In Between Panels

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

God in Ancient China is a video that was introduced to me by a friend a couple of weeks ago by my friend from college by way of an interesting trivia he showed us. He said that there were certain (ordinary) words when in written in Chinese characters reveal extraordinary origins. Origins that can only be traced to one particular people, place, incident leading to a much older story found in the Bible.

Now the idea of the ancient Chinese being a monotheistic people wasn't new to me, having learned about this episode of Chinese history in the book, Eternity in Their Hearts: Startling Evidence of Belief in the One True God in Hundreds of Cultures Throughout the World (which is highly recommended if you're interested in the subject of apologetics). It was there that I first encountered the name ShangDi:

Shangdi, (Chinese: “Lord-on-High”) Wade-Giles romanization Shang-ti, also called Di, ancient Chinese deity, the greatest ancestor and deity who controlled victory in battle, harvest, the fate of the capital, and the weather. He had no cultic following, however, and was probably considered too distant and inscrutable to be influenced by mortals. Shangdi was considered to be the supreme deity during the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 century bce), but during the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 bce) he was gradually supplanted by heaven (tian)*. (Encyclopedia Britannica Online)