Jesus is Not Like Buddha

Appendix

Bible People and Place Names Used in this Book

Old Testament:

• The Garden of Eden/伊甸园 --- God put the first man He created in the Garden of Eden to live there and take care of it. (See Genesis 2-3) The Bible describes the Garden of Eden as located between the rivers which run through what is the modern day region of Iraq. (Genesis 2:10-14) In Hebrew the word Eden means pleasure.
• Adam/亚当 --- The first man. Created by God out of the dust. (See Genesis 1-3, Romans 5)
• Eve/夏娃 --- The first woman, given to Adam to be his wife. Created by God out of Adam's rib. (See Genesis 1-3) In Hebrew the name Eve means "life giver", because she is the mother of all living people.
• Abraham/亚伯拉罕 (or Abram/亚伯兰) --- Ancestor of the Jewish race (and some others as well). God promised to make Abraham into a great nation, and to bless all nations of the earth through him. Abraham lived in the area of modern Iraq until God called him and his descendants to live in the area of modern Israel. (See Genesis 11-25, Romans 4, Galatians 3)
• Melchizedek/麦基洗德 --- The first priest mentioned in the Bible. He was also the king of Salem/撒冷 which was an early name for Jerusalem/耶路撒冷. (See Genesis 13, Psalm 110, Hebrews 5-7)
• Isaac/以撒 --- The son whom God promised to Abraham in his old age. God told Abraham to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice, but then God stopped him and provided a substitute sacrifice. (See Genesis 17-28)
• Moses/摩西 --- Wrote the first five books of the Bible and therefore, humanly speaking, is considered the "founder" of the Jewish religion. (The true "founder" of the Jewish religion was God Himself with Moses as His prophet.) Moses led the people of Israel out of their slavery in Egypt sometime around 1500 BC. (See Exodus 1-20)
• Aaron/亚伦 --- Brother of Moses. Served as a spokesman for Moses. He was the first high priest of the Hebrew people after they left Egypt.
• David/大卫 --- One of the first kings in Israel and regarded in many ways as their greatest king ever. God promised David that he would have an heir to rule as king forever. (See 1 Samuel 16 through 1 Kings 2)

New Testament:

• Mary/马利亚 --- Mother of Jesus. (See Matthew 1-2, Luke 1-2) Miraculously, she was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus. (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23) Therefore Jesus was called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)

Other Important People and Place Names in the Bible

Old Testament:

• Cain/该隐 and Abel/亚伯 --- Sons of Adam and Eve:
  Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. (Genesis 4:2-8)
• Noah/挪亚 --- A few generations after Adam and Eve, God brought judgment on the evil world by destroying almost every living thing through a great flood. Noah found favor in God's eyes, so God saved Noah and his family by instructing Noah to build a huge boat before the flood came. (See Genesis 6-9)
• Ishmael/以实玛利 --- Son of Abraham and his concubine Hagar/夏甲. God's original promises to bless Abraham were fulfilled through his promised son Isaac. However, God said that he would also make Ishmael into a great, though hostile, nation. (See Genesis 16-17, 25, Galatians 4) Arab Muslims claim descent from Ishmael.
• Jacob/雅各 --- Son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham. God changed Jacob's name to Israel. The Jewish people are precisely the descendants of Jacob. Sometimes the Bible refers to the nation of Israel as Jacob. (See Genesis 25-49) Jacob had twelve sons and from them came the twelve tribes of Israel.
• Judah/犹大 --- One of the sons of Jacob. King David and Jesus came from the tribe of Judah. After King David died, the nation of Israel split into two kingdoms for a few hundred years. The northern kingdom was called Israel, and the southern kingdom called Judah because the tribe of Judah was located there. (See 1 Kings - 2 Kings)
• Joseph/约瑟 --- The youngest son of Jacob. Joseph's older brothers got angry at him and sold him into slavery. Yet by God's grace Joseph gained the favor of his masters and was given more and more power over the land of Egypt. Many years later during a famine Joseph saved the lives of his older brothers who had betrayed him. (See Genesis 30-50)
• Joshua/约书亚 (the military commander) --- After Moses died Joshua became the leader of Israel, the Israeli army in particular. Moses brought the Jews out of slavery in Egypt but Joshua was the one who led them into the land of Israel. (See Joshua)
• Samuel/撒母耳 --- For several generations following the time of Joshua, Israel was governed by judges. Samuel was the last such judge over Israel because at that time the nation demanded a king. (See 1 Samuel)
• Solomon/所罗门 --- Son of David. King Solomon ruled over Israel, but after Solomon died the nation split and Solomon's son only ruled over the southern kingdom of Judah. God gave Solomon a gift of great wisdom. Solomon wrote much of the book of Proverbs in the Bible. He also is very likely the author of the Old Testament books of Song of Songs (a love story) and Ecclesiastes (which tells of the meaningless futility of life without God). Unfortunately, Solomon married many foreign women and was enticed to worship the false gods of their people. (See 1 Kings 1-11)
• Elijah/以利亚 --- A Jewish prophet known for performing great miracles. (1 Kings 17 - 2 Kings 2)
• Elisha/以利沙 --- Another prophet with great God-given power. Succeeded Elijah. (2 Kings 2 - 13)
• Job/约伯 --- Job was very rich man and had many children. In one day Job's possessions were destroyed and all his children died. (See Job 1-2) Job continued to trust and worship God. He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." (Job 1:21)
• Joshua/约书亚 (the priest) --- This Joshua is not as well known amongst Christians as he should be. In the Old Testament God sometimes described the coming Christ as a "Branch." (Isaiah 11:1, Jeremiah 23:5, 33:15, Zechariah 3:8) Now Joshua was a high priest in Israel, and God said that that Joshua's name was the same as the name of the Branch. (Zechariah 6:11-13) In other words, the coming Christ would be named Joshua. The names "Joshua" and "Jesus" are the same name in Hebrew.

New Testament:

• Joseph/约瑟 --- Husband of Mary the mother of Jesus. (See Matthew 1)
• Peter/彼得 --- One of Jesus' closest disciples. Peter was a leader of the early Christian church after Jesus ascended into heaven. He wrote the books of 1 and 2 Peter in the New Testament.
• John/约翰 (the apostle) --- Another one of Jesus' closest disciples. He wrote the gospel of John and three letters: 1, 2, 3 John.
• John/约翰 (the baptist) --- God sent John to prepare the way for Jesus. John told people to repent because the kingdom of God was near. John baptized people who confessed that they needed to repent. John was a famous Jewish prophet. When Jesus began to teach publicly John declared to everyone that Jesus was the Christ. Note that the gospel of John was written by "John the apostle", although the first chapter talks about "John the baptist." (See John 1)
• Paul/保罗 (also called Saul/扫罗) --- Paul was a well educated Jewish man. At first he did not believe that Jesus was the Christ and he persecuted Jesus' followers severely. But later, after Jesus had died and come back to life, Jesus appeared to Paul and Paul became a great Christian leader and teacher. God sent Paul to bring the message of Jesus to the Gentiles (non-Jews). (See Acts 9 - 28) Paul wrote about half of the letters/books of the New Testament.