xīngqiú
(xīng·qiú
{star → [heavenly body]} · globe; sphere; ball → [celestial/heavenly body]
星球)
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One of the publications that is now recommended to be used on Bible studies is the
Yǒngyuǎn Xiǎngshòu Měihǎo de Shēngmìng—Hùdòng Shì Shèngjīng Kèchéng
((Yǒng·yuǎn
Eternally · {Far (in Time)}
永远
永遠)
(Xiǎng·shòu
Enjoy · Receive
享受)
(Měi·hǎo
Beautiful · Good
美好)
(de
’s
的)
(Shēngmìng
Life
生命)—(Hù·dòng
{Each Other} · Moving → [Interactive]
互动
互動)
(Shì
(Type
式)
(Shèng·jīng
Holy · Scriptures → [Bible]
圣经
聖經)
(Kè·chéng
Lessons · Procedure → [Course]
课程
課程)
→ [Enjoy Life Forever!—An Interactive Bible Course (lff)])
(Enjoy Life Forever! (lff)) book. This week’s MEotW, “xīngqiú
(xīng·qiú
{star → [heavenly body]} · globe; sphere; ball → [celestial/heavenly body]
星球)”, appears in lesson 6, point 2 of this book:
English:
[The earth] is the only known planet that can sustain human life.
Mandarin (WOL, Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音) Plus):
📖 📄 📘
Chúle
(Chú·le
{eliminating → [besides]} · {to completion}
除了)
dìqiú
(dì·qiú
earth · globe
地球),
mùqián
(mù·qián
eyes · before → [at present]
目前)
hái
((there) still
还
還)
méiyǒu
(méi·yǒu
not · {has had → [has been]} → [has not been]
没有
沒有)
fāxiàn
(fā·xiàn
{sent out → [developed]} · {appearing of} → [discovered]
发现/见
發現/見)
biéde
(bié·de
other · ’s
别的
別的)
xīngqiú
(xīng·qiú
{star → [heavenly body]} · globe → [celestial body]
星球)
shìhé
(shì·hé
{suitable for} · {closing with → [fitting with]}
适合
適合)
rénlèi
(rén·lèi
human·kind’s
人类
人類)
shēngcún
(shēng·cún
living · surviving
生存).
The above-quoted Mandarin sentence is noteworthy in that it was worded differently before, and was revised into the form quoted above for the current 2024-07 Printing of the Mandarin version of the Enjoy Life Forever! book.
Earthrise
This iconic picture shows Earth peeking out from beyond the lunar surface as the first crewed spacecraft circumnavigated the Moon.
Morphemic Breakdown
The first morpheme in this week’s MEotW, “xīng
(star [→ [heavenly body | bit; particle]]
星)”, literally means “star”, but in some contexts it can effectively mean “heavenly body”. (I suspect that in the past, this expression was used to refer to any and all of the points of light visible in the night sky, most of which are what we now call stars. Over time, though, scientists figured out that some of those points of light are technically not what they would call stars, but rather, planets, moons, etc. So, it could be that this revised understanding led to the effective meaning of “xīng
(star [→ [heavenly body | bit; particle]]
星)” to be revised from always being “star” to being the more general “heavenly body” in some settings.)
The next morpheme, “qiú
({ball (or anything shaped like a ball)}; sphere; globe
球)”, means “ball (or anything shaped like a ball); sphere; globe”. Besides appearing in “qiúsài
(qiú·sài
ball · game; competition; match
球赛
球賽)” (“ball game”), it also appears in “dìqiú
(dì·qiú
earth · globe
地球)” (“the earth”), which also appears in the quote above.
Taken together, the constituent morphemes in “xīngqiú
(xīng·qiú
{star → [heavenly body]} · globe; sphere; ball → [celestial/heavenly body]
星球)” effectively mean “celestial/heavenly body”, most of which are at least roughly ball-shaped.
A Mandarin expression used to directly, specifically translate “planet” is “xíngxīng
(xíng·xīng
travelling · {star → [heavenly body]} → [planet]
行星)”. “Xīng
(star [→ [heavenly body | bit; particle]]
星)” is used in the names of specific planets. For example, “Huǒ‐Xīng
((Huǒ
Fire
火)‐(Xīng
Star → [Heavenly Body]
星)
→ [Mars])” is “Mars” in Mandarin.
