Chinese Characters Prove Christianity

Several weeks ago, Sharon and I gave a fireside to the youth of our ward about China. We talked about our trip and also about China in general. We spent considerable time talking about how some Chinese characters seem to have Christianity inside of them. Chinese characters are not like letters; every character has a very specific meaning. The characters, however, are made up of smaller pieces that also have meaning called radicals. Hence, similar to a compound word, you can often look at the radicals that make up a character to get a true sense of its meaning and origin.

I wrote an entry for Sharon’s Chinese blog a few days ago about this subject, and I’m not sure what people’s reaction in China will be when they read it. In any case, the kids at the fireside certainly liked it (which has aroused talk of us doing more firesides to other wards… whoops), so perhaps you might also find it interesting.

Originally, I planned on simply using an online translator to convert my article from Chinese to English, but my laziness lead to an overestimation of translating software. It said things like Adam and Eve being sexy instead of naked and was sometimes incomprehensible. Here’s a link to read the chinglishly translated article if you want, and here's one to the Chinese.

Anyway, without further delay here are 8 Chinese characters that seem to have the Bible written all over them.

Explanation of the origin of 先 by radicals

The character "xian" means first. One radical means moving or alive, the other means dust, and the other means man; together, they mean first. Genesis 2:7 tells us: "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Can you see the power of Chinese characters? Symbols carry far more meaning than words alone, and every Chinese character is made of many symbols. Thus, in this one character "xian" we have many symbols that seem to tell the story of the creation of the first man very succinctly.

Explanation of the origin of 禁 by radicals

The character "jin" means to warn or forbid. In the Garden of Eden, there were two trees of prominence: the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. God reveals to Adam and Eve about these two trees, and then expressly forbids them to partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in Genesis 2:16. The radicals that make up this character are two trees and one that means to reveal; together, they mean to forbid.

Explanation of the origin of 始 by radicals

This character "shi" means the beginning or to start. One radical means woman, one means mouth/eat, and the other is a bit harder to define but can reasonably be defined as secretly. The Bible shows that Eve ate the forbidden fruit without Adam's knowledge and hence did it secretly. Her eating of the fruit led to Adam eating the fruit, which led to them falling from God's presence and from immortality to mortality, starting mankind's existence as we know it.

Explanation of the origin of 裸 by radicals

The character "luo" means naked, and its radicals mean body and fruit. What does fruit have to do with being naked? After eating the forbidden fruit, Genesis 3:7 says: "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked." From a biblical viewpoint, fruit has everything to do with being naked.

Explanation of the origin of 困 by radicals

The character "kun" is often associated with difficulty. It has two radicals, which mean both tree and enclosure. What kind of famous historical tree in an enclosed area brought difficulty? I hope you're catching on: the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In Genesis 3:16-20, God punishes Adam and Eve for their transgression. He curses the earth, making it bring forth thorns and thistles, and tells Adam he will need to labor all his days. He also tells eve that childbirth will be full of suffering (sorry Sharon!!). If the Bible is true, than indeed a tree in an enclosed area (the Garden of Eden) verily brought forth all the difficulty we experience today.

Explanation of the origin of 船 by radicals

This character "chuan" means boat. One radical also means boat, another means eight, and the other means mouth. What famous boat in ancient history has only had 8 mouths/people on it? The first (and so far only) one that comes to mind is Noah's ark. Go to Genesis and count how many were on the ark, or let Peter do it for you in 1 Peter 3:20 and either way the number is 8. I am not an expert on world cultures, but I have heard that cultures all around the world have traditions of great deluges. China, it appears, might have one too.

Explanation of the origin of 义 by radicals

This character "yi" is very exciting because of how directly it ties into Christianity (I think it might be for this reason, that it is so obvious, that when the communists in China simplified their Chinese characters they simplified this one to look totally different. The simplified one looks like this: 义). Anyway, in this character a lamb on top of me means righteous. All pious Christians are able to tell you that Christ is the Lamb of God, that ancients in the old testament sacrificed lambs and bulls to point forward to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and that only with our lives centered on Christ can we ever be righteous and obtain forgiveness of sins. It is well known that the ancient Chinese performed animal sacrifices of lambs and bulls, and it appears the significance of the lamb exceeded all others and was symbolic in the exact same way that it was for those in the old testament.

Explanation of the origin of 样 by radicals

This character "yang" is also exciting, because, similar to the last character "yi", it summarizes the gospel and the atonement. The character yang can be translated to mean type or method or way or like (as in "like this" or "like that"). It is one of the most commonly used characters in everyday speech. The radicals that make this character are tree, lamb, and forever. The lamb of God raised up unto a tree brought to pass the eternal atonement that will forever bless those willing to follow Christ and enter into the way. The Lord declared: "I am the way

, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). If you were to design a symbol to describe the way or the gospel, how would you do it? Could you do much better than this one?


There are other characters which I won't talk about now, but they also imply Christianity in their roots. Surely, there are also many more characters which have disappeared/evolved into something different over the years or simply escaped my notice. Many, however, have survived the massive burning of records by despotic emperors that ravaged China's past and remained unchanged enough to tell the story of what the ancient Chinese believed. The ancient Chinese were Christians, just like every other nationality on this planet! All Christians are supposed to believe this, but few are brave enough to declare it.

I'm confused...

Sam and I came to a disagreement which confused me a lot: Not long ago, he signed up for MCAT course . Classes will all be held on weekdays next spring except two of them will be in this semester, specifically on this coming Sat and Sun. Sam decided not to go to the Sun class. But I think that he should go.

Sam's reason:

Since high school he's been committed to keep Sabbath day holy and has been blessed for that. Never had anything bad happen because of that. He believes that there's a way to make it up and he is willing to do what it takes even if it makes life harder and more complicated.


