Last Wednesday was the last day of school for my daughters. To celebrate, the school had a talent show. Obviously, some acts are better than others but it was a lot of fun for everybody. I noticed two girls whose act was just upstaged by another boy. The boy was singing a similar song with more spectacular background music. The two girls looked at each other and said, “we should do this next year!” then sang along with the boy. Not a hint of envy or any negative sentiment.

Later the same week, I had dinner with friends sharing news from Hong Kong. Kids in Hong Kong begin their struggle to get into good schools from birth. Kindergartens have entrance interviews and parents send their two year olds to intensive training to prepare for those interviews. When they come to elementary school, the kids are competing not only in academics, but also in music, sports, experience in world travel, as well as how much their parents donate to “selected charities”.

The most destructive aspect of the theology of evolution (I distinguish between the theology of evolution from the science of evolution) is not that evolution teaches us that God did not created the world. Most people still believe that God created heaven and earth. The most destructive aspect of the theology of evolution is the concept of “survival of the fittest”. Survival of the fittest has permeated through our culture and done damage in our business lives, our political systems, and our education.

Survival of the fittest belongs to the theology of evolution, the science of evolution teaches us instead “survival of the collaborative”. In real life ecosystem, species live in collaborative balance. Without wolves, the sheep will grow too numerous. The grassland will be damage, the ecosystem collapses.

Survival of the fittest teaches that there is no friendly competition, every competition is a fight to the death. Loser don’t deserve to live. We don’t live by words that come from the mouth of the Lord. Grace has no place in life.

Because it is survival that we are talking about, we have to win at all cost. Cheating and backstabbing are just tools of survival. We have to turn everything into competition. Education is competition, music is competition, arts is competition, beauty is competition, worship is competition. Life is one big season of “Dancing with the stars” or “American Idol”: you don’t get the votes, you are eliminated. Bye bye, sayonara, good riddance, go rot in hell for all I care.

Survival of the fitness deny us of grace. We are not allowed to show grace and to receive grace.

We like to think of life as a rat race. And we are all too eager to enter our kids into the same race too. Let me remind you that if a rat starts racing against other rats out in nature, that rat would probably become afternoon snack of some bird of prey.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (I Peter 5:8, John 8:44)

The question “what is God doing in China?” has many answers. Here are some typical ones.

Answer 1: “God is doing wonderful things in China! Last summer our church sent a mission team to China. We cannot share the gospel openly there, so when we go we serve by teaching them English. Nevertheless, our last mission team got the chance to share our faith personally with a number of students. 16 of them accepted Christ! Praise the Lord!”

Answer 2: “God is doing wonderful things in China. Christianity is the fastest growing religion there. Some reports say that there are 70 million Christians in China while some say the number may be as high as 130 million.”

Both good answers, each of them reflect a different perspective. But let me introduce the perspective of Gideon, a friend of mine:

Answer 3: “If you want to know what God is doing in China, turn to the book of Exodus. Modern China is quite similar to Ancient Egypt. Each of them was/is the biggest economy of their time. 99% of the workers work really hard without receiving the benefit of their labor. Their products are shipped overseas so that the other 1% become rich and powerful. In order to keep the economy going, the government build massive infrastructure projects employing more slave labors. If you want to know what God is doing in China, just read what God did in Egypt. God never change, what he had done before, he will do again.”

Do you think that God only cares for Christians or do you think that God cares for all people, especially the poor?

Do you think that God only cares about religious lives, or do you think that God care about economics, international relations, and social justice?

Do you think that God has changed so that He deals with us differently from the way He dealt with previous generations?

Is your God big enough for this world?

BTW, can you tell me what God is doing in your church?