Monday, July 7, 2008

The Chinese Language: Evidence of the Genesis Account

"Old Chinese, sometimes known as "Archaic Chinese", was the language common during the early and middle Zhōu Dynasty (1122 BC - 256 BC), texts of which include inscriptions on bronze artifacts, the poetry of the Shījīng, the history of the Shūjīng, and portions of the Yìjīng (I Ching)."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language#History_and_evolution

"The oldest discovered texts are oracular sayings incised on tortoise shells and cattle scapulae by court diviners of the Shang dynasty beginning in the early 14th century bc; these are the so-called oracle-bone inscriptions. Although the writing system has since been standardized and stylistically altered, its principles and many of its symbols remain fundamentally the same.

Like other scripts of ancient origin, Chinese is derived from picture writing. It grew into a word-by-word representation of language when it was discovered that words too abstract to be readily pictured could be indicated by their sound rather than their sense. Unlike other scripts, however, Chinese still works pictographically as well as phonetically. Moreover, its sound indications have not been adapted to changes of pronunciation but have remained keyed to the pronunciation of 3,000 years ago. The building blocks of the system are several hundred pictographs for such basic words as man, horse, and axe. In addition, expanded, or compound, pictographs exist. For example, a symbol of this type representing a man carrying grain means “harvest,” and thus “year” (nian)."
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761565543_2/chinese_language.html


EARLY CHINESE EVIDENCE OF THE GENESIS ACOUNT

BOAT
The Chinese word for boat is made up of three components.

The left most character means "ship" or "vessel."

The upper righthand character is the Chinese number "eight."

The bottom righthand character is the word for "mouth" or "person." The first boat mentioned in the Bible is Noah's ark. Just how many people or "mouths" were aboard this ship or vessel? Genesis 7:13 tells us: "In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark." So Noah's ark was a ship or a vessel with eight people. The Chinese language records this fact in perfect detail.


SEPARATE
After the flood, the eight humans on the Ark settle down, have children, and eventually diffuse themselves throughout the land to form different nations.


TEMPTER
Genesis 3:1-5
First, we have a character with the meaning of "secret" or "private."

Then we have another variation on the character for "man" or "son."

In this character, you see an enclosed garden divided into four parts.

When we combine these characters, we see the meaning of the character for "devil." The devil was crafty, tricky, and secretive in his private approach to Eve in the garden -- he caught Eve when she was alone; when Adam was not with her, and could not counsel or advise her against the devil's tempting. He spoke to Eve with the voice of a man so that she could understand. This whole event takes place in the garden of Eden. Afterward, Eve also tempted the man, Adam, and he fell to the temptation as well.

To form the "tempter" character, we first top the "devil" character with two trees. Although there were many trees in the garden of Eden, only two receive specific mention: (1) the "tree of life" and (2) the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2:9). Satan's specific temptation to Eve was to get her to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

We then add the character for "cover" to indicate that this temptation took place under the "cover" of the trees of the garden. Again, Satan does not do his work out in the open light. The Deceiver comes to us in subtilty and craftiness.

So, 'secret' + 'man' + 'garden' + 'devil' + 'trees' + 'cover' = "tempter"


COVET

The word "covet" or "desire" pictures a woman making a decision between two trees. Genesis 2:8-9 shows us that there were two significant trees side by side in the garden from which to choose. The woman made a wrong choice as we are told in Genesis 3:6. She chose the tree which God had commanded her not to eat of. She coveted the knowlege which the devil told her could be hers.


FORBIDDEN

Here again we see the two trees at the top of the character for "forbidden." The bottom portion of this character is an abbreviated form of a word for God plus an added little "hook" (bottom center) which changes the meaning from "God" to "God commands or notifies." So the word "forbidden" means "God makes a commandment about two trees." God in fact made specific commandments forbidding Adam and Eve to eat from either of the two trees (at different times). He first forbid them to eat of the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2:16-17). After they fell to temptation, He forbids them to eat of the "tree of life" (Genesis 3:22-24).
http://bibleprobe.com/chinese.htm

Here are some others:

Eve secretly eats from the Tree of Knowledge with her mouth. This first sin marks the beginning of humankind's sinful fall and descent from holy relationship with God.


After eating from the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Even become aware of their nakedness and hide in the trees. "Body is tree" characterizes this intent of camouflaging into the background.




All three of these characters mean "naked", and share the character for fruit as a component. If you were to design a language, why would you use the word for fruit to make the word "naked"? Genesis provides a contextual explanation for this choice. Adam and Eve hide their private areas with the leaves of a fruit tree; specifically, a fig tree.


God created human beings who could not only walk, but talk.


The first man was created from dust; the dust made alive.


