Notes from Tao Te Ching

I finished Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching the other day and given that I'd never had any experience with the work before I was a bit befuddled. The commentary and notes in the Penguin edition were enlightening in that they stated that some of the sections were intentionally vague to allow for interpretation. That said, I probably need quite a bit more commentary reading to get me to any level of competency with the text. That said, there were a few passages that really stood out to me.

The first one that stood out to me is ironic given that it is the night of the election. The rhetoric of Trump resounding in my ears regardless of my wishes might have made this one stand out to me.

From IX -

"There may be gold and jade to fill a hall
But there is none who can keep them.
To be overbearing when one has wealth and position
Is to bring calamity upon oneself" (Tzu, 13).

Firstly, it mirrors the Biblical passage Matthew 6:19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal". It would seem that the wisdom of ancient China and the wisdom of Jesus have a bit of universality of it. But this reflection came later, initially I thought of Trump. As Trump seems to be coming in with a bunch of surprising victories it seems that wisdom might not always be factually based...

From XIII - Taoism seems to have a dualistic philosophy

"The reason I have great trouble  is that I have a body. When I no longer have a body, what trouble have I?" (Tzu, 17).

From XVIII - Again, my reading might have been shaded by current events, particularly the election of 2016 when this passage stuck out to me.

"When cleverness emerges
There is great hypocrisy" (Tzu, 22).

Frankly, the overbearingness of wealth and power seemed perfectly suited to Trump, but this passage seems to fit both Clinton and Trump perfectly.

From XXIII - It seems that Lao Tzu has a bit of nominative determinism about him as well in his philosophy.

"A man of the way conforms to the way; a man of virtue conforms to virtue; a man of loss conforms to loss. He who conforms to the way is gladly accepted by the way; he who conforms to virtue is gladly accepted by virtue; he who conforms to loss is gladly accepted by loss" (Tzu, 28).

From XLII - Addition by subtraction - a bit of wisdom from ancient minimalists?

"Thus a thing is sometimes added to by being diminished and diminished by being added to" (Tzu, 49).

From XLIV - Again some mirroring of Jesus' words in Matthew 6

"Know contentment
And you will suffer no disgrace" (Tzu, 51).

Matthew 6:28-34 has a bit of contentment and a lack of disgrace in it.
Paul talks about contentment in Philippians 4:12-13
Hebrews 13:5 also preaches contentment.

From XLVI - Contentment is preached again. This was a very good saying/poem.

"There is no disaster greater than not being content" (Tzu, 53).

From LVI - Just a good thought

"One who knows does not speak; one who speaks does not know" (Tzu, 63).

A lot of the sayings in this book are good, solid wisdom that is hard to argue against. The one that I found most foreign to my thinking and one that I couldn't quite get along with was the thought of following tradition and not breaking new ground. "Let your wheels move only along old ruts" (Tzu, 63). This thought was expressed numerous times in the book and I simply can't fit that into my thinking without fundamentally changing my thought process. That said, as I stated above, I'm so unfamiliar with this text I might be reading into it something that it wasn't intending.

From LXIII -

"Lay plans for the accomplishment of the difficult before it becomes difficult; make something big by starting with it when small. Difficult things in the world must needs have their beginnings in the easy; big things must needs have their beginnings in the small. Therefore it is because the sage never attempts to be great that he succeeds in becoming great" (Tzu, 70).

This is just sound, practical wisdom.

LXXIV seems to me (again pardon my misrepresentation if I'm reading it wrong) to be a questioning of capital punishment. "In chopping wood on behalf of the master carpenter, there are few who escape hurting their own hands instead" (Tzu, 81).

From LXXVII -

"It is the way of heaven to take from what has in excess in order to make good what is deficient. The way of man is otherwise. It takes from those who are in want in order to offer this to those who already have more than enough" (Tzu, 84).

This is a pretty damning indictment of the greediness of man.

From LXXVIII - That's just an example pretty excellent writing to end this part.

"Straightforward words
Seem paradoxical" (Tzu, 85).

From LXXXI - It seems that Lao Tzu could have easily stepped in to back Plato up against the Sophists...

"Truthful words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not truthful. Good words are not persuasive; persuasive words are not good" (Tzu, 88).

