Thank
you
Lu
Toy Wonders, Inc.
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201-229-1700
God and the Art of Toy and Diecast
Marketing
The Jews, the Chinese, a Serpent, Adam & Eve, and
Noah were walking down the road one day...
(part 2 of 2)
By L. S. Su
For those that missed part one, it might make sense to read that one before trying to understand all the Chinese in this one.
We know that the Chinese culture
is older than the Jewish culture. We know this because we know
approximately when Abraham (the first Jew) walk this Earth and
can compare it to Chinese artifacts and writing samples which
predate the time Abraham was dating his girl friend Sarah. We
also know approximately when the Torah was written, where we
get one of the earliest documented creation story.
But I don't think this is the only source of the creation story as understood by Jews, Christians, and Muslims today. I personally don't think the Torah
influenced the Chinese written language. I think what happened
is people tend to remember big event like a really big flood, a talking serpent, or losing access to one particular fruit tree that kept you eternally youthful. I think big events like this would have been told from generation to generation. Some ancient culture, would have written such events down. I think there are some words that have not changed for thousands of years like Damascus, Euphrates, Egypt, and the phrase "Where's the bathroom?"
Because of the pictographic nature
of the Chinese language, many of he events that took place very
early in mankind's history are embedded into Chinese words. I'm kind
of surprised that during Mao Zedong's "cultural revolution" , which
is a more positive way to spin "mass genocide", didn't purge these particular words when he got rid of books, anything associated with rebellion (for communist religion falls in that category), and put to death millions of Chinese. My guess is the pro-communist General didn't purge
certain Chinese words out of the language, because he didn't understand how these Chinese words related to the Creation and Flood story. I think what happened to Chairman Mao is what has happened to us today. We understand the word "berserk" and can use it in a sentence, but most have forgotten how we got this word. Maybe some really smart people know it's a Norse/Scandinavian word that means bear coat. But how did "bear coat" have anything to do with today's meaning for berserk is a mystery and they just let it go. But the point I'm making that certain words get passed down and continued to be used without the user understanding its origins.
Almost all Chinese words are formed
by smaller symbols and each have a meaning. Check this out.
The Chinese word for Garden is formed by using the word dust,
breath (or mouth), two with all three inside an enclosure. Note that most creation stories, if you look at various cultures, the world and man are birthed after something something violent occurs. There is only one creation story I know of where we're told we're made out of dirt and God breathed life into us.
Then the Lord God formed a man
from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life, and the man became a living being.-Genesis
2: 7
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. -Genesis 3:8
What I find kind of interesting is the Quran, written much later after the Torah, also has the garden of eden story in their book. However, some editor didn't like the idea of God walking, so all references of God has been removed from t heir book.
The Lord God said, “It
is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper
suitable for him.”Then the Lord God made a woman from
the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to
the man.The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother
and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. -Genesis
2: 18, 22-24
Most of us remember the infamous tree that both
Adam and Eve ate from. But most people don't remember
that there were two really import trees in the garden.
The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out
of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and
good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of
life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. -Genesis
2: 9
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree
was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable
for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave
some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. -Genesis
3: 6
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of
the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman,
“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any
tree in the garden’?” -Genesis
3: 1
This word I find very interesting. The Chinese word for vessel looks like a row boat to me. The word
boat is literally made up of the word vessel, the number eight,
and mouths. So boat in Chinese is better understood as a vessel with 8
mouths or people on it? How many stories do you know where
eight people board a boat?
On what was suppose to
be only a three hour tour, there was the Skipper, Gilligan, Ginger,
Mary Ann, the Professor and two Howells. That's only seven.
I think even today in the 21st century with all the movies (stories) out there, you would be hard pressed to find a famous story where 8 people board a ship. The only story I know is the one in the Bible:
On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham
and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three
sons, entered the ark. -Genesis:
7:13
Sources:
