NASK 2011

So I just received an invitation to attend NASK (La Nord-Amerika Somera Kursaro de Esperanto, http://www.esperanto.org/nask/) 2011, but I can't make it (money, travel, time, etc). If I could, it'd be a blast to geek out.

my skeptical (atheist) friends

Speaking of atheists (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/05/being-geek-and-christian.html), two of my childhood friends -- atheists, hardcore skeptical, scientists in their own right with doctorates and such -- do have some valid points to their reasoning from a scientific point of view, which make me think and look for a religious/scientific answer their claims. It's the never ending quarrel (two against one) between friends, which we often avoid. Nonetheless I want to win the battle and prove them that there's a Godhead and make them worship God in whatever way (religion) they see fit.

Needless to say, most of my friends believe in God following different religious beliefs -- not only Christian.

In all this might be why I like reading Friedrich Nietzsche ("Gott ist tot"). His material always make me more interested in Christianity as well as forcing me to analyze my religious beliefs against my understanding of science.

being a geek and Christian

My major areas of interest are computer science and other technologies, music, movies (foreign, independent and just plain weird), poetry and prose, religion and television (my TiVo) as well other areas in science (mental disorders, physics, etc). I listed these fields of interest alphabetically for fun and because of my OCD.

After bragging about myself, I must humbly explain why I did it. There's the belief that a person of science (computers in my case) is too skeptical due to lack of hard evidence to have faith in the Godhead regardless of religion.

Said the latter, at times I think too much in what science has revealed to us mortals as true and have difficulty having the kind of blind faith that religion as a cultural norm demands. My deviant behavior at times can be too much to take. For example, the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-15) wasn't consumed and my comment during Bible study was about the lack of fumes (chemical and physical changes in the carbon-based living organism) to emphasize on the miracle described in the Bible. As a matter of fact, I'm still trying to place dinosaurs in the creation of the world as explained in the book of Genesis. Sometimes it's practically impossible to marry scientific facts with religious beliefs.

1 One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn't burn up. 3 "This is amazing," Moses said to himself. "Why isn't that bush burning up? I must go see it."

4 When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, "Moses! Moses!"

"Here I am!" Moses replied.

5 "Do not come any closer," the Lord warned. "Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. 6 I am the God of your father--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.

7 Then the Lord told him, "I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey--the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. 9 Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. 10 Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt."

11 But Moses protested to God, "Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?"

12 God answered, "I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain."

13 But Moses protested, "If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' they will ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what should I tell them?"

14 God replied to Moses, "I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you." 15 God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.

This is my eternal name,
my name to remember for all generations.

Exodus 3:1-15 (KJV)

In all how does God affect science and the universe? I'm still trying to find out. Does this make some kind of science expert? No, it only makes me curious to learn and relate science and God in a way that I can argue to my atheist friends.