The Flood And Tower Of Babel... In Chinese
We continue this week, looking at the relationship between the Chinese language and the events revealed in the book of Genesis. Last week, we noticed several Chinese signs which related the story of Genesis 1-4, from the creation to the temptation, from the consequences of sin to the first murderer. What is most intriguing about the link between Chinese and the book of Genesis is that this pictural language predates the writing of the Genesis record in the Hebrew language.
Righteousness
From the very beginning, the Bible reveals the need for sacrifice to remedy sin. The first obvious case of animal sacrifice in the Scripture is seen with Abel, who "...brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat..." (Genesis 4:4). The Chinese symbol for RIGHTEOUSNESS i ME and SHEEP.
ME is comprised of two pictures, HAND and LANCE (knife). Consider that this combination of a HAND, a KNIFE, and a SHEEP pictures animal sacrifice, which the Bible teaches as necessary to make one who has sinned righteous.
The Flood
Picking up in Genesis 6, we find the wickedness of man was great in the earth. The Lord described it in these words, "...the earth is filled with violence through them..." (Genesis 6:13).
Recall, last week, we saw the Chinese character for VIOLENT or CRUEL, which symbol calls to mind Cain, who was Abel's older brother, who had a mark placed on him by the Lord. The whole world had gone in the way of Cain. Thus, God commanded Noah to build an ark, in which he, his wife, his three sons and their wives (8 people) would be saved.
The Chinese picture for a LARGE SHIP consists of three simpler signs, BOAT, EIGHT, PERSON. It is easily understood what a boat has to do with a large ship, but eight people? But this reference to eight persons makes sense when Noah and his family are considered.
NOTE - this material is just a small sample of the huge amount of evidence which exists for a link between the Chinese language and Genesis 1-11. To date, through additional study in the Chinese language, I have found 87 characters which tell the story of Genesis.
“These symbols were in use prior to the time of Moses writing the Genesis record in the Hebrew language!”
After the flood, what was the total population of the earth? Eight, right? Interestingly, the Chinese symbol for TOTAL is made of three other characters, EIGHT, UNITED and EARTH. These eight together were the total population of the earth. Take the symbol for TOTAL, and add to it the Chinese picture for WATER, and the result is FLOOD.
How is it that these and other details were known to the ancient people of China? They didn't have the Bible to provide the details of what happened in the beginning times. How did they come to know these things. Quite simply, the stories of former days were HANDED DOWN by word of mouth. From where? From the EIGHT WATER PEOPLE, Noah and his family, who survived the worldwide flood.
The Tower Of Babel
After the population of the earth increased, the people began to build a city and a tower, to "...make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." We're told, "...the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, 'Indeed, the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do..." (Genesis 11:4-6). The Chinese symbol for TOWER has five simpler pictures in it: GRASS, CLAY, MANKIND, ONE, and MOUTH. As these people built their tower, the LORD noted that mankind was of one language (mouth).
As a result, the LORD confused the language of the people, and "...scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth..." (Genesis 11:7-8) The Chinese picture for MIGRATE combines four words: WALK, WEST, GREAT, and STOP. Those who ended up (stopped) in China walked from the west, following this great dispersion of mankind from the tower of Babel.
Note, the Chinese symbol for WEST, which takes us right back to the garden of Eden, made up of ONE MAN in an ENCLOSED garden.
Again, how interesting it is to see the story of Genesis, at least through the tower of Babel illustrated in the Chinese language. These things, passed by tradition among the Chinese, were incorporated into their language prior to the writing of Genesis! What a powerful indication that the record of Genesis is true, as it reveals in greater detail items spoken of among the ancients.
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Answering The Atheist
The Atheist's Complaint:
Were the disciples frightened (Luke 24:37) or gladdened (John 20:20) when they saw Jesus? Is there a contradiction?
Response:
Rather than setting one verse from Luke's account against one verse from John's account, the questioner would demonstrate more honesty by looking at the two contexts together to get the whole picture.
Notice, the two texts together reveal a time frame that includes both the disciples fear and their joy:
- Jesus came in the midst of the disciples and said, "Peace to you." (Luke 24:36; John 20:19)
- At first, they were frightened, believing that they had seen a ghost (Luke 24:37)
- Jesus asked why they doubted, and showed His wounds to them (Luke 24:38-40; John 20:20)
- Jesus' disciples were then glad (Luke 24:41; John 20:20)
There is no contradiction.
This article is in response to Skeptic's Annotated Bible.