There’s a cognitive psychologist by the name of Justin Barrett who did a series of really fascinating studies about the way in which people think about God.

有一位认知心理学家叫做贾斯汀·巴雷特 他针对人们对上帝的看法做了一系列特别有趣的研究

He asked a group of devoutly religious people—Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus—

他让一群绝对虔诚的宗教人员——穆斯林 犹太教 基督教 佛教 印度教——

he basically gave them a form to fill out about the ways in which they think about the divine.

他给这些人一张表格 让他们填写自己心中的上帝是什么样的

And for the most part what he found was that they answered in theologically correct ways when talking about God as being, say, omniscient or omnipresent.

他发现多数情况下 这些人想到上帝的时候会从神学正确的角度去回答问题 比如 他们觉得上帝无所不知 无所不在

But then he began to engage the same subjects in conversation.

然后他又用对话的方式进行同样的问答

He asked them to start describing in regular language how they think about God.

他让他们用普通的话语去形容他们对上帝的看法

And what he discovered is that almost every single person, when forced to start talking about God,

他发现几乎所有人 在被迫谈起上帝的时候

violated those core theological principles of God being, for instance, omnipresent and omniscient.

会违反那些诸如上帝无所不知 无所不在的核心神学原则

In fact, what he discovered is that the more they talked about God, the more it sounded like they were describing some person that they met on the street.

其实 他发现人们谈论上帝越多 就越像是在描述他们在街上碰见的某个人

And this goes to a fundamental aspect about the way that we think about the divine, whether we are ourselves believers or not.

这要归结于我们对上帝的看法的一个基本方面 不管我们是不是信徒

And that is that, unconsciously, we can’t help but to imagine God as essentially a divine version of ourselves.

那就是 在潜意识中 我们会忍不住把上帝想象成神圣的自己

When we conceive of God we unconsciously, innately, impose upon God our own personality, our own virtues, our own vices, our own strengths, our own weaknesses.

我们想到上帝时 会无意识地 本能地把自己的人格 美德 罪恶 优点和缺点强加给上帝

We project upon God our own biases and bigotries.

我们会把自己的偏见和偏执映射在上帝身上

We implant in God human characteristics, human personality, human desires all along with superhuman powers.

我们会给上帝植入人类的特点 性格 欲望和超人类的力量

And so, as a result, what we really do—again, whether we’re aware of it or not—is we divinize ourselves.

所以结果就是 我们真的会——再说一遍 无论我们自己是否意识到——我们会把自己神化

If you believe in God then what you believe in is something that is, by definition, utterly unhuman.

如果你相信上帝 那么你相信的东西根据定义来说 其实根本就是人类

And so the question becomes: how do you talk about that thing, how do you think about that thing,

所以问题就变成了：你会怎么谈论这件事 你会怎么看待这件事

how do you form a relationship with something that is utterly unhuman?

你如何与一个完全是人类的东西建立关系？

Well, the way you do so is by humanizing that thing.

你的做法其实就是把那个东西人性化

In fact, the entire history of human spirituality can be viewed as one long,

事实上 人类精神的整个历史可以被看成一个漫长的

intimately linked and remarkably cohesive narrative in which human beings increasingly humanize the divine.

亲密联系的 极度连贯的故事 在这个故事中 人类会把上帝越来越人性化

Until, of course, in the person of Jesus, God literally becomes a human being.

直到耶稣和上帝彻底变成人类

That, I think more than anything else, explains why Christianity is the most successful religion in the world because,

我觉得这比任何东西都更能解释为什么基督教是世界上最成功的的宗教

in a way, it scratches an unconscious itch that we all have.

因为 在某种程度上 它戳中了我们每个人心中的渴望

Our brains work in such a way that we are compelled to conceive of God in human terms.

我们大脑的运作方式会让我们被迫以人的视角去看待上帝

It’s an impulse that we’re born with, it goes back deep in our human evolution.

这是我们生来就有的本能 深深根植在人类的进化中

What Christianity says is: God is not just humanlike, God is literally a human being.

基督教想表达是：上帝不光光像人 上帝就是人类

And imagine how appealing that notion is because if you want to think about God, you know, it’s an impossible task.

想象一下这种说法多有吸引力 因为如果你想思考上帝 这是不可能的

It’s so difficult to conceive of something like God.

去想象上帝之类的东西真的非常困难

And what Christianity says is that it’s not that hard, actually.

而基督教会告诉人们 其实并没有那么难

You want to know what God is like? Imagine the most perfect person.

你想知道上帝是什么样的？那就想象一下最完美的人类吧

Perfectly good. Perfectly compassionate. Perfectly sinless. That’s God.

绝对善良 绝对地富有同情心 绝对清白无辜 这就是上帝

That’s a pretty easy thing to imagine.

这件事做起来倒是挺容易