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Quote:
{Quan} jumped up, picked out a long, firm stick, and drew a character in the sandy dirt. {...} It consisted of eight different strokes and would have taken Ben five times longer to draw.
"You know this word--it means 'to create, to begin, to come from.' This part means 'dust.' This is 'breath of mouth.' It's followed byyhr radical p'ieh, which is 'life.' The final two chracters are a mouth and walking. It means, 'from the dust, by the mouth was breathed life, and it walked.'"
"Do you know what Genesis 2:7 says, Ben?"
"Not offhand."
"'The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the grounf and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being'" He drew in the sand again, "Here is another." Quan was animated, his spirit soaring. "Do you see this?"
"Yes. It means 'spirit'."
"Very good. Look at the six components: heaven, cover, water, rain, three persons, and a magic-worker. Genesis 1 speaks of the Spirit of God, who is the third person of the Trinity, hovering over the waters as the miracle of creation is worked."
"But you can't seriously believe that--"
"And here is our character for desire." He drew quickly again. "What is it?"
"A woman with two trees."
{...}
"Genesis 3:6 says that woman saw the tree was good for food, and she desired it to make her wise. Look at this." He drew again. "The character for tempter is also part of the word devil. You see the two trees and garden? It literally means 'in secret, the man in the cover of the garden, by the two trees, was tempted by the devil.' Do you recognize that?"
"I'm not completely ignorant of the Bible."
"Quan wrote a new character next to it. "Now, the word chuan means 'boat' or 'ship.' The radical 'mouth' can be translated 'people' or 'dependents,' like 'mouths to feed.' The breakdown of the character is this: 'Eight mouths, meaning eight people, were in teh ship.' What does that mean?"
"I don't know."
"Think, Ben Fielding."
"I don't get it."
"Genesis says Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives entered the ark. Eight people."
"You're saying this Chinese character is about Noah and the ark?"
"That is what many of us believe. We do not think it's a coincidence. China is the most ancient culture. All ancient men knew about the Flood and the ark. All families told stories, passing them on for thousands of years. Every ancient culture has its story of the Flood. When China's language developed, would it not make sense to see our central stories reflected in our characters and words? It also means our ancient people may once have served the true God. In our language, God's history was preserved for all to see. All who have eyes to see, that is."
Quan drew quickly in the sand, then pointed. "What does this mean?" he asked.
"Hate."
"And what is this symbol that is part of it?" He pointed.
"Isn't that older brother?"
"Yes. The older brother is hating, striking out at the younger brother. Does this sound familiar?"
"Cain and Abel?"
"There are many more examples, but I will give you one, the most imporant." He drew frantically with the stick. "'Righteousness.' This character is a combination of two smaller ones: 'I' or 'me,' and 'lamb.' Compare to Genesis 4--Abel brought a sheep to sacrifice. God said if he would bring forth the best of his flock, he would forgive him and consider him righteous. Notice the lamb is positioned over the pronoun. The 'lamb' over 'me' means righteousness." Quan was speaking quickly, at a fever pitch. "Do you see?"
"Well...I'm not sure."
"Let yourself see, Ben Fielding! The character for righteousness presents the story of a lamb from above changing men below. Righteousness comes only from what has been done in the sacrifice of the lamb over me. This is more than the story of Abel's sacrifice. This is the death of Jesus! This is the gospel! It is right there in the characters of our language."
"You really think so?"
"Yes, Ben, I do! If I werew a history professor at a university, this is what I would teach my students. I would also point out that the lion and dragon are among our most ancient symbols. The banned book of Revelation calls Jesus the 'Lion of Judah' and Satan the 'dragon.' Confucius recorded in ShuJing how the emperor would sacrifice to Shang Di, but they had lost the reason and significance for the act. They used a largeoven to sacrifice sheep and cattle. This mirrors the Jewish sacrifice. Chinese can trace this sacrifice back to 3000 BC, before other nations' history began. Noah and his sons and their descendents migrated to each continent. As the most ancient of languages, Chinese takes us back closer to Genesis than anything else."
