Why
Biblical Wisdom?
Biblical wisdom is not just for the
Israelites; it is for all believers and non-believers alike because it is the
only way to human salvation, which is the ultimate conquest of human mortality.
Human existence is all about life and
death. Living for life is making the most out of life and avoiding any disorder
in life that may bring about premature death. To meet this tall order, human
wisdom is inadequate. Biblical wisdom shows humans how to live life to the best and the fullest, as well as how to conquer death, which comes as the
end.
Why Tao Wisdom?
If the Bible is about God’s wisdom, then why should we read Tao
Te Ching, which is, at best, only about human wisdom? Why don’t we just
read the Bible instead, and forget about Tao Te Ching? Why should we
settle more for less?
According to Lao Tzu, less is more.
“To guide a great
country, we need a great ruler.
To wage a
successful war, we need good strategies.
To live a life of
harmony, we need letting life live by itself.
That essentially
means:
the more efforts we
exert, the more failures we experience;
the more weapons we
make, the more dangers we encounter;
the more laws we
enact, the more law-breakers we produce.”
(Chapter 57, Tao
Te Ching)
“Living our lives
is like frying a small fish;
we neither
over-season nor over-cook it.”
(Chapter 60, Tao
Te Ching)
Understanding human wisdom is the first step in the
journey of a thousand miles towards understanding God’s wisdom. Without human
wisdom, God’s wisdom is even more unfathomable and forever unintelligible to
many.
Many of us often overwhelm ourselves in our pursuit of God’s
wisdom in the Bible with its many books such that after a while we may end up
giving up reading it—and that is the result of more for less.
Lao Tzu, on the other hand, shows us the importance of
taking the first step, a small step, and one step at a time, along the
Way, and human wisdom will slowly and subtly unfold itself to each and every
one of us. So, beginning with less, we may get more in the long
run.
“Accordingly, we do not rush into things.
We neither strain
nor stress.
We let go of
success and failure.
We patiently take
the next necessary step,
a small step and
one step at a time.”
(Chapter 64, Tao
Te Ching)
Stephen Lau
Copyright by Stephen
Lau
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