The original unknown god of China
An Ancient pictogram script points to the Bible
by Ethel Nelson
Mystery concerns the 450-year-old Temple of Heaven complex in
Beijing, China. Why did the emperors sacrifice a bull on the great
white marble Altar of Heaven at an annual ceremony, the years most
important and colourful celebration, the so-called Border
Sacrifice? This rite ended in 1911 when the last emperor was
deposed. However, the sacrifice did not begin a mere 450 years ago.
The ceremony goes back 4,000 years. One of the earliest accounts of
the Border Sacrifice is found in the Shu Jing (Book of History),
compiled by Confucius, where it is recorded of Emperor Shun (who
ruled from about 2256 BC to 2205 BC when the first recorded dynasty
began) that he sacrificed to ShangDi. 1
Who is ShangDi? This name literally means the Heavenly Ruler. By
reviewing recitations used at the Border Sacrifice, recorded in the
Statutes of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368 ), one may begin to
understand the ancient Chinese reverence for ShangDi. Participating
in this rite, the emperor first meditated at the Temple of Heaven
(the Imperial Vault), while costumed singers, accompanied by
musicians, intoned:
To Thee, O mysteriously-working Maker, I look up in thought.
With the great ceremonies I reverently honor Thee. Thy servant, I
am but a reed or willow; my heart is but that of an ant; yet have I
received Thy favouring decree, appointing me to the government of
the empire. I deeply cherish a sense of my ignorance and blindness,
and am afraid, lest I prove unworthy of Thy great favours.
Therefore will I observe all the rules and statutes, striving,
insignificant as I am, to discharge my loyal duty. Far distant
here, I look up to Thy heavenly palace. Come in Thy precious
chariot to the altar. Thy servant, I bow my head to the earth
reverently, expecting Thine abundant grace.
O that Thou wouldest
vouchsafe to accept our offerings, and regard us, while thus we
worship Thee, whose goodness is inexhaustible!2
Thus we find the emperor worshipping ShangDi. Can we possible trace
the original intention of this magnificent ceremony of antiquity?
As the emperor took part in this annual service dedicated to
ShangDi, the following words were recited, clearly showing that he
considered ShangDi the Creator of the world:
Of old in the beginning, there was the great chaos, without form
and dark. The five elements [planets] had not begun to revolve, nor
the sun and moon to shine. You, O Spiritual Sovereign, first
divided the grosser parts from the purer. You made heaven. You made
earth. You made man. All things with their reproducing power got
their being 3
For the Christian, the above recitation sounds strangely familiar.
How closely it reads to the opening chapter of the biblical
Genesis! Note the similarity with excerpts from the more detailed
story as recorded in the Hebrew writings:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth
was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the
deep.
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered
together unto one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was
so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together
of the waters called He Seas.
And God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day,
and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also.
So God created man in His own image;
(Genesis 1:1-2, 9-10, 16,
27-28 )
ShangDi, the Creator-God of the Chinese, surely appears to be one
and the same as the Creator-God of the Hebrews. In fact, one of the
Hebrew names for God is El Shaddai, which is phonetically similar
to ShangDi. Even more similar is the Early Zhou pronunciation of
ShangDi which is djanh-tigh [Zhan-dai].4 Another name for their
God which the ancient Chinese used interchangeable with ShangDi was
Heaven (Tian). Zheng Xuan, a scholar of the early Han dynasty said,
ShangDi is another name for Heaven (Tian).5 The great philosopher
Motze (408-382 BC) also thought of Heaven (Tian) as the
Creator-God:
I know Heaven loves men dearly not without reason. Heaven ordered
the sun, the moon, and the stars to enlighten and guide them.
Heaven ordained the four seasons, Spring, Autumn, Winter, and
Summer, to regulate them. Heaven sent down snow, frost, rain, and
dew to grow the five grains and flax and silk so that the people
could use and enjoy them. Heaven established the hills and river,
ravines and valleys, and arranged many things to minister to mans
good or bring him evil. 6
How did ShangDi create all things? Here is one further recitation
from the ancient Border Sacrifice rite:
When Te [ShangDi], the Lord, had so decreed, He called into
existence [originated] heaven, earth, and man. Between heaven and
earth He separately placed in order men and things, all overspread
by the heavens. 7
Note that ShangDi called into existence, or commanded heaven and
earth to appear.
Compare this with the way the Hebrew text describes the method of
creation by El Shaddai, who, we suspect, is identical with ShangDi,
and the similarity in name and role would suggest:
by the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host
of them by the breath of His mouth.
For He spake, and it was
done; He commanded, and it stood fast (Psalm 33:6, 9).
We have not yet explained the reason for the emperors bull
sacrifice to ShangDi. Let us compare this Chinese sacrifice with
the instruction given by God to the Hebrews:
Take thee a young calf for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt
offering, without blemish, and offer them before the LORD
(Leviticus 9:2)a practice which began in earliest times (Genesis
4:3,4; 8:20).
The origin of the Border Sacrifice would appear to be explained in
the book, Gods Promise to the Chinese.8 The authors, Nelson,
Broadberry, and Chock have analyzed the most ancient forms of the
pictographic Chinese writing and found the foundational truths of
Christianity. In these ideograms, which date from before the time
of Moseswe have the entire story of creation, the temptation, and
fall of man into sin, and Gods remedy for sin in the animal
sacrifices, which pointed to the coming Savior, Jesus Christ. All
the elements of the Genesis narrative are found recorded, and still
in use, in the Chinese character-writing.
The associated box shows some startling realities about the written
Chinese language, indicating that we are all relatedand not so
long ago. All people in the world, not just the Chinese, are
descended from the inhabitants of Babel, the first civilization
after the Flood. God first gave His promise of a coming saviour,
the Seed of the Woman, in Genesis (3:15). The foreshadowed
sacrifice of the coming Lamb of God, Creator and Saviour, is as old
as mankind.
Should a Chinese person tell you that Christianity is a
foreigners religion, you can explain that the Chinese in
antiquity worshipped the same God as Christians do today. Like the
Hebrews often did, the ancestors of todays Chinese wandered off
after false gods; the memory of who their original God was dimmed
with time.9 The ancient Chinese script gives powerful evidence for
the historical truth of Genesis.
taken from http://www.answersingenesis.org/