"You know this word--it means 'to create, to begin, to come from.' This part means 'dust.' This is 'breath of mouth.' It's followed byyhr radical p'ieh, which is 'life.' The final two chracters are a mouth and walking. It means, 'from the dust, by the mouth was breathed life, and it walked.'"
"Do you know what Genesis 2:7 says, Ben?"
"Not offhand."
"'The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the grounf and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being'" He drew in the sand again, "Here is another." Quan was animated, his spirit soaring. "Do you see this?"
"Yes. It means 'spirit'."
"Very good. Look at the six components: heaven, cover, water, rain, three persons, and a magic-worker. Genesis 1 speaks of the Spirit of God, who is the third person of the Trinity, hovering over the waters as the miracle of creation is worked."
"But you can't seriously believe that--"
"And here is our character for desire." He drew quickly again. "What is it?"
"A woman with two trees."
{...}
"Genesis 3:6 says that woman saw the tree was good for food, and she desired it to make her wise. Look at this." He drew again. "The character for tempter is also part of the word devil. You see the two trees and garden? It literally means 'in secret, the man in the cover of the garden, by the two trees, was tempted by the devil.' Do you recognize that?"
"I'm not completely ignorant of the Bible."
"Quan wrote a new character next to it. "Now, the word chuan means 'boat' or 'ship.' The radical 'mouth' can be translated 'people' or 'dependents,' like 'mouths to feed.' The breakdown of the character is this: 'Eight mouths, meaning eight people, were in teh ship.' What does that mean?"
"I don't know."
"Think, Ben Fielding."
"I don't get it."
"Genesis says Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives entered the ark. Eight people."
"You're saying this Chinese character is about Noah and the ark?"
"That is what many of us believe. We do not think it's a coincidence. China is the most ancient culture. All ancient men knew about the Flood and the ark. All families told stories, passing them on for thousands of years. Every ancient culture has its story of the Flood. When China's language developed, would it not make sense to see our central stories reflected in our characters and words? It also means our ancient people may once have served the true God. In our language, God's history was preserved for all to see. All who have eyes to see, that is."
Quan drew quickly in the sand, then pointed. "What does this mean?" he asked.
"Hate."
"And what is this symbol that is part of it?" He pointed.
"Isn't that older brother?"
"Yes. The older brother is hating, striking out at the younger brother. Does this sound familiar?"
"Cain and Abel?"
"There are many more examples, but I will give you one, the most imporant." He drew frantically with the stick. "'Righteousness.' This character is a combination of two smaller ones: 'I' or 'me,' and 'lamb.' Compare to Genesis 4--Abel brought a sheep to sacrifice. God said if he would bring forth the best of his flock, he would forgive him and consider him righteous. Notice the lamb is positioned over the pronoun. The 'lamb' over 'me' means righteousness." Quan was speaking quickly, at a fever pitch. "Do you see?"
"Well...I'm not sure."
"Let yourself see, Ben Fielding! The character for righteousness presents the story of a lamb from above changing men below. Righteousness comes only from what has been done in the sacrifice of the lamb over me. This is more than the story of Abel's sacrifice. This is the death of Jesus! This is the gospel! It is right there in the characters of our language."
"You really think so?"
"Yes, Ben, I do! If I werew a history professor at a university, this is what I would teach my students. I would also point out that the lion and dragon are among our most ancient symbols. The banned book of Revelation calls Jesus the 'Lion of Judah' and Satan the 'dragon.' Confucius recorded in ShuJing how the emperor would sacrifice to Shang Di, but they had lost the reason and significance for the act. They used a largeoven to sacrifice sheep and cattle. This mirrors the Jewish sacrifice. Chinese can trace this sacrifice back to 3000 BC, before other nations' history began. Noah and his sons and their descendents migrated to each continent. As the most ancient of languages, Chinese takes us back closer to Genesis than anything else."
Am I the only one who thinks this is cool?
