"God and the Ancient Chinese"
An Adaptation of the book by Samuel Wang and Ethel R. Nelson, (c) 1998
By Gary L. Clendenon, 2024
About Samuel Wang (p. x):
Before becoming a Christian, Samuel Wang spent many years as a leading Yoga teacher in China. He had studied under a famous Hindu guru and had translated, published, and distributed scores of titles of Yoga scriptures, including Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, all over China, and had raised up several groups of Yoga enthusiasts among Chinese university students.
From the Authors (p. vi-viii):
詩以抒志 , 文以達道
“Poetry is to express one’s will, and writings to convey the Dao [Tao, Truth].”
This is a faithful Chinese saying. The great Dao of Heaven and the teachings of early Chinese kings and sages were faithfully recorded in ancient Chinese writings over a period of 2,000 years before Christ. Much can be learned from modern Chinese and Westerners alike, from the way God dealt with the ancient Chinese.
God and the Ancient Chinese is a unique, comparative study of the Chinese classics with the Bible showing evidence that the God of the ancient Chinese is the God of the Bible [emphasis by Gary].
Samuel Wang: My interest in the Bible was first kindled by attending lectures given by an American teacher in my graduate program. He always closed his class by analyzing a Chinese character, and relating the corresponding story recorded in “his favorite book,” a phrase he used in a communist classroom, indicating the Bible. All the students were amazed to see the vital connection of Chinese characters to the Holy Bible. Later that teacher gave me a copy of Discoveries in Genesis, the book he had used for the character studies. That was my first acquaintance with the name of Dr. Ethel Nelson, the other author of this book. Dr. Nelson’s Chinese character-study books have planted the seeds of Heaven in the hearts of many modern Chinese, including myself. I realized and accepted for the first time the most obvious and scientific fact: modern Chinese come from the ancient Chinese; and the ancient Chinese come from God, not Peking Man!
Gary: Here’s a sample of just one of those many Chinese character studies:
There is a Chinese word for “ship or large boat” 船, which can be separated in 3 characters 舟 (boat), 八 (eight) and 口(mouth). 八口 points to eight people, very likely pointing to Noah’s family of eight and the Biblical story of The Great Worldwide Flood. Chinese words are all pictograms which can speak stories from them, and the connection between these two is astonishing and convincing. (1)
Samuel: If our Chinese characters could entail so much information about God, how much more could the ancient writings, written with these same characters, reveal God to us? My parents were schooled in the Chinese classics—literally having to memorize the Four Books, a collection of Confucius’ and Mencius’ teachings. With that background, my parents ready acceptance of Christianity convinced me more than anything else that there must be a close connection between the teachings of Chinese sages and of Jesus. This led to the study which led to the writing of this book. It is our wish that, in light of the Bible, this book will restore the teachings of the ancient sages and kings, and be of some help in kindling the ancient love for God in the hearts of the Chinese and all who read these words.
STAY TUNED FOR CHAPTER ONE!
FOOTNOTE:
1. https://armstronginstitute.org/389-finding-evidence-of-noahs-ark-in-a-single-chinese-word
