The Luck of the Irish

As you are no doubt aware, last night was St. Patrick’s day. Coincidentally, we were in Dublin, CA talking with the missions board of Valley Christian Center.

As you are no doubt aware, yesterday was St. Patrick’s day. Coincidentally, we were in Dublin, CA talking with the missions board of Valley Christian Center.

Anyway, they blessed our socks off. Thanks so much to the the missions board, the church they represent, and to pastor Ray Noah!

And I didn’t even have to kiss the blarney stone (although I did wear green–I figured that in a town named Dublin with little shamrocks painted on every street sign it was probably a good idea to wear green lest I be pinched mercilessly).

Great Software For Missionaries

If you’re a missionary responsible for raising the funds necessary for your ministry, download TntMPD. It’s a free tool created by Campus Crusade for Christ to help missionaries reach full funding. It’s remarkable, and I invite you to experiment with it yourself.

If you’re a missionary responsible for raising the funds necessary for your ministry, download TntMPD. It’s a free tool created by Campus Crusade for Christ to help missionaries reach full funding. It’s remarkable, and I invite you to experiment with it yourself.

Jesus — A Level 5 Leader

If you’ve never read anything by Jim Collins, he’s a former prof at Stanford who’s hit it big (huge would be a more accurate term) in the world of business writing. His two books Built to Last and Good to Great are devoured by business leaders hungry for an edge.

In the latter book, Collins talks about the cruciality of level 5 leadership. Level 5 leaders combine humility and strength in a surprisingly potent package. I found this excerpt from an interview with him fascinating:

I have absolutely no religious background at all, which gives me more confidence in the findings. If I had come from a strong religious background, I’d be more suspicious. After the book came out, I kept hearing people say to me, “There was this ultimate Level 5 leader who lived 2,000 years ago. The things he talked about in the Gospel have great compatibility with what you say.” Of course I had heard about Jesus, but as a result of finding out about Level 5, I was inspired to begin reading the New Testament to see for myself. read the whole interview

How Many Students?

I just ran across this information and found it interesting: there are 6,636 colleges in America (2,543 are full four-year institutions) [source].

I just ran across this information and found it interesting: there are 6,636 colleges in America (2,543 are full four-year institutions) [source].

Also, there are over 15.5 million college students in America [source]. To give that number some perspective, consider that nearly 75% of the nations in the world are smaller!

P.S. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Another Online Accountablity Tool

I’ve mentioned Covenant Eyes and X3watch before.

Now NetAccountability joins the pack of online accountability programs.

If you’re struggling with pornography online, you should check it out. It’s not a filter–it just records where you go and reports it to someone you choose. It’s a very slick solution.

The Interview With God

There’s a neat multimedia presentation called “The Interview With God” out there. Check it out.

Disclaimer: yes, I think it crosses the line into cheese a few times. I like it nonetheless.

Cool Products Expo 2003

Just read a neat article about the Stanford Cool Products Expo 2003. Lizardlike robots, hyper-cool bicycle seats, and a customized scooter–that’s some pretty cool stuff!

Just read a neat article about the Stanford Cool Products Expo 2003.

Lizardlike robots, hyper-cool bicycle seats, and a customized scooter–that’s some pretty cool stuff!

A Unique Perspective On Housing Prices

A friend of mine (Jimmy Tate) just emailed me an article that offers a very unique perspective on the housing prices in Palo Alto. It’s by Thomas Sowell and it’s called “Diversity” for Thee, Not Me.

A friend of mine (Jimmy Tate) just emailed me an article that offers a very unique perspective on the housing prices in Palo Alto. It’s by Thomas Sowell and it’s called “Diversity” for Thee, Not Me. Here’s an excerpt:

Because housing prices are so high in Palo Alto — and up and down the whole San Francisco peninsula. 

This is not due to supply and demand in a free market. It is largely due to rich busybodies who have promoted severe restrictions on the building of housing under a variety of high-sounding names like “open space” or “environmental protection.” I don’t begrudge such people the inheritances that have allowed them to live their whole lives without ever having to lift a finger to support themselves. But it is galling that they are imposing huge costs on hundreds of thousands of other people who have to work for a living.

Anyway, I found it interesting. I do think he overstates the case somewhat (there is a huge demand), but he’s correct that the supply has been artificially supressed. Food for thought.

Reflections on Atheism and Amorality

In that class that I guest-lectured in I fielded some questions from atheists. Ive been reflecting on atheism since then, and Id like to offer a refinement of my thoughts.

First, a disclaimer. It is possible that someone could find this hurtful or offensive. I do not seek to deliberately offend, but I do seek to be honest. It seems to me that atheism has several serious problems, and I am about to address one of them: atheism’s intrinisic divorce from morality. This is not a personal attack on anyone–in fact, you can be an atheist and also be quite a moral person. But if you are an atheist you do not have a compelling reason to be moral (or even to believe that morality is a meaningful concept), and that is what I want to address.

I can sum up what Ive been thinking in one phrase: atheism is amoral. Amorality flows directly from a rejection of all nonmaterial reality.

Allow me to explain: a moral law is an entirely different sort of thing than a law of physics. You cannot get a moral ought from a material is. 

If all we are is a collection of particles arranged in a complicated fashion, then there is no compelling reason to suppose that any motion of those particles is logically preferable to any other. Say, for instance, a collection of particles driving a knife through another collection of particles versus a collection of particles nursing another, smaller collection of particles.
Continue reading “Reflections on Atheism and Amorality”

I Got To Teach At Stanford

Okay, maybe the title is a little misleading. It’s not like I’m a professor or anything. I did get to give a lecture, though. Let me tell you about it…

Okay, maybe the title is a little misleading. It’s not like I’m a professor or anything.

I did get to give a lecture, though. Let me tell you about it…

Jimmy Lim, a grad student who helps lead worship for Chi Alpha @ Stanford is taking a class called Voluntary Social Systems. The class basically seeks to describe a maximally free society, one in which all laws flow from the maxim that “peaceful, honest people have a right to be left alone.”

Anyway, each student who is taking the class for full credit is required to bring in an outside speaker, and Jimmy chose me!

It was really an astounding opportunity–I was able to talk about “Religion and the Maxim Society” to a group of mostly unbelieving grad students. In fact, I think the bulk of the students were atheists. 

In case you’re wondering, the lecture went really well (at least, that’s my take on things). They applauded when I was done and we had a wonderful time of question and answer. I was able to talk very forthrightly about my faith in God, the centrality of religion to human experience, and to present the gospel in a highly contextualized manner.

Woohoo!

Please pray that these students (and the professor, Ron Howard) would become sensitive to God’s presence in their lives. Pray also that Jimmy and Lynn (the other Chi Alpha student in the class) would have opportunities to talk with their classmates about spiritual things.

Also, please pray for more cool opportunities to share the gospel at Stanford!

In case you’re curious, a complete set of notes from my presentation is available. I warn you–unless you have a background in libertarian or objectivist political thought it may seem kind of weird. Trust me–it made sense to my target audience.