jiéjīng (jié·jīng {tied (into a knot) → [formed]} · crystal → [crystallized | crystal; crystallization | crystalline] 结晶 結晶) 👈🏼 Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”
[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”. 📖 📄 📘 icons mean 📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and 📘 Reveal None re all the “flashcards” in the heading, paragraph, etc. that they are placed at the beginning of.]
The Shēngmìng Láizì Chuàngzào Ma? ((Shēngmìng Life 生命) (Lái·zì Came · From 来自 來自) (Chuàng·zào Initiating · {Making, Creating} → [Creating] 创造 創造) (Ma [? ptcl for “yes/no” questions] 吗 嗎)? → [Was Life Created? (lc)]) (Was Life Created? (lc)) brochure and the Shēngmìng de Qǐyuán—Zhíde Sīkǎo de Wǔ Ge Wèntí ((Shēngmìng Life 生命) (de ’s 的) (Qǐ·yuán {Rising → [Starting]} · Source → [Origin] 起源/原)—(Zhí·de Worth · Getting → [Worth] 值得) (Sī·kǎo {Thinking About} · Examining 思考) (de ’s 的) (Wǔ Five 五) (Ge [mw] 个 個/个) (Wèn·tí Asking · Subjects → [Questions] 问题 問題) → [The Origin of Life—Five Questions Worth Asking (lf)]) (The Origin of Life—Five Questions Worth Asking (lf)) brochure were originally published back in 2010, but relatively recently, the English version of the Was Life Created? brochure was updated to the December 2022 Printing, and the Mandarin version of it was updated to the February 2023 Printing. Also, the Was Life Created? brochure and the Origin of Life brochure are now in the Teaching Toolbox section in the JW Library app. So, it would be good to consider some of the expressions used in the Mandarin versions of these publications that can be so helpful when discussing whether life was created.
It’s Crystal Clear
This week’s MEotW, “jiéjīng (jié·jīng {tied (into a knot) → [formed]} · crystal → [crystallized | crystal; crystallization | crystalline] 结晶 結晶)”, occurs in the box at the end of the QUESTION 1 section of the Origin of Life brochure, which section is entitled, in English, “How Did Life Begin?”:
Question: What takes greater faith—to believe that the millions of intricately coordinated parts of a cell arose by chance or to believe that the cell is the product of an intelligent mind?
Mandarin (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus):
📖 📄 📘 Qǐng (please 请 請) xiǎngxiang (xiǎng·xiang {think about} · {think about} 想想): Xìbāo (Xì·bāo tiny · womb → [cell] 细胞 細胞) de (’s 的) wúshù (wú·shù without · number 无数 無數) bùfen (parts 部分) cuòzōng (cuò·zōng {are interlocked → [are intricate]} · {are combined → [are composite]} → [are intricate] 错综 錯綜)‐fùzá (fù·zá {are turned around → [are compound]} · {are mixed} → [are complex] 复杂 複雜), xiānghù ({with each other} 相互) xiétiáo (xié·tiáo {assisting → [coordinatedly]} · {are regulated → [fit in perfectly]} → [coordinate] 协调 協調), nǐ (you 你) rènwéi (rèn·wéi {do identify} · {(it) to be} (that) 认为 認為) xìbāo (xì·bāo tiny · womb → [cell] 细胞 細胞) shì (is 是) pèngqiǎo (pèng·qiǎo {having bumped into} · {being coincidental} → [by chance] 碰巧) chǎnshēng (chǎn·shēng {given birth to → [produced]} · {given birth to → [caused to exist]} → [brought into being] 产生 產生) de ({’s (thing)} 的), háishi (hái·shi {still more → [or]} · {is (it)} 还是 還是) zhìhuì (zhì·huì wisdom · intelligence → [wisdom] 智慧) de (’s 的) jiéjīng (jié·jīng {tied (into a knot) → [formed]} · crystal → [crystallization] 结晶 結晶) ne ([? ptcl] 呢)? Nǎ (which 哪) yí (one 一) yàng (form → [way] 样 樣) cái ({only then} 才 才/纔) shì (is 是) bùkě (bù·kě (one) not · can → [(one) cannot] 不可) zhìxìn (zhì·xìn place · {believing in} → [believe (usually used in the negative)] 置信) de ({’s (way)} 的) ne ([? ptcl] 呢)?
It’s Really Crystal Clear
The MEotW post on “cuòzōng (cuò·zōng {[is] interlocked and jagged → [[is] intricate]} · {[is] combined → [[is] composite]} → [[is] intricate; complex; tangled] 错综 錯綜)‐fùzá (fù·zá {[is] turned around → [[is] compound; complex]} · {[is] mixed} → [[is] complicated; complex] 复杂 複雜)”, which occurs a bit before this week’s MEotW “jiéjīng (jié·jīng {tied (into a knot) → [formed]} · crystal → [crystallized | crystal; crystallization | crystalline] 结晶 結晶)” in the above-quoted paragraph, contains this sentence:
In “cuòzōng (cuò·zōng {[being] interlocked and jagged → [[being] intricate]} · {[being] combined → [[being] composite]} → [[being] intricate; complex; tangled | (mental) complex (n)] 错综 錯綜)”, “cuò ({[is] alternating; staggered} [→ [[is] wrong; mistaken; incorrect; erroneous | missed | grinding; rubbing | moving to the side | mistake; error; blunder [→ [fault]]]] | {[is] interlocked and jagged} [→ [intricate]] 错 錯)” literally means “interlocked and jagged”, and it effectively means “intricate”.