Lamb + (above) me = Righteousness
In the Old Testament people sacrifice lambs for their sins. In the New Testament, Jesus died for our sins on the cross to offer us salvation. The only way to salvation is to accept Jesus who paid for our sins.

Also see this
FLASH PRESENTATION


12 comments:

Dr. Russell Norman Murray said...

That is an interesting presentation, Jeff, and something to think about.

jeleasure said...

Hey Jeff,
I left some reply comments for you on "Love One Another". I'll be back this evening after work to look at this item on Chinese characters and leave some comments.
Also, if you want to exchange links, let me know. I check in with your page from time to time because it is informative.
I will be removing some inactive bloggers from my side bar. I don't want too many there because people won't scan everything. And I really just want interesting, informative blogs listed.
Jim

jeleasure said...

Hey Jeff,
My wife and I looked at the today's presentation on your blog. We very sincerely appreciate it. Vicki's Son and Daughter in law, (can be seen on her blog http:vleasure.blogspot.com/ )
Are going to China this summer.
Isaac and Rei Chi married when they met at the Cincinnati Conservatory. Rei Chi had to go back to Taiwan to apply for her spousal visa, even after being married here.
Isaac decided to go with her. He taught English in a Chinese School. Then, without telling anyone, he applied to 9 different ivey league schools. He was accepted by all. Then once he was back in the states with Rei Chi, he announced that he is in Ithica studying law at Cornell.
I call Isaac the "pretender". As in the television program. His education began in music.
Any way, thank you for sharing this. It was good for Vicki and I to see this.
Jim

Jeff said...

That is an interesting presentation, Jeff, and something to think about.

Thanks, Russ, for all your faithful and continued comments.

Jeff said...

Also, if you want to exchange links, let me know.

Yeah, sounds good to me, Jim. Let's do it.

Jeff said...

My wife and I looked at the today's presentation on your blog. We very sincerely appreciate it.

Any way, thank you for sharing this. It was good for Vicki and I to see this.

Thanks for letting me know that, Jim. I appreciate that encouragement.

Vicki's Son and Daughter in law, (can be seen on her blog http:vleasure.blogspot.com/ )
Are going to China this summer.


Cool!

Then, without telling anyone, he applied to 9 different ivey league schools. He was accepted by all.

Wow, very impressive.

Then once he was back in the states with Rei Chi, he announced that he is in Ithica studying law at Cornell.

Cool!

I call Isaac the "pretender". As in the television program. His education began in music.

I remember that program. I used to really enjoy watching that show. That guy was cool.

jeleasure said...

Jeff,
I just posted your link to all three of my blog pages. You will have to visit Vicki and nudge her to do a link trade. That will work out good for you. She somehow gets more nation wide traffic than I do.
No one reads the study guide. So, if you refer anyone to my "Love One Another" page, let them know there is a study guide for each chapter. It was written for group study. However, it can be used from an individual, of course.
Also, it is o.k. to say you disagree with me. I am going to be looking for someone to write a preface for me.
A lot of what I wrote, I actually had to struggle with myself to allow for it to remain in the body of the text. Especially the text concerning Hebrews 5:8,9 and Hebrews 9:12.
I have had a few different ministers read my work. I even had one Minister with a Master in Theology read it and insert notes on in digital form. He really worked it over. And don't you know, he never said anything concerning my understanding of Hebrews 9:12 or 5:8,9.
I also went through my manuscript with the study guide with my small group. We worked on it for about six months. We discussed every part of it and I made some changes. However, what you see today is what we all agreed on.

Jeff said...

Jim,

It sounds like a lot of people have reviewed your material.

However, I could find large groups of people to back just about any belief. So the fact that a bunch of people agreed with you is no guarantee of its truth. A lot of people are voting for Obama, but that's no guarantee that he is the best candidate. Even people with degrees in Theology are no guarantee. I have seen people with Theology degrees who are very liberal, and others who are very legalistic.

In any case, I am getting ready to go to bed, because it is extremely late here. I will have to post your links at another time. I appreciate the fact that you said that its OK that I disagree with you. Most of my family is Charismatic (in fact, one of my brothers strongly supports Todd Bentley), and I disagree with them. Its also true that we will never agree on every single subject this side of Heaven. Our knowledge is not perfect. Only God is omniscient.

jeleasure said...

