Tao te Ching V

When Taxes are too high,
people go hungry.
When the government is too intrusive,
people lose their spirit.

Act for the people's benefit.
Trust them; leave them alone. -Tao te Ching

Romans 13:6 "Therefore you must be subject not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor."

We know, and we're experiencing, what every government, every time, does. They violate this principle of the Tao. Governments take and take not matter what ideology they espouse. St Paul says we should pay anyway, for two reasons. Wrath: if we don't, we get punished. For conscience sake: God created government like everything else. Christians should pay their taxes even if there's no punishment. I have to wonder what to do when government gets too intrusive. No matter, in this country, what your income level is, after all your fuel, point of sale, property, fees, and hidden taxes, forty to fifty percent of what we make goes to government. Then they spend and spend and spend and force us to pay more and more and more. When does it stop? Could you give more to charity if you had to give less to government? Could you take better care of your family? Would it be less of a struggle to tithe? Easier to give offerings? (For those not familiar with the difference between tithing and offering, an offering is what we give beyond our 10% tithe.) Paul and Jesus both, said give it to them, even if there's no punishment for not doing so. Where's the breaking point? Historically, rebellions begin when taxation is in the twenty - thirty percent range. This country is way beyond that. Even this isn't as bad as what they had to put up with from the Romans. Being a slave, and taxed? That's serious. Peter, in the Acts, said "We ought to obey God rather than men." That then must be the breaking point for Christians, when the government starts forcing us to disobey God, then we start denying them money, and become disobedient. That will take a lot of discernment.

Tao te Ching III

Fame or integrity: which is more important?
Money or happiness: which is more valuable?
Success or failure: which is more destructive?

If you look to others for fulfillment,
you will never truly be fulfilled.
If your happiness depends on money,
you will never be happy with yourself.

Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you. -Tao te Ching

Timothy 6:6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing , with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Tao te Ching II

"Do you want to improve the world?
I don't think it can be done.

The world is sacred.
It can't be improved.
If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it.
If you treat it like an an object, you'll lose it.

There is a time for being ahead,
a time for being behind;
a time for being in motion,
a time for being at rest;
a time for being vigorous,
a time for being exhausted;
a time for being safe,
a time for being in danger.

The Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle." -Tao te Ching

The Sabbath mind relates to improving the world, from Genesis:

"Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living thing."

Man has indeed tampered with God's creation, and has done some ruining to be sure. I'm struck by the Ecclesiastes "a time for". I'm struck too that it didn't rain, that the water misted over and watered the ground. Even though we faltered at the beginning, and continue to do so, God did create us in His image; moral, intelligent, with a soul, perception, and the capacity to take these things and use our God given abilities and talents to improve God's creation to more of what He intended. We should strive for that, to improve things on this earth, and improve things about ourselves too. He entrusted us with His image. Think on that for a while. He's given us all we need, all of Him. For God's blue earth that we can turn back to fulfill His vision, and for each of us individually, that we can turn back to fulfill his vision of us. To do any less...
I think too on the word 'good'. What God created He saw as good. What He created was perfect. There is perfection in goodness. Some mornings, when greeting people, and they ask "how are ya?", and I say 'good', it's sometimes thought that I'm not my usual exuberant self. When I say 'good', to me, at that moment, I am feeling God's perfection within, that I am perfect in His eyes, and am grateful for that. Very grateful.

Thoughts on the Tao te Ching and My Faith

I had mentioned the Tao Te Ching as a powerful influence in my religious development, and that I still use it. For those of you not familiar with the Tao, it was written circa 400 BCE by Lao Tzu. It's often referred to as "the way" or "the path". Of course, Jesus is the Way; I find the correlations wonderful and exciting. I re-read it today, a new translation, very modern and poetic. I liked it a lot. Here's a couple of things that stood out, and there may be some other passages and thoughts that I'll share later.
"If you want to become whole,
let yourself be partial.
If you want to become straight,
let yourself be crooked.
If you want to become full,
let yourself be empty.
If you want to be reborn,
let yourself die.
If you want to be given everything,
give everything up.
The Master, by residing in the Tao,
sets an example for all beings.
Because he doesn't display himself,
people can see his light.
Because he has nothing to prove,
people can trust his words.
Because he doesn't know who he is,
people recognize themselves in him.
Because he has no goal in mind,
everything he does succeeds.
When the ancient Masters said,
'if you want to be given everything,
give everything up,'
they weren't using empty phrases.
Only in being lived by the Tao can you be truly yourself."

This last line so reminds me of "Not I, but Christ within me". Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ: it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Remember too the story when Jesus told the wealthy man he had to give up all he had and follow Him. Relates here to the Tao, 'if you want to be given everything, give everything up'. If I want to be anything, I must empty myself, and fill myself with Christ. If you want to be reborn, let yourself die with Christ, "I have been crucified with Christ".