My reason:

It's a different situation comparing to accept a job that requires you to work on Sundays. Especially it's only one Sunday, everybody has to compromise some times. If you don't go to this class, it will be so hard for you to try to catch up and also it's a waste of money too.


I'm confused. When it comes to a situation like this, should we be realistic or stubborn? (Maybe I shouldn't use 'stubborn' this word, but I cant find a better one in my limited vocabulary.) If it happens to you, what would you choose?

free christmas songs

2 gold stars to amazon.com for giving out free Christmas songs! Here are some of the better ones I found:

Sampler Clause
This free album 7 classic Christmas songs from the likes of Frank Sinatra, Mahalia Jackson, and more!

Do You Hear What I Hear (Featuring Patrick Wilson) - Martina McBride. This is one of the better versions I have heard of this song.

Pet a Pan - Mannheim Steamroller. Classic!

Why Can't it be Christmastime All Year - Rosie Thomas. This one is fun.

Silent Night - House of Heroes. Pretty good for being an alternative-ish versions of this song.

Also, if you're interested there's some pretty decent free classical albums too.

Why Lincoln University is doing something great

Recently, there has been some controversy about Lincoln University not allowing students with a BMI over to 30 graduate because they didn't complete a mandatory, 1-credit gym class. Some students think it is ridiculous that their college cares more about their weight than their academic achievements. I disagree with them.

This sort of policy is definitely a step in the right direction. There are undoubtedly imperfections in it, but since when has a new innovative idea of something a bit outside the box, or in other words the beta version of a concept, ever been perfect? I applaud Lincoln University for having the boldness to do something about the current obesity epidemic that is ruining millions of peoples' lives and is the largest contributor to America's huge health care costs. Foreign students have to complete mandatory courses that non-foreign students do not; what is so different about people with a high BMI being required to complete a course that those with a lower BMI are not? Could healthy living not be considered a part of general education that every university requires its students to obtain? People fluent in a foreign language test out of their university's foreign language requirement. Similarly, people that are fit "test out" of the healthy living requirement. Students who complain about this type of policy are actually complaining about the concept of the "general education" requirement that all universities employ.

Looking into baby stuff and a bit depressed...

Growing up in china, lack of money and different resources, I was a "cheap baby", who didn't really need anything. My mom said I was really easy to raise (Of course, she left me with my grandma for almost 15 years!). The only thing I feel bad for myself is that because my mom didn't have milk and we were too poor to buy powdered milk, I ended up sharing milk with my "big" cousin who always ate a lot and left me little. I blame that reason for me being small.

Ever since we knew we're going to have a boy, I've been wondering what stuff boys need. They have all those lists online that help parents-to-be to figure out what they should have for their babies. I've also been talking to my co-worker who just had a boy. Anyway, the more I talk to people, the more I know, the more I'm sad. Why in the world do those little ones need that much? !

We went to a friends' house for movie last night, they're going to have a boy probably in Feb. They told us that they have some baby stuff that they don't need and we can take them home. After we asked why they don't keep them for their baby, they showed us their future baby's room. It was a room full of baby stuff! Seriously, I felt a bit dizzy and jealous when I saw how much stuff in there!

Coming home from the movie night, I've been having questions in my mind which might sound silly to you: Are we bad parents for not being able to provide our babies enough stuff? If our babies never get a toy which helps learning-developing and stuff like that, are they really going to grow up stupid?

A Call for Respect: Christians, Please Start Respecting the Mormons

This semester I'm in English 102. The class is combined with the international section, so half the kids are either Chinese, Arabic, or Brazilian. This accompanied with the fact that it is a basic 100-level English class, makes it all a bit rudimentary. Nonetheless, it has still helped my writing from the sheer aspect of getting to practice it. Below is a persuasive essay I just turned in I think you might find interesting. It's a bit long at over 2000 words, but if you're interested in why anti-Mormonism is sometimes ridiculous you should find it interesting.


A Call for Respect: Christians, Please Start Respecting the Mormons

Please imagine with me a high school where two cheer leading clubs have been established in competition with one another: club A and club B. Both clubs are growing, but to club A's dismay some of their members are switching membership to club B. Remembering that this is high school and drama is always present, it is easy to imagine that, in an effort to prevent even more of their members from switching over to club B, leaders in club A might promote rumors and propaganda against club B.

These kinds of direct, personal attacks are a common demonstration of the Ad Hominem logical fallacy. This type of argument focuses on attacking others instead of promoting and defending the actual principles that one believes in. It is not only those we label as “immature youth” who lower themselves to this line of argument; a recollection of presidential debates teaches us that all, no matter their position or prestige, may succumb to the baseness of making personal attacks on their opposition.

The question is this: aren't acclaimed “men of God” supposed to be above this?

As a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I am a Mormon. It has not escaped my attention that, despite our common faith in Christ, Christians at large seem to be against the Mormons. If it were simply a difference of doctrinal opinion, I wouldn't be bothered.

After all, there are significant differences between what we believe and what other Christians believe. First and foremost, we believe that God has restored his church, which had previously split and divided into the hundreds of different sects we see today. Just like the 12 apostles that Jesus established to lead his church in ancient times, we have the same organization of prophets and apostles. The first prophet of the modern era, Joseph Smith, was originally just a sincere boy pondering which church to join. In 1820, after praying about the matter, Joseph recorded that the God and Jesus Christ appeared to him and told him “that [he] must join none of them” (“Joseph Smith-History” 49). Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet to restore missing truths and authority that had been lost to the world.

You either believe this, or you don't. End of story, and we can all respectfully go our separate ways. But it doesn't seem to be so simple. As we preach our doctrine and leave it to the listener to accept or reject it, the response is often very hostile.

