Author: Glen

Rat-Pong

So we have a rat in our apartment. At least some of the time.

We’re not certain of this, but our best guess is that he’s a refugee from our neighbors’ place. They’ve been trying to evict a rat for months.

And last night Paula and I saw him in our dining room.

We set out traps. He ate the food off of them and laughed at our antiquated technology. He must be a stainless steel rat (how’s that for a gratuitous geek reference?)

Our other neighbors have cats, and so we asked for a cat toy to set out. We were operating under the theory that rats fear cats and that the smell would drive him to safer realms. Alas–this is a bold rat who enjoys playing with cat toys.

So as a last-ditch effort, Paula and I are resorting to psy-ops.

We left a note on our neighbors’ door to woo him home.

Dear Rat,

Please come home. Our food is organic and better-tasting. Also our kid is cute and wants a pet.

With much love,

Dirk & Emily

In a very canny move, however, our neighbors demonstrated that they have careers in counterintelligence in case other things don’t pan out. The following was affixed to our door, directly facing the note that we had placed on their door.

Dearest Rat,

Ignore the sign on the other door–they just want to kill you! We looooove you!! And our kid is at a developmentally appropriate age to appreciate rodents. The other kid will try to eat you. Or your poop.

Love,

The Davises

Fortunately, Paula discovered a handwritten missive from the rodent at large which she delivered to Emily moments ago.

Dear Davis Family,

Thank you for your hospitality. You place was a great vacation spot. But now that the Robinsons are back I think I should go home. After all, winter is coming and their kid would be more useful in a blizzard, if you know what I mean.

I appreciate the thought behind your note, but I know the Robinsons quite well. After all, we share a bedroom (heck, sometimes we share a futon).

Signed,

The Rat

Yes, it actually says, “Signed, The Rat” at the end. Rats don’t get much instruction in writing letters at elementary school.

Anyway, I’ll keep you posted as developments warrant.

Science & Spirit

A few months ago Elizabeth Svoboda emailed me to ask if she could come to a Chi Alpha function and interview a few of our students for an article she was writing about spirituality on the college campus. I said sure, she showed up, the party ended, and I didn’t hear anything else. I really didn’t think that much more about it.

So I was very pleasantly surprised this morning to learn that the article, School Spirit, has been printed in Science & Spirit magazine.

Overall I was quite pleased, although I feel compelled to clear one thing up. Elizabeth accurately quotes me as saying

Glen Davis, the leader of Stanford’s Chi Alpha Christian fellowship, has seen instructors go to extreme lengths to keep discussion of religion and morals out of the classroom. “One professor taught a class on [German theologian, writer, and central figure in the Protestant Church’s struggle against Nazism] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and she didn’t mention his spiritual beliefs at all,” he says.

I’d just like to put that particular statement into context–I was praising the professor in question for changing her approach once she realized what she was doing.

At least, that’s what I think I was doing. I didn’t take notes on my own words (which would be an odd habit to have).

Q: What are you doing?
A: Recording what I say for posterity.

Anyway, I don’t recall everything that I said that night, but I’ve told that particular story on several occassions and I typically start with the fact that the professor initially skirted past Bonhoeffer’s beliefs and ultimately decided that she couldn’t keep doing that.

I just mention it on the .01% chance that professor happens
a) to read the article,
b) recognize that she is the anonymous professor in question,
c) and then comes to this website seeking an explanation for my apparently disparaging comment.

Okay, on the .0001% chance.

Explanation: I was giving you props–really!

In A Magazine!

A few months ago Elizabeth Svoboda sent me an email asking if she could come and interview a few of our students for an article she was writing on spirituality on the college campus. So she came to one of our parties and chatted with us.

I’m pleased to announce that the article is finally here: School Spirit quotes a few of us–read it and see who you recognize!

We’re Geniuses (With A Preference For Bright Colors)

Our neighbor just referred to Paula and I as geniuses.

Which is something, given that she has a Ph.D. in early American history and her hubbie has one in electrical engineering.

I suspect the compliment was more in reference to Paula’s practical wisdom than anything else, but I’m still going to be telling all my friends that my genius neighbors think we’re smart, too. 😉

Now if only I can get Pablo to come around–he’s the other Ph.D. neighbor and he’s not quite convinced that I’m sane. His wife, Sri, has a great respect for Paula, though.

The lesson learned: Paula makes me look good and I should keep her.

The other lesson reinforced: there sure are a lot of people with doctorates around here (in fact, 1/3 of adult Menlo Park residents have at least a master’s degree).

New Orleans

Quite a few people have contacted Paula and I because they know we’re from Louisiana and they’re concerned about our relatives and friends.

Thank you.

For those who might be curious but haven’t contacted us, our immediate relatives were hardly affected. Extended family members and friends all survived but some lost everything.

