Have you dreamed of going to Harvard? Or sending your kid to Harvard? Or Harvard Law School? The first university in America, established to train Christian ministers and missionaries, has deserved its high reputation for excellence for three centuries. It’s prestigious Law School is particularly prominent, and the historic descendant of strong traditions of Judeo-Christian ethics and laws.

你梦想进哈佛吗？ 或者把你的孩子送进哈佛？ 甚至哈佛法学院？ 作为美国历史上成立的第一所大学，哈佛是为培训基督教牧者和传教士而建立的，在过去的三个世纪里蜚声海内外。 哈佛著名的法学院尤为出众，具有浓厚的犹太-基督教伦理和法律的历史传统。

Introduction. A shockingly shameful abuse of Jewish and Roman ethics and laws happened 2,000 years ago. From this abuse of justice, the world was radically changed. Among the many changes, especially in the lives of those directly affected, two famous phrases in western literature have appeared, and art works in renowned museums have depicted, “the road to Damascus” and “doubting Thomas.” I am recasting these 2 phrases as companion stories, respectively, “He went to Harvard Law School?” (this story) and “Tom missed the party” (welcome to that URS story).

背景： 在2000年前，发生了一件违背犹太和罗马伦理，滥用法律的可耻而又令人震惊的事件。世界也因着这不公义之事件而彻底改变。 这其中，特别是在那些直接受到影响的人们的生活中，出现了西方文学中的两个著名短语，以及为描绘这两个短语而衍生的陈列在许多著名博物馆中的艺术作品 ——“通往大马士革之路”和“怀疑的多马”。 这里，我将与这两个短语相关的故事作为附加的短文，附在“哈佛法学院毕业的名校精英”（这个故事）和“Tom missed the party”（欢迎你们也读一读那个故事）的后面。

He went to Harvard Law School?
The highly trained, learned, and aggressive activist had a cause célèbre, a great law school case for which he had dedicated his life, and he could not stop working on that case, even if it meant killing someone. You could definitely say he was a fanatic, taking extreme positions in his actions. He was also Jewish, which everyone knows gave him the right DNA for tough law cases. After all, even today, many great lawyers and Supreme Court Justices of the USA are Jewish, far exceeding the very small minority proportion of Jews in the USA.

哈佛法学院毕业的名校精英
这位训练有素，知识渊博，而又具有攻击性的活动家手上接受了一个著名的案例，一个重大的法学案件。为此，这位名校精英奉献出了他的一生，不休止地工作，即便这意味着可能需要杀人也在所不惜。 你可以肯定地说他是一个狂热分子，在行动中他持有非常极端的立场。 他同时也是个犹太人。正如众所周知的，恰恰是这份属于纯正犹太人的DNA给了他应付繁杂艰难法律案件所需要的坚韧。 毕竟，即使在今天，许多伟大的律师和美国最高法院的大法官都是犹太人，他们的人数远远超过了犹太人在美国公众中所占的极小比例。

And he had studied thoroughly the many great laws of the Jewish bible, under the top professor of the Harvard Law School of the time, so he was sure he was so morally correct in what he did. He even personally followed the scriptures faithfully, and carefully performed the numerous laws for the faithful, so it was more than a theoretic part of his life. He called himself a “Jew of the Jews,” an elite member of an elite society of Jewish leaders who ruled the first century Jewish nation of Israel, under ultimate Roman control.

这位精英毕业于当时相当于哈佛的著名法学院，在顶级教授的指导下，他详细地研究了犹太圣经中许多著名的律法，因此他可以确信在道德上自己的所作所为是完全无误的。 他甚至身体力行忠实地遵循经文所教导的，认真实践执行了众多律法条款，因此对他而言，律法不仅仅是理论上的纸上谈兵。 他称自己是“犹太人中的犹太人”，是犹太管理阶层精英团体中的最精英成员，在罗马的严格控制下，治理着第一世纪以色列的犹太民族。

This man was called Saul. He wanted to exterminate the early Jewish believers who claimed that Jesus the Jewish prophet had risen from the dead. Impossible! And they claimed that he was the son of God. Impossible and sacrilegious! How could anyone claim to be son of God!? Everyone knew there was only ONE God. The claim would be against all the religious laws of the time. He would make sure that they could not say these crazy things anymore. What they said was directly contradictory to all the highest level Jewish learning and legal training! And Saul would know, since he went to the top school.

