OUTSIDE FELLOWSHIP EVANGELISTIC BIBLE STUDY (EBS) MATERIALS Zhong Ri Jia Mei 139 Speyside Dr. Oakville, ON Canada L6L 5Y1 You are free to use these materials as you see fit. Suggestions for improvements would be appreciated. If you have other materials that you have found to be effective in Evangelistic Bible Studies (particularily for non-North American students) in either English, Chinese (GuoBiao format), or Japanese (any format), a copy on computer disk would be appreciated. I am not sure of the origin of the following study. If you know of the writer or contact person for the original version of this study, please inform me at the above address so the correct citations can be made. ------------------------------------------------------- INVESTIGATIVE BIBLE STUDIES FOR CHINESE AND OTHER SCHOLARS LESSON #0 -- INTRODUCTION China can boast of 4,500 years of unbroken civilization! Thus, it has one of the most beautiful, descriptive continuous languages in the world - beautiful, in that its characters are fashioned with the most artistic strokes and descriptive, in that the characters are the represen- tation of both ideographic and phonetic elements. These characters have surived intact with very little modification in the meaning of their constituent parts, although the actual written forms have undergone stylistic changes. These ancient characters tell the unique story of man in a most unusual way, being developed years before the first page of the Bible was written from the oral tradition! Consider each of the following characters and form your own conclusions. Evaluate the message that they portray and the responses that they require. ------------------------------------------------------- LESSON #1 -- GOD emperor + above = Shang Ti (Shang Dai) (Hebrew: Shaddai = Almighty or All-sufficient) heaven + cover + water = rain rain + 3 persons(mouths) + worker of magic = Spirit In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:1,2 From the material above, what concepts about God do you feel that the early Chinese and Hebrews held? Taoist and Buddhist concepts arrive in the fifth Century BC and the first century BC, respectively. How do they differ? ------------------------------------------------------- LESSON #2 -- MAN dust/mud + 'pieh'(life,motion) + mouth(breath of) = to talk to talk + walking = to create God + first + mouth/person + garden = happiness or blessing rays + first + man = light As the Lord... Psalms 104:1,2 .... Thou art clothed with honour and majesty, who coverest thyself with light as with a garment. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness male and female he created them. The Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being...and he put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and eil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die. Excerpts - Genesis 1 and 2 What do you learn about the nature of man above? ------------------------------------------------------- STUDY #3 -- MAN'S PROBLEM secret + man + garden + alive = devil devil + trees + cover = tempter trees + woman = desire/covet offender + knife = punishment punishment + weeds = thorns Now the serpent said, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?" The woman said, We may eat of the trees of the garden but not of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, lest we die." But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. ....to Adam the Lord said, ...cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you... Excerpts from Genesis 3 What do you learn here about the source of the temptation? What do you learn here about man's nature? What do you learn about the result of this experience? ------------------------------------------------------- LESSON #4 -- GOD'S REMEDY hand + lance = me me + sheep = righteousness The man called his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them. Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have gotten a man (with the help of)(even)the Lord. And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. ....and in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. Excerpts - Genesis 3 and 4 Hebrews 9:22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. What do you feel is the significance of a sacrifice such as these described above? Why might this be a remedy? cf. John 1:29 ------------------------------------------------------- LESSON #5 -- GOD'S REMEDY -- SOME RESPOND vessel + eight + mouth/person = boat Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence, for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh; I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh; everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring to of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. (Ark: 450 ft. X 75 ft. X 15 ft. - 3 stories) In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. The ark floated on the face of the waters and the waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. (22.5 ft.) ...I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. The waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. The sons of Noah went forth from the ark; and from these the whole earth was peopled. Excerpts from Genesis 6,7,9 What does this story tell you about God? What does this story tell you about man? What significance might you give to the ark? Cf. Matthew. 