Reading God’s Word May 31, 2008
Posted by flashbuzzer in Christianity.Tags: Bible, Christianity
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Occasionally I will post some notes from the Friday night on-campus Bible studies that I helped lead. Hopefully they will be edifying (and perhaps they will spark some insightful discussion).
This is the first post in a four-part series that I titled “Towards a Complete Christian Life.” By following the general principles outlined in all four posts, I feel that Christians can take an important step towards living “purpose-driven lives.”
The point of this post is to highlight the importance of reading God’s Word (i.e. the Bible) on a regular basis.
To start things off, let’s look at 2 Timothy 3:16-17. In this post I plan to examine this passage and glean some valuable insights from it.
In verse 16, we see the phrase “God-breathed.” One might ask, “what does that really mean?” It is important for us to remember that the entire Bible can be viewed as God’s Word (as I stated earlier). Specifically, for every word in the Bible, a) it was communicated by God directly to its writer or b) God, via the assistance of the Holy Spirit, inspired its writer to actually write it down.
We also see the word “teaching” in verse 16. In this case, “teaching” refers to basic Christian doctrine. Merriam-Webster defines “doctrine” as “a principle or position or the body of principles in a branch of knowledge or system of belief.” For example, one particularly profound statement of Christian doctrine can be found in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8. From reading Lee Strobel’s “The Case for Christ,” it turns out that this passage was an early church creed which arose not more than two decades after Christ’s death and resurrection.
Question 1: when you share the gospel, do you refer to the Bible?
In addition, we see the word “rebuking” in verse 16. This is nicely paired with “teaching” and refers to the correction of false doctrine. For example, if someone were to boldly proclaim a “Christian” message that contradicted anything in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, that person would be guilty of promulgating a heresy and would need to be rebuked. We see in 1 Timothy 1:3-5 that while false teachers need to be rebuked, we need to remember the general principle of “hating sin while loving the sinner.”
Question 2: have you had any experiences in terms of correcting false doctrine?
Next, we see the word “correcting” in verse 16. We can view “teaching” and “rebuking” as referring to Christian theory while “correcting” refers to Christian practice (“training in righteousness” and “equipped for every good work,” which appear later in the passage, also fall into the latter category). In particular, Paul tells us that the Bible is “useful” for convicting us of the sins that we commit in our daily lives, which occur when we fail to live righteously. For example, Ephesians 5:18 reminds us that drunkenness is forbidden in the Christian life.
Question 3: has the Bible ever convicted you of sin (either directly or indirectly)?
We then see the phrase “training in righteousness” in verse 16. As mentioned above, this refers to Christian practice; Paul tells us here that the Bible is “useful” for preparing us for living righteously while not committing the sins that require “correcting.” For example, we see in Luke 10:25-37, which is the classic Parable of the Good Samaritan, that righteous living involves helping those less fortunate than ourselves. On a related note, one can link the “theory” and “practice” aspects of verse 16 by viewing “training in righteousness” as preparing us to live out righteous doctrine in our daily lives.
Question 4: have you ever trained for something, and if so, was the training helpful?
Lastly, we see the phrase “equipped for every good work” in verse 17. One might ask why we need to be “equipped” to do God’s will in this world. From my personal experience, I can say that doing God’s will is equivalent to not obeying Satan’s wishes, and we need to be prepared to resist Satan. In particular, Satan is quite displeased when Christians serve God, and he tries every trick in the book to dissuade us from doing so. While serving God, I’ve had thoughts such as “should I be doing something more enjoyable” and “is this really going to make a difference in these people’s lives?” The word “equipped” also got me thinking about the famous Armor of God passage, which is Ephesians 6:10-18. In Ephesians 6:17 we see how God’s Word is a crucial aspect of being “equipped” to not only survive but to thrive for God in this world.
My next post on this topic will focus on cultivating a strong relationship with God.
My Top 10 Sports Moments May 23, 2008
Posted by flashbuzzer in Sports.Tags: Sports
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I’ve always enjoyed watching sports, especially when I know that I’ll remember a particular sporting event for years to come.
