Where are we today? Almost to Ho Chi Min City, but catching up on Bejing. Temple of Heaven

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 This is Dave,

As Elizabeth already blogged about the Forbidden City in Beijing, I (Dave) wanted to comment about the "Temple of Heaven”.

The temple complex was built at the same time as the Forbidden City, which means it dates from the early 1400s.  The only person recognized in historic China as greater than the emperor was the god of Heaven.

The emperor and the royal family would go to the Temple only once per year to offer sacrifices of Cow, Sheep and Pig, specifically for that years harvest.

Also, if there was some kind of calamity or natural disaster that affected the people the emperor was expected to write a letter to the God of Heaven asking for forgiveness for sins he may have committed to bring on the disaster. 

Some identify the god of Heaven as the supreme God in the pantheistic view of the Taoist religion, however heaven worship and the building the temple predates Taoism.


Below is the furnace where the animals were sacrificed.


The trip to the temple required that the emperor and his family leave the protection of the forbidden city. They also had to walk a very long corridor with the prepared sacrifices.

When the temple was built 1400, cypress trees were planted around the temple grounds. Most of those trees are still alive and over 600 years old.

As a follower of Jesus who believes in the one God,  I find it interesting  that God has been working with people on earth long before the formation of the Jewish nation.  We have recordings in the Bible of Noah and others worshiping the ONE God and offering sacrifices.

It is very interesting to note that inside the temple there is no image of the God of Heaven.  They believed that he was beyond Earth and any image would lower him to the standards of earth which were far lower than those in heaven.  Instead there was only a plaque with the name/symbol for the God of Heaven so in effect they worshipped his "name".

God has been making his existence known to people since he created them so it is only natural that the Chinese would have continued this kind of God worship even if they were not part of the Jewish nation and did not fully understand the true Father in Heaven.  
600+ year old trees. 





Note from Elizabeth.  There were several young women and a few young men in Imperial costumes.  As we were rushing to leave, I saw a dignified old woman in royal Chinese robes, and I thought to myself, “That’s the face of an Empress.” I didn’t have time to ask her permission to take her picture, though, so I had to pass by her. 






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