These days, many, including some serving in the Mandarin field, are fans of science fiction stories like those of Star Trek, Star Wars, etc. A common feature of such stories is the idea that humans will eventually travel to and live on other planets besides the earth. What has God’s organization said about this? Here are a couple of paragraphs that I found that comment on this idea, from the article “Space Exploration—What Does the Future Hold?”, in the September 8, 1992 issue of Awake! magazine:
What can be said from a Biblical viewpoint? True, man was told by God to ‘multiply and fill the earth.’ (Genesis 1:28) At the same time, he was given intelligence and an insatiable desire to know more about his context, including the biosphere, the stratosphere, and beyond. That context includes our tiny solar system and the stars beyond. Thus, King David was inspired to write some three thousand years ago: “When I see your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have prepared, what is mortal man that you keep him in mind, and the son of earthling man that you take care of him?”—Psalm 8:3, 4.
…
The Bible shows that Jehovah God, earth’s Maker and Landlord, will soon take action against this planet’s unruly and unrulable tenants. Only the truly meek will be left to inherit the earth. Then only will we get to see what further purposes God has in mind for an obedient human family.—Psalm 37:11, 29; Revelation 11:18; 16:14-16.
Also interesting is this paragraph that I found, from the Awake! article “Is There Life Beyond the Earth?”, from way back in 1973:
But what about the other planets? Were they put in space and into orbit for no reason at all? No, we cannot conclude that. All that God does has meaning and purpose. Obviously the Creator Jehovah God has a purpose for these planets, including the planets in our own solar system. In time, he may well reveal that purpose to obedient mankind. We should not be so shortsighted as to think that the earth is the center of the universe.
Many people today, including some Mandarin-speaking people whom we may meet in the ministry, are also fascinated by the idea that intelligent beings from other planets are visiting the earth in spacecraft that appear to people as unidentified flying objects (UFOs), unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), etc. Jehovah’s organization has warned us about what may be behind such phenomena. For example, the article “UFO’s—Messengers From God?”, in the July 8, 1996 issue of Awake! magazine, said:
Instead of assisting mankind to survive, stories about ‘nonhuman beings’ divert people’s attention away from what God actually requires for their everlasting welfare.
Who may try to steer mankind away from God’s means of survival, yet claim to represent God? Ed Conroy, in his book Report on Communion, states that “serious ufologists [those who study UFO’s] with training in the psychological and social sciences” include comparative studies of “‘bedroom visitors,’ ghosts, poltergeists, apparitions, religious visions, and what have been regarded as demons.” Many ufologists and those who claim to be extraterrestrials in human form state that using spaceships to travel is mostly unnecessary. They say that these beings can travel invisibly and materialize anywhere on earth without arriving in spacecraft.
The Bible warns that Satan and his demons are intent on misleading mankind. They take advantage of mankind’s despair and hopelessness to offer attractive, but false, solutions. (2 Corinthians 11:14) Hence, the Bible warning: “In later periods of time some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons.”—1 Timothy 4:1.
In like manner today, any supposed visits and seemingly beneficial guidance from such beings should be rejected, whatever form they may take. Those who would rather follow the advice of “extraterrestrials” than God’s Word are bound to be misled—a terrible mistake to make in these critical times.
The Only Possible Real Way to the Stars
In the Mandarin field, we have the privilege of helping Mandarin-speaking people to not be misled by the misinformation from Satan and the demons, but rather, to come to know and draw close to the true God Jehovah. Jehovah created all the stars, planets, and other celestial bodies in the universe, and, as mentioned above, he may in good time tell us more about his purpose for them. The only way to find out for sure about that is to do God’s will now, and make it into the new system that he will bring to the earth, this pale blue dot that we are now living on, and that is still the only celestial body we know of that can sustain human life.—1 John 2:17.
Pale Blue Dot
This narrow-angle color image of the Earth, taken from a distance of more than 4 billion miles (6.4 billion km) from Earth, is a part of the first ever “portrait” of the solar system taken by the Voyager 1 space probe. (Earth is the blueish-white speck almost halfway up the rightmost band of light.)
For convenience:
The direct link for the Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音) Plus resource for the Enjoy Life Forever! book is:
The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the Enjoy Life Forever! book is:
More Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音) and Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音) Plus web material based on the Mandarin Enjoy Life Forever! book will be made available in the Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音) Plus web resource as time allows.
