Updates

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted anything to the site–I feel as though I’ve barely had time to check my email lately, much less update the site.

In any event, Paula and I are settling in to our new place. Stuff is actually getting hung on the walls and the few boxes that remain dwindle daily.

Things have Stanford have been pretty good–as always some bits are encouraging and some bits are discouraging. Our small groups are the real highlight for me this quarter.

On another encouraging note, I just got an email from Josh Wong (one of our alumni from last year) and it contained this exciting little snippet: Ming Fai has also gone to Myanmar! He said that I encouraged him to go there, so I am glad to hear that. He is now driving the production of a movie-CD about Myanmar to promote awareness and to raise funds for the orphans and missionaries there. I am helping him on that.

That was very neat to hear!

What Does It Mean To Be A Christian?

A fellow Chi Alphan (Lynette, if you must know) asked me to recommend some online explanations of Christianity that she could forward to a friend who is interested.

There are a ton out there, but here are some that I really like:

Power to Change is probably my favorite. It eschews over-the-top flash animation and focuses on the stories of changed lives.

The next three are all variants on a theme–make the gospel look cool through use of snazzy flash and soundtrack. They are actually quite cool. To each their own:
1) Got Life?: a play on the “Got Milk?” campaign.
2) Wuzup God?: a youthy variant of the billboards asking questions. It’s not quite as clear as I would like it to be, but it’s still nice.
3) The Kristo: very cool, but it annoys me that I can’t skip the intro to get to the interactive part nor can I pause it (if something cool comes on tv or I get a phone call then the inability to pause becomes a real drag).

Faith Cards: this is an e‑vangelistic twist on the widespread electronic birthday and holiday cards out there. I almost never open them myself, but some people love them. If that describes your friend (which it almost certainly does if this is a friend who forwards you cute stories), they might appreciate getting one of these.

If you have one that you really like, post it in a comment. If I like it too, I’ll update the post and include it in the main text!

Bayesian Analysis of God’s Existence

This caught me off-guard (kudos to Christianity Today Blog for finding it): a scientist has done a Bayesian calculation to determine the probability of God’s existence (which he pegs at 67%).

The scientist’s name is Stephen Unwin (read an interview), and the book detailing his thoughts is The Probability of God: A Simple Calculation That Proves the Ultimate Truth

The opening line of his book is “Do you realize that there is some probability that before you complete this sentence, you will be hoofed insensible by a wayward, miniature Mediterranean ass?”

How cool is that?

I’ve not read it yet–so I have no further comments except to say that it looks extremely interesting.

Extreme Pumpkins And Other Halloween Oddities

Halloween is upon us once again.

Three random links for your viewing pleasure:

* Extreme Pumpkins shows us the pumpkins that deep-down inside we’ve always wanted to carve…

* In a true story, a tough sailor saves his crew by killing a 600 pound shark in 1–1 combat.

* The Home Star Runner Halloween series:
   2000: The HomeStarLoween Party
   2001: The House That Gave Sucky Treats
   2002: A Pumpakin Carve-nival
   2003: 3 Times Halloween Fun-job!

Time on “The Religious Superiority Complex”

Time magazine has an interesting article on the idea that one’s religion is better than another’s. The author paints a more nuanced picture than you might guess based on the title.

As a devout believer, Boykin may also wonder why it is impermissible to say that the God you believe in is superior to the God you don’t believe in. I wonder this same thing as a nonbeliever: Doesn’t one religion’s gospel logically preclude the others’? (Except, of course, where they overlap with universal precepts, such as not murdering people, that even we nonbelievers can wrap our heads around.) Although Boykin’s version of Christianity seems less like monotheism than the star of a high school polytheism tournament, his basic point is that Christianity is right and Islam is wrong. Doesn’t the one imply the other? Pretending that my religion is no better than your religion may make for fewer religious wars, but it seems contrary to the very idea of religion. For this, you take a leap of faith?

Read The Religious Superiority Complex (check out Christianity Today’s weblog for related info).