One of the primary characteristics that separate human behavior from animals’ is the ability to transfer abstract concepts to another human via written language. The Bible teaches that this ability came directly from our Creator. It also teaches that the vastly different languages of the world are a result of the confusion of one original language during an event known as the tower of Babel. Our English word babble (meaning gibberish, chatter, nonsense) has it roots in this event. Modern scientific studies really have no better explanation because it is still a mystery how totally different languages could have developed by any natural process.
There should be accounts in ancient cultures for Biblical events such as the creation of man, the fall of man, the existence of a single creator (God), the world wide flood, and the tower of Babel; if these were actual happenings in time and space. Knowledge of all these events can be found not just in the Bible, but in the ancient writings of people throughout the world.
One of the more interesting collaborations can be found within the very characters of ancient Chinese letter symbols. Ancient Chinese writing consisted of a series of word pictures or pictographs which combined separate features to express an idea or concept. Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism dominate the religious beliefs of China today. However, 2000 years before the appearance of any of these religious beliefs, the ancient Chinese served a single creator god known as “Shang Ti”. The symbol for Shang Ti (God) is a combination of the symbol for emperor and the symbol for heaven (or above).
Thus, the original God worshiped by the Chinese was a single heavenly emperor (not many gods).
The Bible states that God created man from the dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life. This is presented as a factual event and the original Biblical language is not poetry, but a narrative description of a literal event. We even read in Matthew that Jesus Christ referred to this event as a true happening rather than a symbolic concept, “Have you not read that in the beginning He made them man and women.” The ancient Chinese symbol for create is a combination of person (or breath), dust, walking, and alive.
Thus, to create, is to have dust walk, breathe, and live.
The Bible further describes a world wide flood catastrophe in which all human life with the exception of eight individuals on a floating vessel were destroyed. The ancient Chinese symbol for ‘boat’ is vessel, eight, and people.
Thus, a boat is eight people on board of a vessel!
The Bible again states that man was told to spread out over the earth after the worldwide flood. Yet, he rebelled and built a tower to his own glory. God ended this rebellion by confusing man’s language so that the people set out and journeyed across the globe in different language groups. Interestingly, the ancient Chinese chose to use the identical symbol for confusion and rebellion ... a combination of tongue and right leg (or journey).
Thus, to confuse is to set out on a journey with a new tongue (or language).
These are just a few of the many examples of the historical knowledge of the Bible that the ancient Chinese people must have had as they developed their written language. Many more examples can be found in an excellent book by C.H. Kang and Ethel Nelson called The Discovery of Genesis.
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