24:37-39 ------------------------------------------------------- LESSON #6 -- A UNIVERSAL MESSAGE mankind + one + mouth/speech = unite united + grass = undertake undertake + clay = tower Cush, son of Ham, became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before (against) the Lord. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar. Now the whole earth had one language and few words. In the land of Shinar they said to one another, Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly. Let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." And the Lord said, Behold, they are one people, with one languages and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel. Excerpts from Genesis 10,11 What do you see here about the nature of man? Why do you feel that the Lord chose to scatter these people? Cf Revelation 18:2,4 "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! Come out o her, my people, lest you take part in her sins" ------------------------------------------------------- LESSON #7 -- SUMMARY A bridge illustration is used (just pictures). Of a man using wood to try to build a bridge across as chasm. He tries to build and gets partly across but then it breaks and he gets back to his side but has no hope of crossing. Then a new, good bridge appears and he can walk across and so is happy Romans 3:23 and 6:23 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; the wages of sin is death. I Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit. Romans 10:12,13 For there is no distinction...every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. ------------------------------------------------------- Notes.... (Primary reference: The Discovery of Genesis, C.H.Kang and Ethel R. Nelson, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, M0 1979) 0. NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION -- 0.1 The Chinese, as well as other cultures, can trace their probable origins to the Babylo-Assyrian region. There are numerous parallels to be found in art, science, and government. The Chinese early history (2500 BC) contains stories that were written and preserved in the characters 700-1,000 years before he Bible was written from the oral tradition. 0.2 From a religious viewpoint, the Bible is not a 'closed system , that is, there are secular sources which lend credibility to its record. Among these non-Biblical sources include 1) Language forms (as observed in this study), 2) Archeology, 3) History, 4) Statistic and 5) Science. (Examples of archeology include 'the black stele' of Hammurabi; examples of history include the 'unknown Hittites' and the Ebla tablets discovered in Syria in 1976; examples of statistics include the prophecies of the Christ - 8 of the 60 major prophecies being literally fulfilled would parallel 1 to 10 to the 17th power; two of the most interesting scientific proofs include the death of George Washington through blood-letting vs. Leviticus. 17:11 and the missing day discovered by computers when planning the space program see Joshua 10:12,13 and II Kings 20:10-15) [CAUTION FROM ZHONG RI JIA MEI :: comment on space program may be an incorrect rumour] 0.3 It is often mistakenly assumed -that Christianity is a "eastern religion and has no place in the oriental tradition or culture. On the contrary, the Bible is mid-eastern in its geographic setting and universal in its message! 1. NOTES TO LESSON #1 -- GOD Shang Ti (Shang Dai) 1.1 The Shu Ching (Book of History, compiled by Confucius and found hidden in the wall of his house when it was pulled down in 140 BC ) tells us that Emperor Shun ( 2230 BC ) ' sacrificed to Shang Ti.' This ceremony had reference to what became known as the border sacrifices because at the summer solstice the emperor took part in ceremonies to the earth on the north border of the country, while at the winter solstice he offered a sacrifice to heaven on the southern border. 