这个人的名字叫扫罗。 他想消灭那些早期的犹太基督教信徒，因为他们声称犹太先知耶稣从死里复活了。绝对不可能！ 这些人声称耶稣是神的儿子。 不可能！这是对神的亵渎！ 怎么能有人声称自己是神的儿子！？ 每个人都知道上帝只有一个。 这种说法违背了当时所有的宗教律法。 他要确保他们不再传扬这些疯狂的事。 他们所说的与他所受最高水平的犹太知识和法律的教育直接相矛盾！ 扫罗当然知道这些，因为他是顶级学校教育出来的名校精英。

Saul felt he was obviously the best person to stop these believers and arrest them. Therefore, he acquired the key arrest warrants, and personal responsibility for the task, from the highest law authority of the land, to do this. He hauled off many believers to filthy cruel jails where they were likely whipped and beaten severely, and fined heavy fines. His fanaticism conveniently overlooked the horrific abuse of justice when the ruling classes had secretly arrested and illegally tried Jesus in a middle of the night so-called “court,” thus precipitating the extraordinary sequence of events to follow: the torture, crucifixion, and burial of Jesus over a few short days. And now, the believers of Jesus claimed he had risen from the dead!

扫罗觉得，他显然是阻止这些信徒和逮捕他们的最佳人选。 因此，他从当时那地的最高法律权威处，拿到了关键的逮捕令，以及赋予他个人责任的委任书，积极地开始了他的搜捕行动。 他把许多信徒拖到肮脏残酷的监狱，在那里他们很可能受到了严厉的鞭刑和毒打，并被处以重额罚款。 他的狂热使他很容易地忽略了一个事实，那就是当时的统治阶层，他们滥用正义的名义，利用所谓的“法庭”，在半夜里秘密逮捕并且非法审判了耶稣。这一行为导致了一系列的严重后果：耶稣在短短的几天中遭受酷刑，被钉十字架和埋葬。 而现在，耶稣的信徒们宣称他从死里复活了！

In the course of his persecution of the believers, Saul the fanatic even helped a crazed Jewish mob as they gathered to stone to death, also without proper legal trial, the first Christian martyr Stephen. The agitated mob was stoning Stephen for the “sin” of declaring that Jesus was the God-Messiah that had been resurrected after his crucifixion. During the excitement of the chaotic stoning, they took off their outer robes, all the more to do a better job throwing the deadly rocks and stones. Saul volunteered to look after their valued outer robes, giving support and encouragement to the mob. In his own mind, it was clear Stephen deserved to die for this “sin of blasphemy,” of attributing Godhood to Jesus.

在对信徒残酷的迫害过程中， 扫罗甚至帮助一群疯狂聚集的犹太暴民，用石头打死了第一位基督徒殉道者司提反。 激动的暴民对司提反施暴的原因，是他犯了“罪”，因为他声称耶稣是神，是被钉十字架后又复活的弥赛亚，也就是犹太人盼望已久的救世主。在用石头打死司提反的混乱而亢奋的过程中，为了能够更有效地投掷出那些致命的石头，暴徒们甚至脱下了自己的外袍。 扫罗自愿帮助他们看管这些珍贵的外袍，给予他们支持和鼓励。 在扫罗的脑海里，司提反显然应该为这种将耶稣当作神的 “亵渎罪”而被处死。

Yet, as Saul observed the death of Stephen in slow motion, I suspect he had a tinge of second thoughts, as Stephen calmly forgave his tormentors while they angrily killed him, stone by stone, crashing down on every part of his steadily limp body. Just like his Master Jesus who was crucified by the Romans, but who prayed to God to forgive those who killed Him, lash by lash, and nail by nail. These dramatic prayers for forgiveness, fortunately for us, are well documented by authors of the first generation of the times, and remain as two of the most remarkable prayers in all history, prayers of forgiveness for our enemies, even those who are killing us.