As the LDS missionaries do their best to share their message with everyone, sometimes members of other churches listen and convert. Considering that in 2008 the LDS church had 52,494 full-time missionaries, it quickly becomes apparent that the LDS church is growing (Hales). Consequently, fear and resentment can sometimes arise. One Christian missionary in Central America expressed his fears in a report to the headquarters of his sect this way: “When the onslaught begins, it's not going to be easy to counter... Mormons are growing at extraordinarily high rates” (Moore). Efforts to counter LDS growth can get nasty.

From personal experience, I have seen people who were once friendly towards Mormons cut off all association with them because of their Christian leaders. When I was a missionary in Taiwan, there were many times when we were having regular meetings with people interested in our message and yet, suddenly, they seemed to disappear. If we visited their house or called them, there would be no response. Concerned something was wrong, we would continue trying to contact them until we eventually were successful, only to be curtly told by them that their minister wouldn't let them meet with us anymore. They would then shut their doors or hang up their phones in mid-conversation. For them, association with LDS missionaries or learning about Mormons from Mormons was a social taboo that would bring immediate ostracization and eventual exile. I have talked to missionaries who served all around the world, and they all have similar stories.

If someone chooses not to accept our message, that's fine. I have concerns, however, when friendly attitudes are turned to hostility and coldness at the prompting of Christian leaders. How can so many Christian leaders put forth such a tyrannical spirit to maintain their members? Why do Christian leaders forbid church members to satisfy their curiosity about other religions?

I am a leader of teenage boys in my congregation. One of them just started the process of learning about and becoming Muslim. While I disagree with his choice and hope he will come back to our church, I will never give him social pressure to do so. I try to extend a warm hand of friendship and encourage all the other boys in my congregation to do the same. I will never tell him negative or disrespectful things about Islam. If the occasion ever arises, I will try to strengthen his faith in Christ and help him feel the truthfulness of our church, but I will never sink down to discriminating Islam in an effort to bring him back. This is a simple respect we extend to all religions that I wish was reciprocated back.

Unfortunately, Christian leaders preach and promote a lot of negative, biased, and inaccurate anti-Mormon material in an effort to retain their members. A study of anti-Mormonism in Canada by the University of Calgary found that a group of Christian ministers regularly showed their members anti-Mormon videos, and that “students who had been shown movies were most against Mormonism” (Brinkerhoff 171). They also found that some of the ministers were “unhappy and embarrassed” about the biased, negative slant put on Mormons, yet even so “they did continue to employ the films” (177). Showings of these videos are not isolated events. As a testament to this, when I was in middle school one of my friends approached me and said, “Yesterday, at church, I saw a video about Mormonism. Your church can't be true!” While it is acceptable that people might disagree with our doctrine, the content of these videos is anything but respectful and accurate, and that is not acceptable.

As an example, I will offer a brief discussion of one of the most commonly viewed anti-Mormon videos, one that was produced in 2007: Search For The Truth. The video constantly pulls quotes and historical events out of context, has insulting remarks about the LDS church by the narrator, and a plethora of statements about what Mormons believe that simply are not true. There are so many inaccuracies that the LDS Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research created a website that lengthily debunks over 20 different sections of the video.

As two of the many possible examples I could cite, the video quotes Brigham Young, the prophet who succeeded Joseph Smith, as discussing Joseph Smith's experience where he saw God and Jesus Christ this way: “The Lord did not come...but He did send His angel to this same obscure person.” The narrators of the video pointed this out as a direct contradiction to discredit Joseph Smith, because Joseph said the Lord personally visited him. However, the producers of the movie leave out a very important part of that quotation. The original quote reads: “The Lord did not come with the armies of heaven, in power and great glory...” (“Search”). Hence, the original quotation is not contradicting Joseph Smith’s claim that the Lord visited him, but rather informing the audience that God did not come with the armies of heaven. The part about an angel being sent to Joseph is a separate event that was pulled out of context by the producers. Another example where lack of objectivity is shown in the video is when the narrator emphatically says, “Joseph Smith was a liar, again and again he lied” (“Search”). This sort of derogatory language is common throughout the film.

Intentionally quoting out of context and presenting false information is akin to lying, and I hope producers of anti-Mormon videos do it accidentally. However, whether intentional or not, it is still unacceptable—especially when it is coupled with insults and negative remarks.

As a society, we seem to recognize that this sort of behavior is unacceptable when it is aimed at certain religious or ethnic groups, but we look the other way when it is aimed at others. Armand Mauss, a famous sociologist, once discussed his view on this: “It is doubtful that similar defamation aimed against the Jews would be so widely tolerated as that directed against Mormons; this appears to be an interesting but largely neglected area for sociological investigation” (Mauss 447). Indeed, if someone were to create an anti-Jewish video loaded with insults and false information, they would immediately be labeled as a contemptible bigot. On the other hand, there are scores of Christians who admire and respect those who create the same sort of video about Mormons.

The sufferings of Mormons cannot, of course, be compared to the sufferings endured by Jews. Yet, does every minority organization need to endure a Holocaust to be recognized with dignity? Were the atrocities committed by mobs in the 1800's against Mormons not enough? Was being driven out of New York, then out of Ohio, then out of Missouri, then out of Illinois, and then out of the United States not enough? Was enduring Missouri Executive Order 44 signed by governor Bogs of Missouri in 1838—an order from the United States' government which ordered Mormons to be exterminated—not enough?

America was established by pilgrims who came here for religious freedom and tolerance. Yes, the religious protection this country promises certainly failed Mormons in the early 1800's, yet it has dramatically improved since then. Even still, however, there are some Christian leaders who would do well to remember the ideals of our founding fathers.