The end times notes

(Originally written May 10, 2006 in 3 Subject Book)

Historic Christian Belief

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

True, Origen

Between Death & Resurrection

Purgatory
-Roman Catholic Doctrine (2 Maccabees 12:45)

Protestant objections
-Luke 16:26
-Hebrews 9:27

Paradise
-Jesus: Luke 23:43
-Paul: 2 Corinthians 12:4, Philippians 1:23
-Revelation 2:7, 6:9-11

The Return of Christ & the millennium

Historic pre-millennialism (2nd century)
-post apostolic fathers

Amillennialism (4th century)
-Augustine of Hippo

Post-Millennialism (16th century)
-Jonathan Edwards

Dispensational Pre-Millennialism (19th century)
-Darby, LaHaye/Jenkins: Left Behind

Christology and Christological Heresies

(Originally Written March 15, 2006 in 3 Subject)

New Testament Christology

Functional Titles of Jesus

1) Past work (Jesus of History)
-Prophet: 'anointed' office #1
-Servant of God (Isaiah 53)

2) Future work (Return of Christ)
-King: 'anointed' office #2
-Son of Man: will judge the Nations (Daniel 7:13-14)

3) Present work (The ascended Christ)
-Priest: 'anointed' office #3 (Hebrews)
-Lord over all: (Philippians 2:9-11)

4) Pre-Existence of Christ
-Word (logos) of God (John 1:1-3, 14)
-Creator = Redeemer
-God, "I AM" is mentioned 7 times in John and in Titus 2:13

Christological Controversies (100-325 A.D.)

Gnosticism - Cerinthus & the Docetists

Cerinthus - divides Jesus from Christ. The Christ Spirit arrives when Jesus the man is baptized and leaves at the moment of Jesus' crucifixion. Jesus the man dies but the Christ spirit does not. In between Jesus the man is possessed of the Christ Spirit and does the ministry of Christ Jesus.

Docetism - Jesus only seems (dokeo) human. There was not an actual incarnation

Adoptionism - Jesus is not God, but was adopted by God

The Colossian Heresy

(Originally written January 23, 2006 in Book 20)

Paul's Prison Epistles

Acts: Paul was imprisoned twice:
1) Caesarea
2) Rome - house arrest some say Paul was imprisoned also in Ephesus

Philemon: Plea for a runaway slave

Philemon was a wealthy Christian slave owner who lived in Colossae (100 miles East of Ephesus)

The church met in Philemon's home (Philemon 1:2)

Onesimus was a profitable slave who stole money from Philemon and ran off to rome.

The name Onesimus means profitable and useful.

He ran into Paul and converted under Paul's ministry in Rome.

Philemon is an excellent example of how the gospel will undermine unjust social structures in the world. (Galatians 3:28)

Colossians: Christ as the head of the church

(Colossians is parallel to Ephesians)

Situation: an un-bliblical philosophy distorting Christian faith
Purpose: Paul writes to refute the Colossian heresy
What did it consist of?

Colossians Heresy:
-Ceremonialism: held to strict rules about food and drink, religious festivals and circumcision
Colossians 2:16-17, 2:11, 3:11
-Asceticism: "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch", Colossians 2:21, 2:23
-Angel worship, Colossians 2:18
-Deprecation of Christ, Paul has to stress the supremacy of Christ, Colossians 1:15-20, 2:2-3,9
-Secret knowledge: Gnostics boasted of this, Colossians 2:2-3, 18
-Reliance on human wisdom and tradition, Colossians 2:4,8
-The heresy is a mix of extreme Judaism and early gnosticism

Acts 28: Colossians/Ephesians
Church = Universal Church vs. Local churches (house churches)


Themes:
1. Complete adequacy of Christ over against emptiness of mere human philosophy.
2. Practical implications of supremacy of Christ for every day living.

Structures:

Chapters 1-2: Doctrine, Christ is "the head"
Chapters 3-4: Practical, Follow Christ, "the head"

Philippians

A friendly missionary thank you letter

-Church at Philippi - Paul panted it on his second missionary journey
-Lydia, a wealthy God-fearing gentile
-slave girl with a spirit of divination
-Paul and Silas were stripped and flogged and imprisoned, where they sung songs all night
-Paul's Roman citizenship vindicated him
-Church met in Lydia's house

Perhaps Paul's favorite church.
-Regularly assisted Paul financially

Dominant Emotional tone: Joy
-The word Joy appears 16 times in various forms

What prompted Paul to write: Philippians had sent Epaphroditus with their gift to Paul

Being filled with the Spirit

1) Understand God's will
-Devotional
2) Be filled with the Spirit (v.18)
-a decision of the will (not something forced on you)
-controlled and empowered
3) Step out and obey