然而，当司提反的死亡以慢动作的形式展现在扫罗面前时，我想他可能曾有过一丝的怀疑，因为司提反是如此冷静地宽恕了他的折磨者们。这些人打死了他，用一块一块的石头，一点一点砸碎了他逐渐残败的身体。 正如他们对待司提反的主耶稣基督一样。在一声声残忍的鞭笞后，耶稣基督被罗马人用钉子一根一根地钉在了十字架上，慢慢地死去。可祂却为那些残害祂的人祈求上帝的赦免。多亏了第一世纪的作者们，耶稣和司提反为迫害他们的人所做的震撼人心的祷告，被详尽地记录了下来。直至今日，这两个祈祷，仍然是有史以来世上最伟大的祈祷，为我们的敌人，甚至是杀害我们的人祈求饶恕。

However, “on the road to Damascus,” to arrest even more believers, Saul’s whole life changed 180 degrees. Damascus actually is the same Damascus sadly in the tragic news of the early 21st century. This phrase from the first century Damascus, has become a famous phrase, meaning something very dramatic happened in one’s life. Amazingly, Saul met Jesus on this road, the one person he had been really attacking, the one he insisted never rose from the dead, and the one who claimed to be the son of God.

然而，当扫罗为了逮捕更多的信徒而走在“通往大马士革之路”上时，他的整个生命有了180度的改变。 扫罗时代的大马士革，实际上和21世纪初因为人间悲剧而常常出现在新闻中的大马士革是同一个城市。而 “通往大马士革之路”这个说法从第一世纪的大马士革开始至今，已经成为一个著名的短语，意味着一个人在生活中经历了非常戏剧性的事件。令人惊奇的是，扫罗正是在这条路上遇见了耶稣，他所攻击的真正对象，那位他坚信没有从死里复活，声称自己是神的儿子的人。

In this “on the road to Damascus” physical encounter, there was also a spiritual explosion, and Saul became Paul, the most famous apostle for Christianity. After this dramatic turn, Paul literally travelled around the world of his time, preaching that “Jesus is risen!” and writing down the key principles and practices of the faith for thousands of years. He had thought through the impossible problem of resurrection, the logic and arguments from the scriptures that pointed to Jesus, the fantastic revolutionary message of Jesus as Savior, and His amazing love shown by His volunteering to die on the cross for the sins of the world.

在“通往大马士革之路”的遭遇中，扫罗也经历了一个灵魂的激荡，从“扫罗”变成了基督教最有名的使徒“保罗”。 在这个翻天覆地的转变之后，保罗在他那个时代所定义的全世界范畴中旅行布道，宣扬“耶稣复活了”，并且为后世数千年写下了信仰的机要真理和实践指导。 他论证了复活这个不可能的问题，指出旧约经文中指向耶稣的逻辑和论据，传达耶稣作为救主的神奇而具有革命性的信息，并且阐述了耶稣为世界的罪而自愿死在十字架上所展现出来的神奇妙的爱。

And because Paul kept preaching Jesus and His resurrection wherever he preached, people either responded positively to him, or became infuriated, just like he used to be infuriated. He was beaten repeatedly, stoned by illegal mobs that resembled those he joined previously, whipped mercilessly by Roman soldiers, and nearly lost his life in a storm-driven shipwreck. Ultimately he was put in chains, and sent to Rome, where he was reportedly beheaded, basically for one most important declaration, that Jesus was the long-awaited Savior, who died for all the sins of humanity, and who amazingly, rose again for all humanity.