I acknowledge that even though some Christian leaders still exercise prejudiced discrimination by preaching or distributing disrespectful anti-Mormon material, many are doing very well about this. I recently attended a different denomination's worship service and never heard a discriminating word about other faiths, including Mormons. If only everyone could share that spirit!

In the LDS church, Gordon B. Hinckley, its previous president, made these passionate remarks about respecting those of different faiths in 2006: “Why can’t all of us reach out in friendship to everyone about us? Why is there so much bitterness and animosity? It is not a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ” (Hinckley). It is for this reason that I have not specifically named other Christian denominations in my above discussions, for fear it will shine negatively upon them.

Please remember, however, that President Hinckley's speech was addressed towards Mormons; obviously, we are not perfect either. Sometimes, Mormons feel and demonstrate arrogance in their belief that their church has true authority and doctrine. We condemn this. While we cannot back down from our belief that truth has been restored, we recognize that there is much truth and goodness to be found in all faiths. It is unfortunate that some Mormons feel superior to others. Let us improve together!

In summary, the desire of Christian churches to maintain membership is understandable, but when they resort to attacking the LDS church and pressuring their members to reject missionaries, one can't help but feel a sense of contradiction. How can Christians that preach about loving one another stir up such contention and coldheartedness? When my friend told me she watched an anti-Mormon video at church, I was actually taken by complete surprise. I couldn't and still cannot imagine going to church where we learn to become more like Christ and be shown a negative, biased video that is full of criticisms and accusations about different churches.

Readers: if you want to know what someone believes, please ask them. The LDS church doesn't preach sermons about what the Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, or any other denomination believe, nor do we make personal attacks upon them. If you see or hear the promotion of disrespectful anti-Mormon material, please stand up for dignity.

Please, stop the prejudice, and please, start showing respect.







Works Cited

Brinkerhoff, Merlin B. and Elaine Grandin. “Contemporary Reactions to Mormonism: A case study from rural Alberta.” The Canadian Journal of Sociology. Spring 1991: 165-185. JSTOR. Web. 4 Oct 2009.

Hales, Brook P. “Statistical Report, 2008.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. May 2006. Web. 12 Oct 2009.

Hinckley, Gordon B. “The Need For Greater Kindness.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. May 2006. Web. 12 Oct 2009.

“Joseph Smith-History.” Pearl of Great Price. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981. Print.

Moore, Lewis. “IMB missionaries counter Mormon onslaught overseas.” Southern Baptist Convention. 22 May 1998. Web. 7 Oct 2009.

“Search for the Truth DVD/First Vision.” Fair. The Foundation for Apologetic and Research. 7 Oct 2009. Web. 17 Oct. 2009.

It's a boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After waiting and wondering for so long, this morning we finally got to find out our baby's sex. Yes, it's a boy! The tech lady even gave us two pics of the "boy part" which is kind of surprising to me :) He doesn't seem to have anything abnormal from the ultrasound which is a release for both of us. We even got to see him sucking his fingers! He's been moving around a lot but in most part he's cooperative.

The OB/GYN office called this afternoon to tell us that we need to go in for a following-up ultrasound in two weeks to make sure if everything is still ok because of the previous blood problem I had. I'm kind of nervous but I have confidence in our little boy, he's full of energy!!

We're so happy to know that it's a boy and cant wait to meet him for the first time!

Pregnant Witch

I hope you didn't think I was talking about Sharon....!! How could you even think of that?? No, I was just talking about our jackolantern.

Pregnant Witch jack o lantern

they stole our blog!

I can't believe the Global Times wrote an article that stole the title of our blog...! There's no way other people are as chinglishly in love as we are.

Island in the Sky (Not Fire in the Sky)

This weekend we went up to the nearby island in the sky (much different from the 1993 movie Fire In the Sky, a movie with a terrifying alien abduction scene that gave me repeated nightmares when I was 8 about aliens abducting me, putting me on an operation table, and sticking needles in my eyes. I think it scared me so much because it is based on a true story that still remains one of the best and most plausible abduction accounts ever; it is also based in the White Mountains of Arizona and is about a man being abducted while working for his friend, Mike Rogers. When I saw the film, we recently spent time at the family cabin in the White Mountains: you can imagine the terror this brought to me). Anyway, the sky island I am referring to is Mount Lemmon, one of the unique "islands in the sky" because it is surrounded and thus isolated by very different, valley ecosystems.

We went up with Mom and Dad, primarily to enjoy a taste of fall that never comes to Tucson. It was beautiful!

My beautiful pregnant wife.

Showing off her belly

Mom being cute
Mom and Dad
Not sure why this tunnel is so big, but it's really cool.
Mom and Dad also treated us to go up the ski valley chair lift. The ride was very pretty. It was Sharon's first time riding a chair lift and one of my favorite parts was shaking it back and forth and making her really nervous.

Mom and Dad coming in for a landing.

sad but happy Sharon

Today, after getting home from my lovely chemistry lab at Pima (which, midway through it I got a text from Sharon telling me that whoever lives across from us just got arrested. We should probably move when our lease expires), Sharon wanted to see whether or not she could still fit into the dress we bought in China for wedding #3.

She tried putting it on herself, and after a few minutes of frustration she came over to me:

"Honey, help me zip it up."

"Sharon, it's going to break, I don't want to force it."

"You can't say that, you haven't even tried!"

"OK, there, I tried, it doesn't fit."

"Ohhh!"

"You knew that was going to happen."

"Yeah, I know..."

Secretly, though, I know she's happy about that.

Antiques

Today for ecology we opened up the dusty lab that no one uses anymore (we're always outside) to do some population modeling on computers.


