God

CRITICAL: this Language Package standardizes on 神 (the CUV ‘Shen edition’ reading) rather than 上帝 (Shàngdì) to avoid the specific historical association of 上帝 with the pre-Christian Shang/Zhou dynasty high god who was the object of the emperor’s exclusive state border sacrifice — a term some 19th-century missionaries favored precisely for continuity with that royal cult. Either term is used across legitimate Chinese Bible editions (this is the unresolved 19th-century ‘Term Question’ / 译名之争), but this package requires 神 for consistency and flags 上帝 as a rejected-for-this-package alternative, not as heretical. NEVER use 天 (tiān, impersonal Heaven) or 老天爷 (colloquial ‘Old Man Heaven’) alone, both generic folk terms for an impersonal cosmic force. Note 神 is also the common noun for any deity/spirit (folk city gods, kitchen god, etc.); doctrinal contexts must make monotheism explicit rather than assume it.