问道:那拉玛奈特族人怎么样了? 他们回答说:他们变成了现在的美国本地人 然后我说:你们相信我们美国人都是 那些邪恶到骨子里的人的后代? 他们说:是的! 然后他们告诉我有个叫约瑟夫.史密斯的人 在他的后花园里发现了埋藏的金器 而且他还发现了一块魔法石,他把魔法石放进帽子了 然后把自己的脸也塞了进去,这样他就能 把金器上的象形文字翻译成英文了 这时候,我只是想给这两个年轻人
Well, at this point I just wanted to give these two boys some advice about their pitch.
一些关于他们的推销技巧的建议 笑声
(Laughter)
我想说:别一开始就告诉别人这个故事
I wanted to say --
(Applause)
"Ok, don't start with this story."
(Laughter)
I mean, even the Scientologists know to start with a personality test before they start --
我的意思是即使科学论派在开始之前也会给人做一个性格测试 掌声
(Applause)
telling people all about Xenu, the evil intergalactic overlord. Then, they said, "Do you believe that God speaks to us through his righteous prophets?" And I said, "No, I don't," because I was sort of upset about this Lamanite story and this crazy gold plate story, but the truth was, I hadn't really thought this through, so I backpedaled a little and I said, "Well, what exactly do you mean by 'righteous'? And what do you mean by prophets? Like, could the prophets be women?" And they said, "No." And I said, "Why?" And they said, "Well, it's because God gave women a gift that is so spectacular, it is so wonderful, that the only gift he had left over to give men was the gift of prophecy." What is this wonderful gift God gave women, I wondered? Maybe their greater ability to cooperate and adapt?
然后在告诉别人有关Xenu,银河系最高霸主的事情 然后他们说:那你相信上帝是通过他授权的先知们向我们传递福音的么? 不,我不相信,我这么回答到 因为整个拉玛奈特族的故事让我有些生气 还有那些疯狂的金器。 但事实是: 我还没有想通整个故事。于是我改口问道: 你说的授权是什么意思? 先知又是什么人?他们可能是女的么? 然后他们回答到:不可能。 我问为什么?他们说: 因为上帝已经给了女人一件无以伦比的礼物 这件礼物是这么的美妙,基于此,唯一留下来给男人的礼物 就是先知的能力 那么, 我在想:什么又是上帝给女人的礼物呢? 也许是她们具有比男人更好的合作和适应的能力?
(Laughter)
或者女人更长寿?还是女人没有男人们那么暴力?
Women's longer lifespan? The fact that women tend to be much less violent than men? But no -- it wasn't any of these gifts. They said, "Well, it's her ability to bear children." I said, "Oh, come on. I mean, even if women tried to have a baby every single year from the time they were 15 to the time they were 45, assuming they didn't die from exhaustion, it still seems like some women would have some time left over to hear the word of God." And they said, "No."
但这些都不是女人所得到的礼物。 他们说:女人得到的礼物是怀孕的能力。 我说:嗐,得了吧。即使女人们从他们15岁开始直到45岁 每年都生一个小孩 假设他们不会过劳死的话 她们还是会有时间去聆听上帝的启示的 他们说:才不是呢。
(Laughter)
笑声
Well, then they didn't look so fresh-faced and cute to me any more, but they had more to say. They said, "Well, we also believe that if you're a Mormon, and if you're in good standing with the church, when you die, you get to go to heaven and be with your family for all eternity." And I said, "Oh, dear.
现在,我再也不觉得他们青春洋溢和可爱了, 但他们还继续有话说 还有,我们相信你即使不是摩门教徒 但仍然定期去教堂并且声誉良好,在你死后 你依然可以进入天堂,与家人团聚,直到永远。 然后我说:天呐, 笑声
(Laughter)
这对我来说不是一个很好的动力
That wouldn't be such a good incentive for me."
笑声
(Laughter)
他们继续说到:知道么?我们还相信
And they said, "Oh.