It was pretty sweet, the computers in there still run DOS and have the turbo button.

40,000 Bats

This time of year in Tucson lots of bats make their home under a bridge by our house (Campbell and the Rillito River (it's actually a wash, not a river)). Supposedly there are about 40,000 of them, so we wanted to go take a look.

Bats that live under the Campbell Bridge over the Rillito River in Tucson

Here was the course of Sharon's emotions (actually, I am speaking on Sharon's behalf without asking her. I am guessing it is accurate, though). First off, before any bats came out of the bridge we could hear some high pitched squealing noises. This made Sharon excited to know that bats don't sound like Batman. Then, as the sun started setting, when they all suddenly came out in torrents, Sharon got even more excited. Then it started to smell very heavily of pee and Sharon got scared, thinking that perhaps we shouldn't be standing underneath all of them. Then Sharon thought of the movie Birds and got even more scared. Then she thought that perhaps those high pitched squealing noises was them communicating about how to kill us and we got even more scared. Then she thought that perhaps the pee-smell was them trying to pee on us, which was actually them sporting with their prey and she got even more scared. Then we looked off into the distance as all the bats flew away into the sunset and Sharon felt a sense of relief, tranquility, and joy.

"You Lie!"

I think America is pretty awesome because it's a country where people can yell "You lie!" at the president while he is making a really important speech on live TV without having to worry about disappearing the next day. Just apologize the next day, the president says it's all good, and life goes on. Anybody else?

My Lab Class MCB181L

This semester I'm teaching the first semester biology lab at UA, otherwise called MCB181L. It's a once a week, 3 hour course with 25 students in it and I get to be their instructor. So far two weeks have gone by and it's been a really fun experience to pretend like I know a lot more about biology than the other undergrads I am teaching; one of them is actually a senior. It's been a little less fun responding to all the emails that come in, such as ones on the day online homework is due saying "I can't remember what the homework is..." or "can I get an extension?" The curriculum involves a lot of online tutorials and simulations that students generally hate, but I hope I can make it a class that students enjoy even if it means being on time to an 8:00 class on Friday mornings (and they better be on time or they'll miss the quiz! Putting their name on it will always be worth at least 60 or 70 points though, so I don't feel too bad.)

Here is a video about PCR (PCR is the process used to amplify DNA that scientists use all the time. It's also used in crime labs) that I'll show the students in a few weeks. I think it's hilarious, and people without a science background might even enjoy it.

The baby's alive.... Yeah!

Sometimes you wonder if your baby is still alive inside of your belly because you don't look like you're pregnant, nausea went away and the doctor didn't hear the heartbeat for two visits. What can you do though, only to wait to have the ultrasound. But the waiting could be frustrating :)

Yeah, we were both kinda nervous (especially me) for the first ultrasound this morning. When we first saw the little thing moving around on the screen, we were too happy to say anything except holding each other tighter and tighter. Only till today, I knew for sure that there's a baby inside of me and it's alive :)

Baby's heartbeat is around 175 per min, and it's only a little bit more than an inch long. I'm actually only 9 weeks and 4 days pregnant, and the due day is March 26th. Here's our little baby :


I'm a little bit disappointed that we aren't going to have a twin though :)

Big Beautiful Muffins

Big Beautiful Muffins, from America's Test Kitchen

These muffins were so good. I made little happy noises with every bite. Thank you Sharon and America's Test Kitchen!!

Green Card

Today Sharon officially got approved for a green card!

This morning Sharon and I went down to the local United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office at 8:00 and had an interview to seal the deal. This was the culmination of many months of applications, waiting, and other frustrations. The purpose of the interview is basically for the government to determine whether or not the applicant's marriage to the American citizen was genuine or merely an attempt to cheat the system and obtain residency. They asked us questions about how we met, our jobs, our marriage, etc, and require documentation such as bank statements or leases to prove joint assets. She also asked to see pictures of our wedding, and when we showed her she immediately said, "Oh, OK now I'm satisfied. I was under the impression you got married in the courthouse", and that was the end of the interview.

Sharon can now come and go in America as she pleases, get cheaper tuition at UA, as well as other benefits. But, since we were recently married, we have to file another form in two years with proof we are still together or she will get deported.
They aren't going to remind us, so hopefully we don't forget!


Overall I would say the process for this was an extreme pain but still better than expected. We have filled out about 7 lengthy forms, made many many phone calls to the national USCIS hotline, made many visits to the USCIS field office downtown, needed tax returns for three years for me, Sharon, and my parents, needed certified translations of Sharon's birth cerftificate, certified copies of our marriage certificate, fees of about 1300 dollars, lots of other stuff (at the interview all our paperwork was there, it was in a stack over an inch tall) and all with the overriding fear that one mistake might invalidate our whole application and leave us in the dust. In the end, however, I would say it went fairly smoothely. They received our application in mid February, and the whole process was finished mid August. 6 months isn't bad for government processing, I suppose.


With that worry over, we just hope the baby develops properly and healthily! (For those who didn't know, Sharon's pregnant).

Ignorance in Health Care

While I cannot claim I am fully up-to-date with the debate on health care reform, I think I can claim with reasonable surety that most other people are not, either. After reading 7 or 8 recent news articles about it, I still feel somewhat in the dark. The issue is convoluted and disorganized. I really liked this NPR article which discusses the disorganized chaos of it all, pointing out that the millions and millions of young people who were so vigorous in supporting Obama on the web and streets are now nowhere to be found; the article sarcastically remarks about many of those pro-Obama young people: "The diss on you was always that you were infatuated with Obama's charisma and with vague notions of "change"—not with the long slog of political engagement. That isn't true, though, is it?"

