The God-Idea

　　「神」的概念

　　The reality or validity of belief in God is based on man”s understanding capacity and the maturity of the mind.

　　对「神」的真实性或正确性，要基于理解力和成熟的心识。

　　The Development of the God-idea

　　To trace the origin and development of the God-idea, one must go back to the time when civilization was still in its infancy and modern science was still unknown. Primitive people, out of fear of and admiration towards natural phenomena, had believed in different spirits and gods. They used their belief in spirit and gods to form religions of their own. According to their respective circumstances and understanding capacity different people worshipped different gods and founded different faiths.

　　探讨「神」的起源和对「神」的信仰，要从人类的原始时代和科学文明发展的时代开始。原始人因恐惧而崇敬大自然的各种现象，从而信仰各种神或精灵。人类利用对神或精灵的信仰，发展成各式各样的宗教。按照他们个别对环境的理解，崇敬个别不同的神，从而奠定了各种不同的信仰。

　　At the beginning of the God-idea, people worshipped many gods--gods of trees, streams, lightning, storm, winds, the sun and all other terrestrial phenomena. These gods were related to each and every act of nature. Then gradually man began to attribute to these gods, sex and form as well as the physical and mental characteristics of human beings. Human attributes were given to the gods: love, hate, jealousy, fear, pride, envy and other emotions found among human beings. From all these gods, there slowly grew a realization that the phenomena of the universe were not many but were One. This understanding gave rise to the monotheistic god of recent ages.

　　「神」的观念，起源于人类多神的崇拜。如：树、水、光、风暴、太阳以及地球其他自然现象。这些「神」彼此关联，也联系了整个自然现象。然而，人类给予「神」的各种形象和性别，是基于人类自己的生理与心理的特征。「神」开始拟人化，「神」会爱、会恨、会嫉妒、会惧怕、会骄傲、会羡慕，「神」开始具备了人类各种身、心的特征与情绪。从这些「神」中，我们或许会以为，宇宙间存在的这种现象并不是太多。人类从理解于这个共同的根源，产生了后来「一神论」的思想──万能的造物者的思想。

　　In the process of development, the God-idea went through a variety of changing social and intellectual climates. It was regarded by different men in different ways. Some idealized god as the King of Heaven and Earth; they had a conception of god as a person. Others thought of god as an abstract principle. Some raised the ideal of Supreme deity to the highest heaven, while others brought it down to the lowest depths of the earth. Some pictured god in a paradise, while others made an idol and worshipped it. Some want so far as to say that there is no salvation without god; no matter how much good you do, you will not receive the fruits of your actions unless you act out of a faith in god. The Atheists said, ”No” and went on to affirm that god did not really exist at all. The Skeptics or Agnostics said, ”We do not or we cannot know.” The Positivists say that the God-idea was a meaningless problem since the idea of the term god ”was not clear”. Thus there grew a variety of ideas and beliefs and names for the God-idea: pantheism, idolatry, belief in a formless god, and belief in many gods and goddesses.

　　「神」的观念，经过社会与人类心智的变化而展开。不同的人，有不同的鉴定方式，有些人把「神」理想化，成为天堂或地上的国王，他们认为「人」可以是「神」的概念或化身。有些人认为「神」是抽象的。某些人把超然的「神」提升到最高的天界，某些人把「神」带到最下层。当人类开始把「神」当偶像膜拜时，就把「神」安置在天堂里。有些人甚至认为：「没有『神』就不能得救，不管你做了多少好事，也无法得到好的果报，除非你相信『神』的存在。」无神论者，坚决的否定了「神」的存在，他们认为：「对『神』而言，我们不知道，我们也无法知道。」实际主义则认为：「『神』的观念，是一个没有意义的问题，因为『神』的观念和意义『不清不楚』。」因此，产生了很多为「神」的观念和信仰而下的定义，泛神论、偶像崇拜论、无形论、性别论等等，不一而足。

　　Even the monotheistic god of recent times has gone through a variety of changes as it passed through different nations and people. The Hindu god is quite different from gods of other faiths. Thus numerous religions came into existence: each one differed greatly from the other in the end, and each one says that ”God is One”.

　　即使连一神论的上帝信仰，也因为时间、区域和人文而改变，印度教的「天帝」，就和基督教的「上帝」有所不同。基督教的「上帝」又与其他的「神」有所不同。所有的宗教都个别的存在，也和其他的宗教有所不同。但是，每一个宗教都宣称「神」只有一个。

　　The God-idea and Creation

　　「神」与创世纪：

　　As each religion came into existence and developed around the God-idea, religion developed its own particular explanation of creati…

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