other scriptures

 In evangelicalism, we generally use 2 Timothy 3:16 as the basis for arguing that only our Bible is authoritative, valuable, or containing truth: "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 

 

 

Evangelicals have definitely taken some liberty by assuming the author of 2 Timothy meant our sixty-six Protestant books in his use of the word "scripture;" no set canon of scripture existed at the time, with the closest to canon being the Hebrew law, prophets, and wisdom texts. So I guess I feel a little freedom to creatively expand the author's meaning as well. While I am fairly certain the author of 2 Timothy would not agree with me, I've begun to wonder lately if that statement - "all scripture is God-breathed" - could be taken today and read as a statement on the beauty of religious writings in a diverse and wonderful array of faiths. Could I take those words and say them about many different scriptures? 

I decided to do a little reading in the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching), one of the important texts within Daoism. I found that it feels, in many ways, like reading scriptures I have known my whole life. Not because they are saying the same things (though Jesus' teachings bear many parallels in this text), but because they are "scripture," writings meant to point us toward something or someone higher, deeper, bigger, smaller. I love reading this text not because I understand it, but precisely because I do not. I love the feeling of truth that resonates so deeply in your soul that it is beyond words or logical syllogisms. The Dao De Jing offers much of that. 

 

 

In the case that you haven't been able to taste some of the beauty in the Dao De Jing, here are a few stanzas just to whet your interest. The word "dao" is often used untranslated; it is a Chinese word meaning something like "way," as in, "the way of things." It is rather intentionally vague. 

 

 

The dao that can be told
is not the eternal dao.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal name.

The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the
manifestations. 

Yes mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness. 

Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding. 

The dao is like a well:
used but never used up.
It is like the eternal void:
filled with infinite possibilities. 

It is hidden but always present.
I don't know who gave birth to it.
It is older than God. 

The dao doesn't take sides;
it gives birth to both good and evil.
The Master doesn't take sides;
she welcomes both saints and sinners. 

The dao is like a bellows;
it is empty yet infinitely capable.
The more you use it, the more it produces;
the more you talk of it, the less you
understand. 

Hold on to the center. 

We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hold
that makes the wagon move. 

We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable. 

We work with being,
but non-being is what we use. 

Do I have conclusions? No, none. I am just looking around wide-eyed in wonder at the wisdom all around us. My definition of "scripture" has broadened, and I am grateful.