「我 翻譯世界」徵文活動|与时俱进才能经久不衰

昨天看见@Uoo  的提案“社區活動提案：「我 翻譯世界」徵文活動，心里一动，就决定要参与一下。因为过去半年，每天花在英语学习上的时间超过1小时，估计是除当年考研复习之外最为用功的阶段。尤其还考虑到今时不同往日，毕竟年近半百，该比当年更为自己骄傲才对。

不过，昨天的第一个念头，是打算分享英语学习中一些很让我第一眼看到就想击节叫好的日常表达。但今天一早，收到Quora的邮件推送（我不记得我啥时候注册的了，但邮箱每天都有推送，基本全是关于中国），顺手点进去，看了下推送的问答（不重要）。退出前突然灵机一动，这是美国的知乎，应该有关于我在上帝笑而不语|几本科普书的读后神游这篇文章里提到过的困惑我很久的科学家和宗教关系的问答吧？

于是以logic和religion为关键词检索，就搜到了我接下来想要分享的这个回答。也是属于那种看第一遍就想要击节叫好的回答，答者本人虽然不是科学家，但显然有较强的逻辑能力和科学素养，并且还信上帝。其实看完之后，并不是他信仰理由充分到从根本上解决了我的困惑，而是他在讲到圣经的"演化"时的一些说法，解答了我的一些困惑。

回答很长，限于篇幅，我就不全部摘录了，但我强烈建议对此议题感兴趣的朋友，去看看原贴，或者虽然对宗教和逻辑的统一性不感兴趣，但仍认为宗教也是需要讨论和与时俱进的朋友，也可以看看。传送门在这里。

原文：In Genesis, God creates the heavens and the earth, then plants, then ocean life, then all the animals that inhabit the earth, and then man (and woman). I'd like to point out that this supports what we know today - that life began in the water, and humans came after creation of animals (that's be an awfully good “guess” for a person thousands of years ago). This allows for the time before us in which life began and flourished, if you don’t take time in the bible literally. Yes, Genesis says God created everything in 6 days, but what is it supposed to say? That god spent 1.971285714285714 billion years creating all the materials for heaven and earth, then spent another 1.971285714285714 billion putting into causation the precise chain of matter and energy that would forge all creation? The bible is text written for the common man, not a modern day physicist. It is intended to divulge a brief understanding of God and our place here. Even if God chose to let us in on “everything”, do you really think our fragile vessels of water and ash are capable of understanding the complexities of not only the process of creation and life but of the “mind” of an omnipresent deity that exists separate from time and space? Time, like everything else in the bible, is simply transposed to measurements that the reader could understand.

本人译文：在《创世纪》里，上帝创造了天和地，然后是植物，再是海洋生物，然后是动物，最后才是人。 这个顺序，是和我们如今已知相统一的（可能指的《进化论》）——生命首先诞生于水中，人类的出现晚于动物（对于一个距今几千年的人类来说，这是个非常厉害的猜想）。如果你不对圣经里的时间度量“吹毛求疵”的话，这个猜想是认可了人类以前的生命诞生和繁衍的。是的，《创世纪》说上帝花了6天的时间创造了世间万物，但你知道为什么吗？上帝先花了1.97亿年创造了构成天地的一切材料，然后又花了1.97亿年把这些材料捏合成型。但圣经是为普通人写的，不是为现代物理学家写的，它只是为了便于普通人理解上帝和世界的关系。而且我认为，即便上帝选择明示一切，人类的“低智”，也不可能完全理解“创生”的复杂过程和独立于时间和空间之外的全知全能的神的阐释。时间在圣经里的表述，正如同圣经里的其它任何事物，只不过是为了凡人易于理解而已。（所以，你不能因为6天这个表述和现代认知有鸿沟就否认上帝）

注：这一段的逻辑简直满分，这种强辞夺理我是接受的。我觉得，宗教也好，哲学也好，或者说任何科学以外的理论也好，可以不科学，但要在逻辑上自圆其说。没有科学，没有宗教，世界也能运转，只是差一点而已，但你想想假如世界没了逻辑？

