Communism and Christianity

I've been reading a lot of books about China lately, and it's occurred to me that communism could possibly be one of the best things that has happened to Christianity in the 'Middle Kingdom'. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a communist in any sense of the word, but I do believe that some of the results of its rule in this particular country have been very helpful to Christians. In the West it is hard for someone to grasp how communism could possibly be beneficial. The cons seem to certainly outweigh the pros. But in keeping with the trend throughout history where God has used the foolish, weak, unimaginable, or even evil (think Joseph being sold into slavery) to accomplish His plan, I believe that the same thing is happening in China right now. 


There are a few things that have been very beneficial, especially for Christianity, that communism in China has accomplished. For starters, before the communists came to power in China in 1912, there was no standardized language in China. The push for a standard language throughout the country resulted in greater literacy, better profits for the literature world, as well as further uniting the country. With a standardized language a Bible would be able to have a far greater impact than one written in a minority language. A single Bible would be able to be read by people throughout the country rather than one particular region. 


During the time following 1912 the government both built and repaired thousands of roads making it that much easier for people to travel bringing whatever books, ideas, or beliefs they had with them, including Christianity.


The written language was also reformed during Mao Zedong's reign at this time. This further increased literacy rates making it easier for people to learn how to read. Those of us that do not speak or read Chinese as a mother language are very grateful for this. Characters that used to be very complicated such as this 廣,  now became much simpler, like this 广. By further increasing the literacy rate, more people would be able to read the Bible which helps to further Christianity.


Education throughout the country was also improved at this time which, like the simplification of Chinese characters, also led to higher literacy rates as well as the resulting benefits. 


When looking at the results, one can't help but notice that they are very similar to what happened to Christianity during the Pax Romana, the most peaceful time during Roman rule. The standard language, abundance of roads, lack of tragedy, and relative peace enabled Christianity to spread and flourish throughout Europe where it has maintained a foothold throughout much of history. At the moment it seems as if history is repeating itself.

What You've Been Looking For

Held aloft by slippery elm
Freedom proclaimed throughout the realm

With copper and tin Lester wrought
A symbol of why our fathers fought

Shelved because of brittleness
Inscribed by Leviticus

Bedford 1782
Tour its campus, find your clue

Search high and low, night or day
How many Williams in OK?

The "King Star"

In one of my Chinese classes my teacher, who formerly lived in China, told a very interesting story regarding one of the wise men. As it's getting close to Christmas time, I figured that this was a good time to post this.


While he (my teacher) was walking down the street one day with a friend. As they were walking the friend began to tell the story of how a very long time ago, one of the very important astrologers of the Chinese emperor saw a star in the sky and realized that this was the star of a king. The astrologer, wanting to pay a visit to the newborn king began the long journey to visit the king. My teacher's friend then said that the astrologer also brought a very nice gift with him, but could not remember the English word, though he did remember it started with an "f". My teacher asked if it could perhaps be frankincense. The friend, then very excited, said that this was exactly the word he had been looking for, and he was very curious as to how this American had known the name of the gift that the astrologer had brought.


After hearing this story I was very curious and wanted to know more. Here is what I've found.


According to many Chinese Christians, one of the wise men that visited Jesus when He was young was from China. Chinese Christians believe that this was an astrologer by the name of Liu Shang. The arguments that they have are sound pretty good too, if you ask me.


 Liu Shang was the chief astrologer for the Han rulers at the exact same time that Jesus was born. As an astrologer, he soon noticed that a new star in the west had appeared in the sky, a star known to the Chinese as the "king star". Supposedly, whenever the "king star" appeared in the sky a new king had been born. Shortly after seeing this star, Liu Shang disappeared for two years.


The Chinese were very advanced in their astronomy at the time and the Silk Road, one of the main roads of commerce that connected China to the West, was already in existence at this time. Shang could have easily taken this route west. A journey along this route at the time would have easily taken around one to two years to reach Jerusalem. It is interesting to note Matthew 2:16 at this point which says that King Herod, "gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi."


After finding all this out, I think that I've come to the conclusion that one of the wise men was Chinese. 

A Language's Genesis

I just finished my Chinese class for this semester not too long ago, and the last class dealt with a topic that I've been pretty interested in lately, how Chinese characters indicate that the ancient Chinese knew many of the stories told in the book of Genesis. 


To begin with, this is the Chinese character for field,


田


However, many people also interpret this as garden in some instances and the four lines that come from the middle remind one of the four rivers that flowed out from the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:10-11).


It's important to note this character when looking at the character for meaning "blessed".




福


One can see the "garden" at the lower right. The character at the left is a radical for God, the line at the top right means "one", and the box above the "garden" is commonly used to refer to a person. Someone that knows the Creation story can easily make the connection here. God places one man in a garden and he is blessed. There are many other characters like this.

船

This is the character for boat. If you remember from the example above, the box means person. The thing that looks like a pair of running legs means eight, and the character to the left means "vessel". Where would they have come up  with eight people in a vessel to mean boat? The story of Noah coincides perfectly with this character.

The link below is a great example of many other characters that show the relation between ancient Chinese and the book of Genesis. students.washington.edu/cbsf/cool/Chinese.swf

Also, though I haven't read it, the book God's Promise to the Chinese is supposed to contain hundreds of other characters that coincide with Genesis. answersingenesis.org has some good stuff too if you're interested.

Pay Attention

So as I'm walking down the sidewalk today on my way to lunch, there's a girl pushing another girl in a wheelchair. The girl doing the pushing accidentally dropped her bag, and as she bends over to get it her friend in a wheelchair goes straight into a bush.

A Future Hippy?

So I'm over halfway done for being a vegetarian and truth be told...it isn't that bad. Though there are somedays that I am extremely jealous of the meat eaters (the Rot just served gyros...I love gyros) for the most part I've been enjoying my lacto ovo vegetarian diet. As many people know I am a health nut to the extreme. Over the years I've noticed that I've gradually shifted to being more and more strict as far as what I eat. At first I all I did was quit drinking soda, then I gradually gave up junk food (chips, fried food, etc.), then finally dessert (it's spelled with two 's's because you always want more). I wonder if the day will come when I will finally give up meat all together. Will I ever become a vegetarian? If I do how long, if ever, will it be until I become a vegan? Only time will tell, I'm afraid. But I do fear the day that I can be found barefoot in a forest somewhere collecting roots to eat for dinner. I think my parents do too.

Whiteout

So the hall had a halloween party the other day where one of the guys dressed up as Obama, complete with graying hair and everything. When asked what he used to gray his hair his reply was,  "Whiteout".


As far as an update for the vegetarian thing goes, I've realized that I am completely in the hands of the Rot (what LU students affectionately call the cafeteria). If the Rot serves eggplant casserole in the vegetarian line I'm left with little other choice besides the salad bar. Needless to say, I've been eating a lot of salads lately.