These two and other concepts have been variously combined, in diverse contexts, to form titles such as: The compounds tiānshén (tiān + shén, meaning "heavenly god")[5] and tiānxiān (tiān + xiān, meaning "heavenly immortal")[6] have been used for a deity, in a polytheistic sense.
[8] In a hymn supposed to be composed by Lü Dongbin, the Christian God is denominated by the term Tiānzhǔ (天主, literally, "Lord of Heaven"), 800 years before Matteo Ricci and his companions.
For Chinese Muslims, the principal term for God is also Zhēnzhǔ (真主) but transliterations of the Arabic Allāh also exist as Ālā (阿拉), and as Ānlā (安拉; Ān, "Peace" + Lā, "Help").
Ironically, although versions of popular Confucianism became strongly associated with idol worship, traditionalists, notably the Kangxi Emperor, did not believe that such idolization accurately reflected Confucius's intent;[citation needed] Matteo Ricci also considered Confucius to be a philosopher rather than the founder of a religion.
[citation needed] Protestantism is colloquially referred to as Jīdū jìao (基督教, meaning "religion of Christ") but this term can sometimes refer to all Christians, so Xīnjìao (新教, literally, "new religion") is also used to distinguish Protestants as a group separate from Roman Catholics.
who are not committed to interpreting the term Shàngdì as a historical or spiritual equivalent to the "God Most High" of the Bible.
[citation needed] The issue has remained controversial for over a century and Protestant organizations have published two versions of the Bible,[which?]
Protestants originally rendered it as Yéhuǒhuá (爺火華, literally "(old) Gentleman of Fiery Magnificence," cf.