Here is a top 10 list of sports “moments” that I’ve watched, in no particular order. Two caveats are in order. First, I saw all of these on TV. Second, none of them are really “moments” per se.
1. 2003 Fiesta Bowl One of the common themes in this list is that of one strong (and seemingly invincible) team facing off against another team that was supposed to be utterly destroyed. In this case, a Miami Hurricanes squad that was riding an incredible 34-game winning streak was aiming for its second straight national title (some would argue that Miami should have been playing for its third straight championship). On the other hand, an Ohio State Buckeyes team that won its last 3 games in heart-stopping fashion was trying to stop this dominant force. A riveting double-OT thriller ensued. I remember rooting for Roscoe Parrish to take his 4th-quarter punt return to the house. Glenn Sharpe…why did you commit that pass interference penalty?
2. USC 34, Notre Dame 31 (10/15/2005) A USC Trojans squad that was riding a 27-game winning streak and aiming for a third straight AP national title seemed unstoppable. On the other hand, a Notre Dame Fighting Irish team that was starting to establish an identity under first-year coach Charlie Weis was eager to pull off a shocker in South Bend. A wild struggle ensued, perhaps fueled by ND’s decision to go with their lucky green jerseys. Reggie Bush helped his Heisman campaign with 3 touchdown runs along with an illegal push of Matt Leinart into the end zone for the winning touchdown. I remember rooting for Dwayne Jarrett to take Matt Leinart’s 4th-and-9 pass to the house.
3. 2006 Rose Bowl Like Miami three years earlier, USC was on a 34-game winning streak, and was being anointed by several ESPN talking heads as the greatest team of all-time. The Texas Longhorns, though led by the incomparable Vince Young, were supposed to roll over for the mighty Trojans. In a mesmerizing battle between the nation’s top two teams, Young was just dynamite with 267 yards passing and 200 yards rushing. Reggie Bush, the Heisman winner, came up short with just 177 yards rushing and receiving along with one foolish lateral. There was much merriment in Austin afterwards as the Longhorns celebrated their first national title in 35 years.
4. 1993 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament Final The North Carolina Tar Heels were looking for head coach Dean Smith’s second national title (and second in New Orleans). On the other hand, the Michigan Wolverines were sparked by the Fab Five, who were looking to avenge their national title loss to Duke the previous year. I remember pulling hard for the Fab Five, since Michigan was my favorite team back in the early ’90s. While I felt bad for Chris Webber after his infamous timeout call, I couldn’t justify his obvious travel only seconds earlier after rebounding Pat Sullivan’s missed free throw. This would be the final hurrah for the Fab Five, as Webber would subsequently declare for the 1993 NBA Draft and head off to the Golden State Warriors.
5. 1999 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament Final The Duke Blue Devils were in the midst of an incredible season, and they entered the title game with a 37-1 record. On the other hand, the Connecticut Huskies were supposed to step aside for the inevitable Blue Devil coronation, though they had a sparkling 33-2 record. The heart-stopping duel between the two best teams in college basketball that season was just fantastic. Khalid El-Amin delivered on his pre-game promise to “shock the world” by scoring the last 4 points of the game for UConn. Fantastic defense by Ricky Moore on Trajan Langdon boosted the Huskies to an upset of a team that featured at least 5 viable NBA prospects (William Avery, Langdon, Shane Battier, Elton Brand and Corey Maggette).
6. 2005 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament Final Like Duke in 1999, the Illinois Fighting Illini entered this title match with a 37-1 record. I got the general impression before this game, though, that people were confident in UNC’s chances. Like the 1999 championship game, this matchup featured the two best teams in college basketball that season. Somehow Illinois attempted a mind-boggling 40 3-pointers, making only 12 (which probably sealed their demise). In this harmonious convergence of talent, Sean May was the best player on the floor, and I give credit to Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams for going with a point zone to keep Raymond Felton on the floor in the first half.
