Page 14 - Built For Greatness - The Christian Edition of the Tao Te Ching

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Introduction

What Is Built For Greatness?

How many self-help or life-strategy books do you know
have been around for thousands of years and are still revered by
millions of people today? If there were such books, would you
agree they would contain a powerful message regarding how we
should live our lives? And what if it turned out the essential
principles these books promoted were much the same? I believe
there are two such books: the Bible and the Tao Te Ching. This
book features a text of the Tao Te Ching infused with language
from the Bible to clarify themes common to both books. It reveals
profound spiritual principles that, when put into practice, can set
you on your own personal spiritual journey: finding, orienting
yourself toward and then following the flow of God’s Spirit in your
life, trusting it to guide your actions and amplify your efforts so you
can achieve your best possible life.
At first glance, you might think the Bible and the ancient
Chinese book the Tao Te Ching would have little in common. As a
lifelong Catholic, I certainly thought so for most of my life—or would
have, if I had given the topic any thought. After all, the Bible and the
Tao Te Ching come from different times and different cultures. The
Bible is primarily a religious book, while the Tao Te Ching isn’t
religious at all. The Bible is some three-quarters of a million words
long and would take weeks (or longer) to read in its entirety, while
the Tao Te Ching contains only 81 brief chapters and can be read
in a single afternoon.