1.2 During the first three dynasties (Hsia, Shang, and Chou) c. 2205-255 BC, this monotheistic god-concept prevailed. Other common names for God included T'ien (heaven) and Shen (God,a spirit) 1.3 Possible god-concepts of the Chinese and Hebrews include: King, Emperor or Supreme Being; mighty, powerful, self-sufficient, exalted above man; Spirit-Being, Tri-unity, Creator 1.4 Taoist and Buddhist concepts differ, introducing ancestor-worship, magic and divinations and philosophic 'religious atheism'. 1.5 The youthful Ch'in Shih Huang-ti came to the throne of the Ch'in dynasty in 246 BC, and within 25 years had conquered all of Chin's separate warring states; he declared himself the first universal emperor. He completed the Great Wall, built roads, canals, and standardised the style of writing the Chinese characters. He burned the ancient classics and records and buried alive over 400 Confucian scholars. Under the in- fluence of the Taoists, he allowed the erection of an addition four altars to the white, green, yellow, and red "Tis" (heavenly rulers). 1.6 With his death, a famous Taoist, Sin Hwan-p'ing influenced the Han emperor Wan in 166 BC to offer the first imperial sacrifices to the additional Tis, contrary to the teachings of old. 1.7 During the Ming Dynasty, two committees of historians were appointed about 1369 AD to investigate the original rituals. They reinstituted the ritual of Chou, by which the emperor worshipped a solitary heavenly ruler, Shang Ti. * 1.8 * James Legge, 'The Notions of the Chinese Concerning God and Spirits', Hong Kong Register Office,1852, p . 50, 44 2. NOTES TO LESSON #2 -- MAN ' 2.1 created in God's image, including Body, Soul, Spirit (3 in 1). made from the basic elements but a spirit-being too. 2.2 designated for blessing and fellowship/communication with responsibilities and obligations/limitations (untested) 3. NOTES TO LESSON #3 -- MAN'S PROBLEM 3.1 a talking serpent: 3.1.1 questions God's authority 3.1.2 claims life is not terminal (cf reincarnation or evolution) 3.1.3 says man is to be his own 'god' (cf humanism or atheism) 3.1.4 through a superior knowledge (cf enlightenment, esoteric mystery cults) 3.2 man, heretofore untested, becomes oriented to natural cravings 3.3 the result: nakedness or exposure, a loss of original dignity or glory; blessing turned to hardship and struggle - personal, social, economic, physical struggle 4. NOTES TO LESSON #4 -- GOD'S REMEDY 4.1 an animal life was sacrificed to atone (cover or substitute by identification) for the failure of he man and woman 4.2 Adam and Eve expected a Saviour (a man-child, even the LORD), but their first-born, Cain, had no regard for the faith/repentance system of sacrifice and also became a murderer 4.3 Note: Jesus is called the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 5. NOTES TO LESSON #5 GOD'S REMEDY-- SOME RESPOND 5.1 One hundred (100) years elapsed between God's announcement to Noah and theactual day of judgment, allowing for witness and repentance 5.2 God is seen as: Righteous, a Judge of evil, willing to preserve purity and truth (through Noah and 7 others); God is faithful, covenant-keeping 5.3 man is seen as corrupt, violent, terminal, under God s judgment but with the potential for right-eousness and obedience 5.4 POINT: a decision has to be made! -- 6. NOTES TO LESSON #6 -- A UNIVERSAL MESSAGE 6.1 the nature of man: a common origin and language, creative, industrious, engineering ability, desire for renown (pride), desire for power and unity 6.2 scattered because felt nothing was impossible for themselves, ie, self-sufficient, not dependent on Creator, roots of occultic-humanism 6.2.1 Nimrod = 'let us rebel' mighty man = gibor (Hebrew), tyrant 6.2.1.1 the legends tell us that Nimrod sought to be worshipped; Semiramis, his wife called him the Sun-god after his death. Her illegitimate son, Tammuz (perfect through fire), she called the reincarnation of Nimrod. Thus she called herself the mother of God , the Queen of Heaven. This was the root of the 'family of gods' or fertility-cult worship which is traceable throughout many countries (Sun, Moon, Stars - symbols of). 6.2.1.2 see also: Baal (Hebrew word for Tammuz) - a fertility-cult worship, bull symbol, etc. 6.2.1.3 see also: Asheram (Hebrew), Astarte (Semitic), Istar (Mesop), Aphrodite (Greek), Venus (Latin), Indrani (Indian), Diana (Ephesian) Devaki(Indian), Hertha (German.), Isis (Egypt), Shing moo (Chinese), (Mother & Child) 6.2.1.4 These cults reflect the Christ concept but allow it to be modified by earthly measure tus denying the redemption message. (humanism usurps theism) 7. NOTES TO LESSON #7 -- SUMMARY 7.1 What do you see? How do you think he feels? Have you ever been in a similar situation? Describe it. 7.2 How does this show the message of Christ? 7.3 How is this different from the common works-type religion?