“Interlocked and jagged” and “intricate” may bring to mind a clockwork mechanism, like this:
To people who see such a clockwork mechanism, it would generally be really crystal clear that such a mechanism is a product of intelligence, and it is interesting to consider how “jiéjīng (jié·jīng {tied (into a knot) → [formed]} · crystal → [crystallized | crystal; crystallization | crystalline] 结晶 結晶)” works as a Mandarin translation for “product”, as it does in the above example from the Origin of Life brochure.
The “jié ({tie [(a knot of)]}; knit; weave [→ [congeal; form; forge; cement | join together; bind; connect; unite | settle; conclude]] | {tying (of a knot)} → [knot | (electrical) junction | node | written guarantee; affidavit; bond] 结 結)” in “jiéjīng (jié·jīng {tied (into a knot) → [formed]} · crystal → [crystallized | crystal; crystallization | crystalline] 结晶 結晶)” literally means “tie (into a knot)”, and in this context it effectively means “form” (used as a verb). (This “jié ({tie [(a knot of)]}; knit; weave [→ [congeal; form; forge; cement | join together; bind; connect; unite | settle; conclude]] | {tying (of a knot)} → [knot | (electrical) junction | node | written guarantee; affidavit; bond] 结 結)” also appears in well-known expressions like “jiéguǒ (jié·guǒ {tied (into a knot) → [formed]} · fruit → [result | as a result] 结果 結果)”, “jiélùn (jié·lùn {tying up → [concluding]} · determining → [conclusion; verdict] 结论 結論)”, and “jiéhūn (jié·hūn {tie (a knot of)} · {marrying → [marriage]} → [marry; get married] 结婚 結婚)”.) The other morpheme “jīng (crystal [→ [clear; brilliant; bright; radiant; glittering; sparkling]] 晶)” means “crystal”. Being put together this way, “jiéjīng (jié·jīng {tied (into a knot) → [formed]} · crystal → [crystallized | crystal; crystallization | crystalline] 结晶 結晶)” on one level of literalness can mean “formed crystal”, and it can effectively mean “crystallization”. This word literally refers to something that has solidified into a crystal, and it can metaphorically refer to “a mental synthesis that becomes fixed or concrete by a process resembling crystal formation”. Similary, a product is something that is produced, that previously was not fixed, concrete, or solid, but that is made to become so, by, for example, intelligence—a crystallization is a product of the process of crystal formation, and a product is a crystallization, a solid result, of the production process.
It’s Really, Really Crystal Clear
If it’s crystal clear that a clockwork mechanism like the one in the image above must have been the product, or crystallization, of intelligence, then what about “the millions of intricately coordinated parts of a cell”? To give us an idea of how some of the parts of a cell function, here is a video I came across that uses computer animation to help us visualize how tiny molecular machines (discussed in the MEotW post on “fēnzǐ jùhé‐tǐ ((fēn·zǐ {divided (off)} · {small and hard thing} → [molecular] 分子) (jù·hé assembled · {closed → [combined]} → [polymerized] 聚合)‐(tǐ body 体 體/体/躰) → [(protein) molecular machine])”) inside our cells copy DNA:
Surely, it’s really, really crystal clear that the tiny molecular machines inside our cells must have been, even more so than any clockwork mechanism, the product, or crystallization, of intelligent design! For example, human-made clockwork mechanisms cannot make copies of themselves, but the molecular machines in our cells can, while being way smaller and more intricate! That is solid evidence that our cells and the molecular machines in them were produced by a higher intelligence than that of humans (a superintelligence, in the terminology of the artificial intelligence field), rather than some subhuman force like mindless blind chance.
The Real Thing Is Even Better
If one came across a wooden doll like Pinocchio that looks like a boy, would that person assume that that wooden doll somehow came into being by chance? Hardly anyone would make that assumption—it would be crystal clear that someone must have made that doll. In the story of Pinocchio, that someone who made Pinocchio was named Geppetto. (By the way, according to the Chinese Wikipedia page for Pinocchio, in Mandarin, “Pinocchio” is “Pǐnuòcáo (Pinocchio 匹诺曹 匹諾曹)”, and “Geppetto” is “Jiépèituō (Geppetto 杰佩托 傑/杰佩/珮托/託)”.)
It would have been dismissively insulting to Geppetto to suggest that all the skill, care, and craftsmanship that he put into making Pinocchio was unnecessary, and that Pinocchio just somehow came into existence from a pile of wood scraps without any help from Geppetto. Similarly, people are dismissively insulting Jehovah God when they suggest that real boys (and girls, and men, and women, and plants, and animals, etc.) just somehow evolved, and did not need any of Jehovah’s skill, care, and craftsmanship to come into existence.
The real thing is even better!
Let us, then, not hesitate to make good use of the Origin of Life brochure in the Mandarin field, to help ensure that our loving and wise Creator gets the praise and honour he deserves in this field in which many were taught that there is no Creator.—Revelation 4:11.
For convenience:
The direct link for the current-generation Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource for the Origin of Life brochure is:
The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the Origin of Life brochure 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 Origin of Life brochure will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resource as time allows.
