i thought i know China.
i mean i’m chinese by descent so i thought nothing is too new for me.
wrong.
china is like someone who used to be our driver or maid servant from long ago who then appeared to loan us money.
a humbling experience, indeed.
recently i got to spend a few days there, and holly molly i didnt expect Shanghai to be that advanced.
i mean i’ve heard of the rumours but just never seen the reality.
this is the same country who so adamantly insisted on their communist philosophy and then tried to taste a little bit of capitalism.
in the midst of long highway rides i got myself thinking, what does it feel like living in that communist country where God is just in the dictionary.
or so i thought.
the friend who drove us and accompanied us for few days sort corrected me by saying most people are “Buddhist”, and that there are churches in China.
oh then it means yes you can believe anything you want as long as it ranks second under the government.
or more politically correct is the term “the common good”.
no belief or philosophy can oppose the common good.
i was imagining how does living my personal Christian feel like in such a society.
oh no it wasn’t barbaric or inhuman.
everybody work to earn a living and live according to the society’s moral values.
murder, terrorism and rape is still wrong, thankfully.
did i see love and all the things that makes s a society human? definitely. parents love their kids. lovers hold each other. the communist society doesn’t (or empirically, hasn’t) disintegrate just because it puts God aside.
they live by conscience.
what would happen, then, to this personal faith of mine? or more pointedly how would my faith be affected by a lifestyle where nobody would even notice, lest fault you, if you skipped church, skipped ministry, skipped prayer and all other “Christian” activities?
is my spirituality defined merely by “reminders” by friends and surroundings? what would happen if nobody or nothing reminds me or encourages me to maintain my so called “faith”?
i dunno.
i could imagine. but i dared not predict the outcome.
i theorise that life in China does not eliminate this, but it’s just so clouded by the daily, materialistic, life.
it’s not difficult for me to realise that i dont have a “superior” spirituality or “deeper” love than my Chinese comrades.
in fact i could perhaps blend in just as easily without them knowing or “sensing” that i’m a Christian.
an “undercover” with very little effort.
oh no…(sigh) what does this say about me?
but this should come as no surprise.
Jesus says “”If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?”
unless i get this, i have nothing to offer.
common love results in common response.
i may have read many theological books, but unless i learn to live out that line, i never graduate.
but being unsuperior does have advantages.
i can be exactly on the same level with them, with no feelings of “holier than thou” attitude.
for i know what temptations feel like.
i know how selfish and uncaring and fake i can be.
i know it and lots of ppl do too.
and with your permission, i can be on your level too.
thanks for reading.
Grace Alternative 