(Laughter)
Hey! Well, we also believe that when you go to heaven, you get your body restored to you in its best original state. Like, if you'd lost a leg, well, you get it back. Or, if you'd gone blind, you could see." I said, "Oh. Now, I don't have a uterus, because I had cancer a few years ago. So does this mean that if I went to heaven, I would get my old uterus back?" And they said, "Sure." And I said, "I don't want it back. I'm happy without it." Gosh. What if you had a nose job and you liked it?
当你到了天堂之后,你的身体会重新变得完整 回到最初的状态 比如说:如果你少了条腿,你到了天堂就会重新得回来 或者说如果你是盲人,你就会重获视力 我说:那几年前因为癌症的原因我失去了子宫 那是不是意味着我到了天堂以后 我会得到我原来的子宫?他们说是的 然后我说:我根本不想要他回来,没了他我挺开心的。 天哪,要是有人做了鼻子整形手术并且很喜欢手术后的鼻子呢? 笑声
(Laughter)
上帝会逼你把鼻子弄回到原来的样子么?
Would God force you to get your old nose back? Then they gave me this Book of Mormon, told me to read this chapter and that chapter, and said they'd come back and check in on me, and I think I said something like, "Please don't hurry," or maybe just, "Please don't," and they were gone.
然后,他们给了我一本摩门教派的书 并让我阅读这一章,那一章 还告诉我他们会再回来看我 我想我的回答是:不着急,不着急 或者直接就是:别再回来了。之后他们离开了
Ok, so I initially felt really superior to these boys, and smug in my more conventional faith. But then the more I thought about it, the more I had to be honest with myself. If someone came to my door and I was hearing Catholic theology and dogma for the very first time, and they said, "We believe that God impregnated a very young girl without the use of intercourse, and the fact that she was a virgin is maniacally important to us."
就这样,刚开始我觉得自己比这两个男孩强, 并沾沾自喜于我的正常信仰,但不久之后 我越是思考,越是不得不对自己诚实 如果有人跑到我家来,想我宣传天主教的理论与教义。 他们会说: 我们相信上帝让一个年轻的女孩 无性受孕。 并且保证这个女孩的处子之身有非常深远的重要意义
(Laughter)
笑声
"And she had a baby, and that's the son of God," I mean, I would think that's equally ridiculous. I'm just so used to that story.
然后这个女孩生了个孩子,就是上帝之子 我的意思是:我也会觉得这个说话荒谬之极 只是我已经习惯了这个故事
(Laughter)
笑声
So, I couldn't let myself feel condescending towards these boys. But the question they asked me when they first arrived really stuck in my head: Did I believe that God loved me with all his heart? Because I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about that question. Now, if they had asked me, "Do you feel that God loves you with all his heart?" Well, that would have been much different, I think I would have instantly answered, "Yes, yes, I feel it all the time. I feel God's love when I'm hurt and confused, and I feel consoled and cared for. I take shelter in God's love when I don't understand why tragedy hits, and I feel God's love when I look with gratitude at all the beauty I see." But since they asked me that question with the word "believe" in it, somehow it was all different, because I wasn't exactly sure if I believed what I so clearly felt.
所以我才不会觉得自己和那两个男孩一样 但他们在刚来的时候问我的问题 一直在我的脑海里萦绕 我真的相信上帝全身心的爱着我么? 我不是很确定我对这个问题的感觉 但如果他们问我的问题是: 我能感觉到上帝在全身心的爱着我么? 那就会完全不同了。 我想我会有一个当机立断的回答 是的,是的。我一直能感受的到,我能感受到上帝的爱当我受伤和困惑的时候 这样的爱让我感到欣慰和安全。 当我不能理解为什么悲剧来临的时候,上帝的爱是我避风的港湾 当我满怀感激,注视着眼前的美丽的时候,我亦能感受到上帝之爱。 但基于他们的问题里提到了我是否相信 某种意义上讲就巍峨安全不一样了 因为我真的不确定我是否相信我的感觉