In reality, most young people are ignorant about this issue because they are under their parent's policy and thus don't care. In all honesty, it's only because I got married and we are expecting a baby that the hard reality that life and especially health care are expensive dawned upon me.

But you know what? Most older people are ignorant about it, too. Why? They get insurance through their job. It has been surprisingly difficult to assess what kind of premium is reasonable to pay in insuring a young couple expecting their first child. When I ask around, almost everyone has no idea what their health insurance premiums really are because the costs are hidden behind work benefits. To me, this is the obvious problem about our health care system. When the majority of insured Americans have never done their research about what policy with what coverage is economically sensible for them and their family, it makes sense health care is broken. If the kind of car Americans drove was similarly a packaged benefit of their job, would be see the variety that we do today? We don't let someone else decide what kind of car we drive or what kind of car insurance we get; why do we let someone else decide what kind of health insurance to have?

To me the problem is that health care is not functioning like a capitalistic free market nor is it functioning like the socialist government run systems in Europe. Instead, it is somewhere in between. In socialism, people let the government do a lot of thinking for them, but now people are letting their employers do the same. With the government squeezing in on one half of health care and most of America being force fed the other half by their jobs to the point where all creativity, awareness, and competition has stagnated to nothing.

Any thoughts?

China!!

So we're back from China! It was an awesome trip. Without being able to access blogs or facebook for a month because of the Chinese Firewall, it's kind of hard to put our entire trip in one blog entry. Luckily, inspiration from Alison and Brandon's Europe videos helped me realize a picture video made by Picasa just might do the trick. Enjoy!

Ben Kweller and China

Ben Kweller Live at Tucson

Sharon and I recently went to a Ben Kweller concert. Here's a few pictures I took using my phone. The resolution is crummy enough for Shelley to ask me on facebook where I was playing the guitar at, but I guess Ben Kweller is only 28 and has a baby face, as well as a sweet set of long curly hair. I think when I get back from China my hair will look like that.
For the finale of the encore, he brought out his four year old son and had him play the drums. When he refused to play a rendition of "Bingo was his name-o" the little boy consented to play "Say it Aint So" by Weezer, and he totally rocked it out.

Ben Kweller's son playing the drums at the concert

Anyways, we're all ready for China! We're here at Mom and Dad's house, hoping to leave tomorrow at 5:00 am to get some party time in at the beach, and then we'll leave on Tuesday afternoon for the true middle earth country (that's pretty much the literal translation of it: middle country) China.

Yea!

Blueberry Pancakes

Blueberry Pancake Tongues

Kind of sick, you might not want to enlarge this one. But we were wondering why my tongue is pointy and Sharon's is rounded. I suggested it was because my primitive ancestors used to hunt with their tongue, using the concealed weapon to poke people's eyes out. Any ideas?

For Time and Eternity....

That's right, Sharon and I got sealed last week on June 6th! It was a perfect evening and surprisingly cool as we left the temple around 7:00. The sealing room was full with family and a few friends that came out to support us. The ceremony was very nice. Afterward we went to Gary and Gwen's house for a nice get together, and the Aunts and Uncles all gave us a super nice 7-person tent! Looks like we have to have 5 kids now. Gwen also made a really nice cross stitch commemorating our sealing. Our family is so great!

Aunt Gwen was again super nice to help us with some pictures. She does a great job:

Mom did a great job altering Sharon's dress to fit garments, and she also made the bouquet.

I like how this picture is officially dated with Caitlin's belly. Speaking of, she's getting induced tomorrow! Uncle Sam, here I come.

I had heard stories of things getting crazy before going to the temple, and the Bishop also specifically warned me it might happen. With Sharon's experiments at her lab going poorly, her having really bad allergies, lots of dental work, no travel document, and other things, the Bishop was definitely right. Oddly enough, however, when we returned home and checked the mail Sunday morning we found our travel document! Sharon can officially leave the country and come back, so I don't have to move to China just yet. Sharon's allergies also got better, her work doesn't seem as hectic, her teeth are better, and other things just seem to be resolved. Sharon bore a really sweet testimony on Sunday about all that, and I followed her to talk about how good and peaceful it felt to finally be sealed.

Next step: meet the parents.

my new office and news this saturday

I started a new job last week at a new neurology clinic near our house. It's just a short term job that a doctor in my ward helped me get; until we go to China at the end of this month I'll be taking surveys of patients to assess where the clinic can improve. Considering the clinic is only a year old, it is still working through some glitches its mechanics and some revamping is needed. While the job puts me in an office making tons of phone calls every day, I actually like it. I even get a fancy office with a window right next to all the doctor's offices:

My empty office at the Center for Neurosciences

It needs a few decorations, but I almost feel important in it. While my job may just be considered telemarketing as Chase pointed out to me, I've found that most people are very willing to talk about their doctors and their experiences with a professional they trust and respect. It has already been worthwhile to hear about people who were paralyzed from the waist down and were totally healed after treatment. Conversely, it has been edifying to hear patient's frustrations when they don't get the kind of treatment they expect. As you can imagine, this type of edification usually comes through a stream of raised voices.

It's all serving to solidify my interest in medicine and also puts forth the idea of becoming a neurologist in my mind.


In other, better news... Sharon and I are getting sealed this Saturday!! 6:00 PM in the Mesa temple.

romero pools

Last weekend Sharon and I hiked to Romero Pools up in Catalina State Park. While admittedly similar to the post on Chase and Caitlin's blog back in February (Hikes and SuchThey), there are a couple of key differences. First, we don't have such a crazy title for our post. Second, the female in this article is not pregnant. Third, I love the girl in this post and not the one featured in Chase and Caitlin's post. The differences go on, but for now you can just enjoy a few pictures.