据说牛顿的一生，也千方百计想以科学的方法来解释圣经。当然，可能这方面的成就，没法和伟大的牛顿方程相提并论，因而未能传于后世，很可惜。

原文：In the Old Testament, “man shall not lay with man” is listed along with other “unclean” things such as pork, shellfish, and my personal favourite - that a man shall not lay in the same bed as a woman on her period. In the New Testament, Jesus expressly made it clear that “the old way has passed away”, meaning the previous covenant (agreement) between God and man is no longer valid. He effectively nullified previous conventions like circumcision and not eating pork; he made what was unclean “clean”.

The translation of the Old Testament is not well understood by most people. It was instructions for people living at the time. Back then, the world population was very low. Women far outnumbered men. Cleanliness and disease was a huge issue. Many argue God was not so much forbidding these things because they were evil, but because he wanted people to prosper. Circumcision? Less risk of infections. Not eating pork and shellfish? Less risk of food borne illness (improper cooking techniques were the norm, these animals are more likely to contain harmful bacteria and parasites). Not laying in bed with a woman on her period? Remove temptation for sex when it is more likely to cause infection and/or spread disease. Man not laying with man? Again, less risk of infection/disease, but there was a more important reason on this one. With population low and women outnumbering men, the actual survival of our species was a concern. People not becoming diseased and being able to procreate was the ultimate goal here, not condemnation.

Jesus NEVER condemned being gay. What did he talk most about? What did he profess above all else? LOVE. What do we know of love from the New Testament? That it rights wrongs and makes up for a multitude of sins.

本人译文：《旧约》说，男人不应该和男人睡觉，这一条是和其它几宗“不洁”之事一起明示的，包括吃猪肉、贝类，以及另外一件我最爱的事：男人不应该和经期的女人睡同一张床。但是在《新约》里，耶稣明确表示了“旧有的方式已经过时”，意味着以前人和上帝之间的契约已不再有效。他废除了从前的旧习诸如行割礼、吃猪肉，他使以前认为的不正确的东西不用再仰人鼻息。

旧约的翻译对大部分人来讲，并不容易理解。 它是古老时代的行为规范，那时候，全世界的人口非常少，女人又占绝对多数，清洁和疾病是个大问题。很多争论认为上帝禁止以上行为并非因为其邪恶，而是为了确保人类安全。割礼，减少感染风险。不吃猪肉和贝类，减少吃坏肚子的风险（一般是因为不正确的烹饪方式，这两种肉类更容易携带病菌和寄生虫）。不和经期的女人同床，当然是为了减少性的诱惑从而增加感染风险。禁止男男性行为，自然，也是为了降低疾病风险。但在这一点上，还有一个更重要的原因，那就是因为人口非常少而女男比例又严重失调，人类的存续是个大问题。所以那时候，减少疾病和繁衍生息才是头等大事，批斗不是。

耶稣从来没有谴责gay，他最强调、最希望人类领会的是什么呢？是爱。《新约》告诉了我们什么是爱：纠正错误，弥补罪过。

注：我没读过圣经，对于答主所说的《新约》 、《旧约》内容的真实性无从判断，但我get到的核心论点是：《圣经》不必非得是一成不变的，它毕竟是人写的为了人类生存服务的，得随着人类文明的演化而演化，才能具有无限的生命力。不然，至今基督徒们还得跟伊斯兰教徒一样不能吃猪肉，女人要行割礼。

所以，你坚持的原教旨主义，对你虔诚信仰的基督教的存续和发展，到底是好事还是坏事呢？

不符合现代社会文明进程的教义，还是丢弃的好。如果实在不愿意丢弃，用来规范自己的行为就好，不要用来要求别人，那样只能把宗教和文明越推越远。

好了，正事说完，再顺便“谦虚”一下，本人没有基督教知识，英语水平也有限，写作呢当然登不了大雅之堂，不过本人贵在有自知之名，所以还希望走过路过的朋友如发现翻译之中的错误之处，能不吝指正，多谢！