因为保罗在他走过的地方不断地传讲耶稣和祂复活的信息，人们对他的反应各有不同，有些人对此做出了积极的回应，也有些人却像过去的他那样被激怒。 他被反复殴打，被非法暴徒丢掷石块（类似以前他加入的对司提反那样的迫害），被罗马士兵无情地鞭打，并且在一场风暴中差点因船舶失事而丧失了生命。 最终，他被锁链捆绑着，送到了罗马。据称他后来被处以斩首，罪行是因为他宣称，耶稣是人类渴望已久的救世主，为人类所有的罪而死，但最令人惊讶的是，祂又为了拯救全人类而从死里复活了。

What drove Saul to become Paul? From prosecuting and persecuting Christians, to spreading the gospel? From being furiously upset when Christians said that “Jesus is risen,” to being the person who was the most furiously telling the world that “Jesus is risen”? He had indeed seen Jesus, and as many would testify for thousands of years, once you have encountered Jesus, either physically or spiritually, you can never be the same again. The Harvard Law School professor, using his intelligence, logic and arguments, found his match in Jesus, “on the road to Damascus,” and submitted his life to Him, whom he now acknowledged as the author of all intelligence, logic and arguments.

是什么驱使扫罗变成了保罗？ 从开始的起诉和迫害基督徒，到后来的广传福音？从起初听到基督徒说“耶稣复活”时的愤怒不安，到最后的迫切想要告诉世人“耶稣复活了”的人？ 他真实地见到了耶稣。正如数千年来许许多多的人见证的一样，一旦你遇到了耶稣，无论是肉体还是灵性，将永远不会再和过去一样。 保罗，这位哈佛法学院的教授，无论是在智慧、逻辑或是论证方面，在耶稣里找到了他的对手，在“通往大马士革之路”上，他将自己的生命交给了耶稣，承认祂是所有智慧、逻辑和论证的根源所在。

1800 years later, the esteemed Harvard Law Professor Simon Greenleaf, one of fathers of this great Law School, wrote the most trusted and classic A Treatise on the Law of Evidence. The treatise clearly defined the key principles determining the validity of evidence in courts of law. He was initially an atheist, but was challenged by a student in his class to apply his own treatise to the validity of the evidence of Jesus’ resurrection. To his own utter amazement, he was forced by his own logic and principles to conclude that the evidence was actually overwhelming, and he became a fervent believer, echoing Paul’s conversion experience. You could say Harvard Law Professor Greenleaf also had a “road to Damascus” history changing conversion experience, becoming in his time a devoted champion of the faith.

1800年后，受人尊敬的西蒙·格林利夫 (Simon Greenleaf) 教授，伟大的哈佛法学院的创始人之一，写下了最被人推崇的经典-证据法专论A Treatise on the Law of Evidence……。 该论文明确界定了确定法院证据有效性的关键原则。 格林利夫教授最初是一个无神论者，但是，他班上的一个学生向他发出挑战，让他用自己的理论来论证耶稣复活证据的有效性。使他感到万分惊讶的是，根据这些逻辑和原则，他得出的结论是，耶稣复活的证据实际上是压倒性的。他因此成为一个坚定的信徒，他的经历与保罗的可以说是有异曲同工之妙。 换言之，哈佛法学院的格林利夫教授也经历了“通往大马士革之路”那样历史性的翻天覆地的改变，成为他那个时代一个忠实的信仰领袖。

Author’s note: the second story of this story duet is “Tom missed the party”. I hope you read that story also.

作者注：这个故事的第二部分是“汤姆错过了派对”。 我希望你也读读那个故事。

References:

1) https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/94/92/99/949299b576f86b35bfc5404b0fd9f593.jpg
2) http://via.lib.harvard.edu/via/deliver/chunkDisplay?_collection=via&inoID=224809&recordNumber=499&chunkNumber=1&method=view&image=full&startChunkNum=1&endChunkNum=1&totalChunkCount=1, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3982575