Romero Pools Cliff Jumping

If you zoom in on my face, you'll notice I look like an excited little boy.

Romero Pools Sun Tanning. Sharon is much prettier than a beached whale.

Arizona Horny Toad

Sharon spotted this little devil. I'm not quite up on my wildlife terminology, is it a horny toad?

Endowment

Just a little update that Sharon went to the temple on Tuesday! Yea! It was great. Just two more weeks and we'll be sealed on Saturday, June 6th at 6:00. Umm, I think 6:00. I should probably check on that. But you should all assume it's at 6 until further notice.

My Newest Song

With finals over I had some time to record this song. Not perfect, but I think it's better than a lot of my other songs.

Sing-- it's a food fight

I recently fell in love with this song, and this video is one of the funniest food fights ever.

cut it

OK, so I went with the majority on this one and cut my hair. But, if my calculations are correct, I will succesfully be back in near-mullet zone after 38 days. It is, however, a far cry from appeasing the demands of the mullet, but I should be OK.

Evolution and the Gospel

After a semester spent in an Evolutionary Biology class taught by intelligent professors at a leading research university, the devoutly Christian soul you all know has come to a few theories of how evolution ties in to the gospel. They are, of course, in no way considered doctrine or supported by the church (and hopefully not considered heretical), but for all those interested it might shed some light on how evolution ties into our religion. If any of you know someone who has trouble with faith because of science issues, please forward this to them as I think it will do much to help them open doors to belief.

One of the major disagreements between Christians at large and scientists is about the creation story—specifically about how long it took. Scientists say the world began as a hot molten lump about 4.5 billion years ago. The bible doesn’t disagree.

Genesis tells us the world was created in 6 days. It shouldn’t be hard for anyone to imagine that this day might not mean a period of 24 hours. Do we not often use the word day to mean an incredibly long period of time, such as in the phrase the day of the dinosaurs? Knowing that the English definition of the word day accounts for possibility of meaning an incredibly long period of time, it should be even easier to imagine that the languages the Bible was translated from—Greek and Hebrew—might also have this possibility.

Thus, it is incredibly possible that the Lord might have used incredibly long periods of time to form the earth and its life, totaling up to 4.5 billion years that he divided up into 6 periods of creation, or days.

The next point of disagreement between scientists and the Christian world is the origin of man. Scientists say man evolved from monkeys; does this contradict our faith? Don’t Christians claim that God made man in his own image? The Bible does say this, but in all reality it is rather void of descriptions of how the Lord created the earth and how he created man and all of its diversity. It only says that he did it by the power of his word and gives a rough time frame for it. This makes sense when one considers that the account in Genesis was a vision given to Moses over 4,000 years ago. The things Moses wrote down from what he saw were meant for the edification and knowledge of a people without any scientific background—don’t you think he had to be a bit vague? Even if God did show unto Moses all the biology behind his creations, describing the genetic engineering it would take to create our bodies—a system far more complicated than any sort of machine man has ever made or conceived of—could he have written it down on a scroll? In our church we accept the fact that you can’t create something out of nothing; that’s why we say that God organized the earth, not created it. We accept that logic has its place in the spiritual realm inhabited by deity. Christians, then, shouldn’t have a problem considering the idea that in order to create us, God had to start a long time ago with the bare building blocks of life.

The current scientific record shows from fossil records and radiometric dating that life began about 3.7 billion years ago. How did it start? How did life come about from nothing? In science labs, a combination of water, methane, hydrogen, nitrogen and electricity have undergone reactions to produce organic materials that make up life as we know it. In other words, scientists have taken inorganic things and put them through natural processes to transform them into the puzzle pieces that make up all organisms today. Essentially basic chemistry, these reactions in a lab that mimic natural conditions have produced the building blocks of RNA such as sugars and lipids; amino acids were even formed. Other labs have taken these materials and put them on clay. Of all kinds of dirt, clay is unique because of how it layers upon itself. It rolls layer upon layer on itself in a very systematic, organized fashion. Every layer of clay is almost exactly the same as the layer beneath it. Thus, when the building blocks of RNA were put on clay and electricity was added, strands of RNA about 50 base pairs long were formed as the clay layered. Not only this, but the RNA formed was a ribozyme—a special kind of RNA that self-replicates. With a self-replicating piece of RNA being formed, it is definitely conceivable that, over time, one or two of those RNA pieces would have some sort of membrane form around it from coagulating lipids. Thus, the formation of a cell! With gradual change and random mutation in the RNA structure, the cell could start splitting off into different species which, over billions of years, could form the life we see today.

Of course, this is just a theory of something that happened billions of years ago.

Is it hard to imagine, though, that God, the being who knows everything in perfection, could do this kind of chemistry? Is it hard to imagine that through the power of his word he went to work and started making life in this fashion? For scientists, this should make more sense than evolution happening by mere chance alone, and for Christians it should make sense that God works by natural processes. While scientists have devised and proved the possibilities of evolutionary theories, they all admit the incredibly, incredibly low probability of this all happening by chance. Why couldn’t this kind of process be guided by a supreme being? Who is to say that God is not a scientist? If he knows everything, he certainly is a scientist, for science is merely the pursuit of knowledge (albeit the knowledge of God so far surpasses ours it might seem, at times, that he works by magic).

A question still begs to be asked, however: what is life?

Is the piece of RNA described in the above paragraph that was synthesized out of a few molecules alive? If your definition of life is something that self-replicates, than yes. But I don’t think that counts. Otherwise, we could build a robot that was programmed to build other robots, and we could call it alive. In this light, tiny cells and other simple organisms are more like machines or robots, the most advanced and complicated robots known to exist.

What would God use billions of little robot machines for? Here’s an example.