Yes, Jeff,
A lot of people have reviewed my project, randomly. The innitial work is not what you have read. It is by consulting and working with other believers (of different congregassions and denominations) that I produced the manuscript you read.
My views have been tamed more than omitted. As the group and pastor, as well as no negative feedback from other pastors have validated that I have a work of opinion based on Scripture. And it is important to me that people learn to accept God's Grace and learn to love. This is in fact the very reason I wrote the manuscript.
To be honest, I really struggled with my own thoughts. Such as Cain killing Abel, or James, brother of Jesus wanting to have Jesus killed; and to say that Jesus saved Himself (Hebrews 9:12, 5:8,9).
So, if I had difficulty in deciding to allow people to see these thoughts, I have already understood that people are not going to agree with everything I've written.
Jim

Jeff said...

BTW, the first time I ever heard about these Chinese characters being based on biblical accounts was a couple years ago from a woman from Indonesia who spoke fluent Chinese.

Jeff said...

Though I heard the same thing originally from an oriental friend, and I've also seen it elsewhere on the Internet, the information below (which is largely a repeat of what is pointed out in my blog article) comes from a woman who is a professional linguist, Chinese language instructor, and e-learning specialist for TutorChinese, who has her Masters in translation.

For example, with the Chinese word "Chuan," which in English means "boat" or "ship," the Chinese characters represents 8 people on a boat, the same number that was on Noah's Ark.

With the word "Fu" in Chinese, which in English means "blessing," the characters show God creating a garden. This reminds us of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, which was a blessing from God.

"Zao," which in English means "creation," has the the characters of dust, breath, life, and walk. Adam was from the dust, and God breathed into him the breath of life, and then Adam was given life and movement and was able to walk. Genesis 2:7 says, "the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."

"Lan" in English means "to covet or desire." The Chinese character can be deciphered as 'woman' and 'trees,' which pictures a woman making a decision between two trees. In Genesis 2:8-9, it says there was a tree of life and a tree of knowledge of good and evil.

"Jin" in English means "forbidden" (adjective) or "to warn" (verb). (Note also that Muslims believe in creatures called "jin.") The Chinese origin character demonstrates again how God asked Adam and Eve to choose between the two trees in the garden, and consists of segments that represent 'trees' and 'the command of God,' meaning "God made a commandment about the two trees."

The following information I found on a different website that I have not seen before (but it's basically saying the same thing as what I said in my blog article):

The Chinese word for "garden" is composed of combined characters meaning "dust," breath," "two persons," and "enclosure." The Chinese word for "devil" is composed of characters for 'secret,' 'man,' 'garden,' and 'alive.' The devil was crafty, tricky and secretive in his private approach to Eve in the garden, and he approached her when she was alone and Adam was not there (probably because one person is easier to fool than two people, since two people can talk it over). The devil spoke to Eve in the voice of a man so that Eve could understand his words. And of course, it takes place in the Garden of Eden. The Chinese word for "tempter" is composed of characters meaning 'devil' (made up of all the characters mentioned before), 'trees,' and 'cover.' The temptation took place under the "cover" of the trees of the garden. Satan does not do his work out in the open light, but in the darkness, in subtlety and craftiness, and often when we are alone. These basically tell the story of the fall of man in Genesis. Yet, supposedly, the Chinese language predates the Hebrew of the Old Testament by 700-1700 years! These characters give us further proof of the accuracy of the Old Testament account of Creation.

The Chinese for "to create" is composed of combined characters that stand for "speak," "dust," "life," walk," and "mud."

Jeff said...

In the movie "The God Makers," which is also a book that I own, they claimed that "Mormon" in Chinese means "Gates of Hell." Well, years ago, at a company I used to work at, there was a Chinese guy (from Hong Kong or China, I don't remember) who spoke Chinese, and I asked him if that were true, After thinking about it for a few minutes, he drew me a diagram and told me what all the pieces meant, and I labeled the pieces as he told me what they meant. I just now found the paper from years ago where he drew out the different characters for "Mormon" for me. It's 3 characters stacked on top of each other. If I understand it correctly, the top two characters mean "Mormon," and all three mean "Mormon Chow." The top one translates as "Mor," which means "magical tricks," and the bottom half of that piece translates as "ghost." The entire thing means "Hell." He told me that Mormon missionaries to China changed the written form of the Chinese characters to mean "praying hands," since the Chinese would not accept them, since "Mormon" means "Hell," and it is also a place in China where they practice voodoo, black magic, etc.

And of course Mormons believe that God is made of flesh and bone like us, and if God were to walk among us, He would look just like a man. Mormons also believe that a good Mormon has the potential to become a God and create His own universe, and the babies that he and his wives will have will be the spirits that inhabit the bodies on the planets that he creates. Mormons do not accept the Trinity in the same way that Christians do (they don't believe that God is a spirit, and they don't believe the Holy Spirit is a Person). They also don't believe in salvation by faith alone. So, Mormons basically believe in billions of gods, but they won't tell you that. They say they only worship one God, and that's because they worship the God of THIS universe.