God is a Chinese god

It is the Devil’s scheme to profane God among the nations so that God is not
God but one of the gods of the nations. The Devil wants to blur the distinction
between God and god, and, as he had made Israel profane God’s holy Name
among the nations (Ezekiel 36.20, 21), he has succeeded to this day in making
God’s people profane Him in the world.

God has been profaned among the nations for hundreds of years by Christians
who address Him by the same word people give to their god or deity. God is
profaned by being addressed as shen, the same word for Chinese god, in
Christian publications, in some Chinese translations of the Bible, in writing,
speaking, hymns, prayer and worship. It started long ago when believers did
not bother to find out whether it was right to address God as shen. They
worshipped God and addressed Him in the name of a Chinese god. They did not
know they were profaning God in this way. They did not know then that there
are scriptures that speak against addressing God as shen. And hundreds of
years later, shen is still used to address God, and its use has spread far and
wide from Hong Kong (there the people worship Chinese gods and call their
gods shen, and, sad to say, the Christians address God also as shen) to other
countries through the Chinese Bible that uses shen to refer to God. The shen
edition of the commonly used Chinese Union Version Chinese Bible is published
by the Hong Kong Bible Society and is distributed worldwide, mainly in China

Look at the picture below.

Those who worship this Chinese god call him shen,
and when Christians call God shen, it implies God is
this Chinese god, and vice versa. It has made God
common with this god. It has brought God down to
the level of god

The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded God’s Name

to be hallowed (Matthew 6.9, Luke 11.2). The word
“hallowed” comes from the Greek hagiazo meaning
“to set apart” for God (Vine’s Dictionary), and, in
this case, God is not set apart from shen as it is
also used by people to refer to Chinese gods. The
Greek hagiazo for “hallow” also means to make the
Name of God, in this case, “the opposite of
common.” (Vine’s Dictionary) If God is addressed
as Shangdi [ 上 帝 ] which is also used to refer to God (this form of addressing
God is also found in some Chinese translations of the Bible), then His Name is
hallowed, as Shangdi is the opposite of the common term shen used by
people to refer to their Chinese gods.

People may be hindered from coming to know God

The people who worship Chinese gods may be happy that their shen (god) is
also the shen (God) of Chinese Christians. They may think their shen is
honoured, and equal to the shen of the Christians, that is, their Chinese god
shen is same as the Christian God.
Note the principle involved in this matter: whether God is addressed as God or
by any other word, in any language, His Name must be hallowed (enjoined by
the Lord Jesus Christ), that is, He must be so addressed that He is separate, set
apart from what other people call their god or deity, from the Allah of the
Muslims, the Chinese god shen etc.

You cannot use language, etymology and suchlike to defend and justify the use
of Allah, shen, etc to refer to God when those words profane Him. When people
used these words to refer to God long ago, they did not know of the principle
from the Word of God. Had they known of the principle, they would not have
used these words to refer to God in the first place.

You note “God” is used in this article because “God” is found in the King James
Bible and other English translations of the Bible. I daresay God has elevated
this word today to universal use to refer to Him only. Even atheists know the
word but deny the existence of God. You should also note that in the King
James Bible and other English translations, the word “god” is also found, but it
refers to pagan god. This is how the English translations distinguish God from
god in the translations even though they do not know of the principles
involved. The translators have found it right and proper to separate God from
god, but not so in some non-English translations. For example, in the shen
edition of the Chinese Union Version Chinese Bible, published by the Hong
Kong Bible Society, God is not distinguished from god. See how “God of gods,”
(eg Deuteronomy 10.17) is given in the shen edition of the Chinese Bible. To
help those who do not know Chinese, it is given simply here as “god [shen] of
gods [shen].” God’s Name is not hallowed but profaned. There is no distinction
there. In other Chinese translations, it is given this way: “God [Shangdi] of gods
[shen].” There is a distinction here. Of course they can use another word in
Chinese for God, not necessary Shangdi, as long that word distinguishes Him
from the word people give to their god or deity.

There is another important point. In some English translations of the Bible, the
pronouns for God begin with a capital letter for distinction. The reader will
know whether the pronouns refer to God or man. And we know God is not man.
There should be a distinction. Do not write Him as though He is man. In this
way, those translations hallow God’s Name even though the pronouns for God
do not begin with a capital letter in the original manuscripts.

DR JOHN SCLIM
Email address: drjohn.sclim@gmail.com
Website: http://comingworldevent.weebly.com