One of the most ancient forms of “life” (or machines), is cyanobacteria. A certain type of this kind of machine was basically a chloroplast (it still exists today as a kind of algae). About 2 billion years ago a whole bunch of these things changed the atmosphere from containing 1 % oxygen to 20 % oxygen. This oxygen is essential for the existence of almost all life today. Could this not be a part of what is described as God organizing the firmament in the second day of creation? The Lord told us he did it, and who is to say that evolving little microbial robots is not the way he did it?

Thus, what scientists call ancient life could also be described as nothing more than machines God used to make the earth how he wanted it. Through the mechanisms of mutation and evolution by natural selection and adaptation, more and more machines were built until the beautiful, diverse world we see today exists.

Is it unreasonable for God to use a system like this? Every step in the account described in Genesis agrees with the evolutionary timescale described by scientists. The Bible talks about the first day being where God lumped the earth together and gave light to it. Scientists say that the earth and the sun were formed at exactly the same time period, both about 4.5 billion years ago! The second day involved forming an atmosphere, as discussed above. The third day involved the formation of basic plants—scientists would agree this was next in the evolutionary process. The fourth day was all about the moon—scientists agree that even though the earth and sun were formed 4.5 billion years ago, the moon was formed later. Last, in the fifth and sixth day, came the development of all whales, birds, animals, etc. In the end came mankind. Apparently Moses was a scientist.

After God, the expert chemist, created man by using a series of chemical reactions that self-replicated, all the while making minor corrections until, at last, a body that looked like his own body had been formed, he could put a soul into it. Isn’t this what the account in the Bible sounds like when it says after God created man he “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Gen 2:7). God created the body, then put the soul inside, and only then was it alive! This, then, is the definition of life: a body and a spirit together. Our scripture speaks of the animals and the earth itself as having a spirit and being created spiritually before they were created temporally; over billions of years of evolution, God was laboriously creating a physical body that matched up with the spirits he had previously made. This is why machines will never be alive; they have no spirit. Otherwise, aren’t we just machines?

Adam was thus the first living person, the father and patriarch of our entire human race. He was the choice spirit chosen to be the first one on Earth. While there might have been similar machines in the past that looked similar to Adam’s body, they were simply older models that weren’t good enough to be the final product. God wanted us to have the best. All previous models of our bodies were then destroyed. Neanderthals and other outdated homo species were eliminated

Interestingly, science agrees.

One of the most prevalent theories about how mankind came to be is called the African Replacement Theory. It says that mankind primarily evolved in Africa. Outside of this group that we all descend from were many other human-like species. Yet, for some unexplained reason, every other human-like species suddenly disappeared and all that was left was us.

A paper published in 2004 in Nature magazine from a research team at MIT called "Modelling the recent common ancestry of all living humans" showed that all humans descended from a very recent ancestor. They used two statistical population models and came up with results that both showed a recent common ancestor for all humans today within the last 5,000 years. One study put the date of our common ancestor at about 2,158 BC, and the other one put it at about 3,000 BC. (an abstract of this article can be found here)

What does this mean? The idea of having an "Adam and Eve" about 5000 years ago is supported scientifically.

Other studies also support this idea of humans having a recent common ancestry. It is well accepted in the scientific community that all humans descend from one "mitochondrial eve". What this refers to is the DNA inside the mitochondria of every human's cells are similar enough to prove a fairly recent common ancestry. In other words, it has been proven that we all have an "ancestral eve". Why Eve and not Adam? Simply put, this DNA, which is totally separate and distinct from the DNA in the 23 pairs of chromosomes that we usually associate with making us who we are, is passed on in females only. These studies put the dating of “Eve” at about 80,000 years ago. This, however, is debated, and the scientists that came up with the model describing our common ancestor at living 5,000 years ago argue that the dating methods which give a number like 80,000 years is flawed.

In short, scientists argue and change their minds, but they seem to be on a track that coincides more and more with our faith. While the things discussed above may not be true, they should at least open your eyes to the possibility that a) God exists, and b) He might have used a mechanism like evolution.

Veal? Or Pork?

So the following is just a story I heard in my lab:




The people work in the meat lab right next to our lab went to a restaurand which sells veal meat. They took some veal meat back to the lab. Some guy ate some meat and said "This is not veal, this is pork!" They checked the meat under microscope and the tissues looked like veal and also looked like pork. So they did Real-Time PCR, Regular PCR, and some other lab work on the meat. Eventually they confirmed it was pork meat, not veal. They went to the restaurand to question them. They convinced the restaurand that it was pork not veal by some PCR data. (People thought they were FBI or something like that.... :) )They ask the restaurand to bring them some real veal, so the guy went back a couple times to grab veal meat, but every time it was pork not veal. The lab people were kind mad, asked the restaurand " So do you really have veal here or not?!" Then the guy brought two plates of meat and showed the lab people which one is veal and which one is pork. So, the lab people took the plate of veal and left. On their way back to lab, the restaurand called them and said "Oh, we might have given you pork in stead of veal by accident!"


Watch out what you are eating! :)


Veal Or Pork?

Which Sharon do you like best?

Last Thursday Sharon and I went to Gate's Pass, a nice little pass that has short hikes to beautiful overlooks for the sunset. It's right outside Tucson on the way to West Saguaro National Park.

Sunset at Gates Pass, Tucson AZ

Awww, look at these two lovebirds

Ok, now for the exciting part. Which Sharon do you like the best?

This Sharon is normal, cute real-life Sharon.

This Sharon is the Sharon out of a classy magazine ad.

This Sharon is super-hero Sharon, maybe out of the X-men

And this Sharon is the one on the CD cover of some apocalyptic band. It makes me scared to look at.