When I was a kid we used to joke about how stupid it was to build a port city below sea level. Every year it seemed that New Orleans would have a near miss with a hurricane and we’d start joking about how dumb we Cajuns were. We knew with all the certainty childhood produces that New Orleans would be wiped off the map one day.

Of course, when you’re a kid you don’t really think about all the suffering such a catastrophe will entail. The news out of New Orleans is staggering. The scariest thing is that it could easily have been much worse. Times like these remind us of just how frail and fragile all of humanity’s accomplishments really are.

Anyway, all this leads me to wonder what jokes kids in California make about the “Big One”. New Orleans finally got a bullet it couldn’t dodge. I wonder when California’s is coming… I hope I’m not here to see it.

Convoy of Hope is doing a fine job of helping people. If you’ve been wanting to give in some way, I know several people who work for the outfit and can assure you that they’re doing a standout job.

Sacrifice a Song

We’re now offering brief meditations on the Bible that you can download to your portable MP3 player. Our challenge is simple–sacrifice a song. Take the time you would spend listening to one song and turn that snippet of time into a prayer oasis in the midst of your day.

Right now we’re thinking about the prayers that the apostles prayed and how they can serve as examples for us. Our hope is to make it easy for you to include prayer in your daily schedule.

You can listen to a sample (now fixed)
[FLASH]http://xastanford.org/playmp3.swf?mp3=http://xastanford.org/podXAsts/podXAst‑2.mp3,200,35[/FLASH]

We’re using a technology called podcasting, which is just a fancy way of delivering MP3 files to your iPod (or other Mp3 player) over the internet.

If you use iTunes, just click on ‘Advanced’ and then ‘Subscribe to Podcast.’ Enter http://xastanford.org/podXAsts/ into the box that pops up. That’s it–you’re done!

If you don’t use iTunes but like to listen to MP3s, download the free iPodder, instead.

Check out our podXAst archives!

Why Not Atheism?

I noticed that the webpage Why Atheism? is very popular on Populicious and so I decided to give it a look. There’s a lot of legitimate criticism that can be leveled against Christianity and against the philosophical arguments that many Christians use to explain their faith, and so I always seek to learn from sites like this. And I did learn a little.

But mostly, I was just shocked at how poor the level of argumentation was. Given that the page is so popular, I figured it would be a “best of breed” example.

‘Fraid not.

His arguments are mostly against positions that most thoughtful Christians (at least, the ones I interact with) don’t actually hold. I don’t have time to compose a detailed rebuttal of his essay (actually a transcribed speech), but as I have spoken on the general theme before I can highlight some inadequacies.

  • We don’t claim that our mystical experiences should be as convincing to others as they are to us. But we do assert that they are available to you and should be included in the evidence you consider.
  • We believe in the Big Bang. Our question is, what went bang? In other words, the Big Bang explains a lot about the state of the universe today, but it doesn’t tell us where it itself came from. All that it tells us is that the universe had a beginning, and our argument is that there was also a beginner who must be fundamentally different than the universe which was begun. He rebuts some weak versions of this argument, but there are much stronger versions to interact with (such as those offered by William Lane Craig).
  • A lot of Christians believe in one of the many theories of evolution. In fact, I’d say most of the well-educated Christians that I know are quite certain that the earth is billions of years old and that species change over time. They’re divided on whether or not naturalistic explanations adequately explain the origin of life. It would be nice for our cause if such explanations could be shown to be inadequate, but it’s hardly essential.
  • His response to the argument from morality misses the point completely. We don’t claim that people can’t invent moral systems–it’s obvious that they do so all the time. The central claim we are making is that morality is only meaningful as a concept if there is more to reality than matter and the forces that operate upon it. Moreover, we assert that any moral system which ignores this is necessarily arbitrary and inadequate.
  • The claim that there is no evidence Jesus ever existed is so ridiculous I’m tempted not to respond to it, but given that it is being recited with discouraging frequency I’ll direct your attention to a list of extrabiblical, nonChristian witnesses to Jesus who wrote before 200 A.D..
  • Since what seems to be driving his site is a fear that Christians have some plan to install some sort of theocratic government in America, I’d just like to make it clear that we believe in a separation of church and state–because the state corrupts the church. And besides, it’s a Biblical idea (1 Tim 2:1–2 — a prayer that the government would leave Christians the heck alone).

Anyway, he says a lot more in his essay. I certainly haven’t responded to it all, nor have I responded thoroughly to what I did take time to respond to. It’s mostly the same-old, same-old stuff you hear if you’ve done any investigation at all into the existence of God (there is evil therefore God’s attributes are contradictory, the Bible is stupid, religion always opposes progress, etc, etc).

If those arguments bother you a lot then dig around on the sites I linked to above and also listen to some of the relevant lectures at Veritas.org. There are reasonable answers to people’s questions.

Anyway, I guess I was just shocked that this page is so popular. I expected better of it.