About Jesus Steve Sweetman

About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman

The Survival Of The Fittest

In his 1889 book entitled "On the Origin of the Species" Charles Darwin borrowed the phrase the "survival of the fittest" from philosopher Herbert Spencer. Would Jesus agree with Darwin 's assessment that in our world it's the fittest who survive? I'm not saying that Jesus adheres to Darwinian evolutionary theory. I'm saying that some of His statements, like Luke 14:31 below, might suggest that in our entropic world where all things decay and eventually die, it's the fittest that survive the longest.

"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won't he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?"

It was just natural for Jesus to have said that kings count the cost of war to see who is most fit to survive.

Now note Mark 13:7 where Jesus said that "when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen". I find the words "must happen" applied to warlike things intriguing. The fact that such things as war must happen might be why Jesus told Pilate that His "kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders" (John 18:36). Note the word "fight". Fighting to survive is humanity's ever-present reality since the events we read about in Genesis 3.

We fight to both survive and win, and that at all costs. If you're a baseball fan it's not just the "survival of the fittest". It's the "survival of the richest." It's what the Los Angeles Dodgers are doing, as seen in signing Kyle Tucker to a four year, two hundred and forty million dollar contract, with an additional sixty four million dollar signing bonus. Tucker's yearly salary ranks higher than eleven MLB teams' whole payroll. It's all about might and money in the hope of a win. Just ask the New York Mets to see if that has worked. It hasn't yet, but they're still spending tons of money on salaries.

All of this has been brought to my attention as I read Timothy Snyder's (professor of history at Yale University ) 592 page book entitled "Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin" published by Basic Books in 2022. It's a difficult read that is due to its detailed content and footnotes. Then there's the sad, depressing slaughter of millions of people through many sickening ways by both Stalin and Hitler. Snyder notes a little child sucking the last drops of milk from his dead mother's breast, who is lying in a ditch. There's the rape of women and girls. Once raped, a gun penetrates their vaginas. Death is instant.

After shutting down my Amazon Kindle's version of "Bloodlands" I turn on the television news to see it all again. I recall Jeremiah 17:9. "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it"? It will end, but only when God brings it to an end, as seen in the concluding chapters of Revelation.

I recall Luke 22:25 where Jesus told us that "the kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors." It's the survival of the fittest as they fight for beneficial prominence. As I quoted Mark 13:7 above, Jesus told us not to be alarmed over such things, so I'm not. I expect them. I'm just thankful for the security, the hope, and my eternal salvation provided to me from the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is the Universally Fit One. He is surviving as the Supreme Universal Authority until He "hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power" (1 Corinthians 15:24).

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