Last night, someone shared a video of the “Eight Blessings of Heaven” on Facebook.
Lawrance watched it, and since it was really catchy I asked about it. He simply said, “oh, it’s the eight Christian blessings.”
And then the cogs in my brain started turning. First I thought: “That’s really cool. Some Chinese person who knows that eight is an auspicious number meaning blessing and fullness created a neat way to share truth.”
Then I thought: “Hmmm, I wonder how they choose only eight. I wonder what those eight blessings are. I wonder if they’re truly biblical.”
Fast-forward to today. Lawrance found another video with hundreds of people dancing in the street at an event called “Kaohsiung for Jesus.”
I wanted to watch it for myself, so he sent me the link. It was only then that I realized that “Heaven’s Eight Blessings” were the “Beatitudes”!
So, um, yeah. That’s pretty biblical. I never before realized there were eight of them. I have no idea if that number had significance to the immediate culture Christ was “opening his mouth and teaching” to, but it sure does have a lot of significance to the Taiwanese and Chinese! How cool!!!
Watch and see for yourself, how Taiwanese have turned the “Eight Blessings of Heaven” into a dancing chant:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
(Matthew 5:3-10 ESV)
No comments:
Post a Comment