7. 2008 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament Final The Memphis Tigers one-upped both Illinois (2005) and Duke (1999) by entering the title match with a 38-1 record. On the other hand, some people were giving the Kansas Jayhawks a decent chance to win the game. Derrick Rose, who turned in a listless first half while possibly being troubled by a stomach ailment, came alive in the second half to almost single-handedly push the Tigers to the title. Mario Chalmers’ super-clutch 3-pointer allowed me to win my first NCAA Tournament pool, which was pretty neat. Interestingly, Memphis became the fifth team in NCAA history to win at least 37 games in a season, and all five of those teams did not win the NCAA title.
8. 2002 NBA Playoffs – Western Conference Finals The Los Angeles Lakers were on their way to a 3-peat, which had been last accomplished by the Chicago Bulls in 1998. The Sacramento Kings were having a pretty good season of their own, though, and were the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs. This riveting series shifted into overdrive on a spectacular 3-pointer by Robert Horry to win Game 4. After a horribly officiated Game 6, the Lakers captured the series in a Game 7 overtime thriller. This series would be the high-water mark for a Kings team featuring Chris Webber, Peja Stojakovic, and a blossoming star in Mike Bibby.
9. Super Bowl XLII The New England Patriots entered this clash with an 18-0 record, and they had annihilated various teams during a record-setting regular season. The New York Giants, on the other hand, were supposed to be a Giant punching bag for the Patriots in their quest for perfection. The Giants’ defensive line, though, got significant pressure on Tom Brady and threw a Justin Tuck-sized wrench into the Patriots’ offense. Brady finally got untracked late in the fourth quarter and led the Pats on a go-ahead touchdown drive. Then Eli Manning responded with the drive of his life…can you say David Tyree + ball + helmet = upset?
10. 2004 Olympics – Swimming – Men’s 200-meter Freestyle The pre-race hype for this event was amazing, as it was dubbed the “Race of the Century.” Michael Phelps came into the Olympics with legitimate hopes of winning 8 gold medals, and this event wasn’t even one of his best. Ian Thorpe, a former world-record holder in the event, was going to be a serious threat, and Pieter van den Hoogenband was the defending Olympic gold medalist. In a fun-filled battle, van den Hoogenband hit the halfway mark at world-record pace. Thorpe finally chased him down in the last straightaway to set a new Olympic record, and Phelps took the bronze.
Wireless Communications Research May 22, 2008
Posted by flashbuzzer in Research.Tags: Add new tag, wireless communications
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Recently I’ve been thinking about the current state of research in wireless communications. In particular, I’ve been pondering the following question: if I were a first-year grad student in wireless communications starting my Ph.D. this fall, what would be a good research problem to investigate?
Back when I entered grad school, I had a very hazy idea of what problems to tackle. My initial interest was in multi-input multi-output (MIMO) wireless systems. After poking at a multiuser MIMO beamforming problem for a while, one of my advisors suggested that I look at MIMO relay channels. That set me on my current research path, and I’ve come to regard cooperative communications as a neat and interesting research topic.
After recently attending VTC2008-Spring, I want to throw out the following three general topics that should be interesting and relevant for the next 5 or so years.
1. Cognitive radios: Given the ongoing whitespaces debate, where the FCC is being pushed to allow greater freedom to unlicensed transmitters, I think that this will be a timely and relevant problem for several years. There are numerous open problems in this area, particularly in the information-theoretic realm (since a cognitive radio channel can be regarded as a special case of an interference channel, and some progress has only recently been made on characterizing the performance limits of the interference channel). From attending some cognitive radio talks at VTC, I’m now convinced that other interesting problems lie in this domain, such as how to perform spectrum allocation and how to properly price available spectrum. Perhaps game-theoretic tools can be applied here?
2. Vehicular communications: This area also contains a raft of pressing technical issues. A nice motivating example for studying vehicular communications is as follows: suppose that you are driving along a road and an accident occurs up ahead (but out of your view). Ideally a signal should be sent from the wrecked car to your car, warning it that an accident has occurred ahead and advising you to slow down and/or take a suggested alternate route to your destination. Numerous auto companies have active research programs in this area, including Daimler and Tata Motors. A nice repository of information on vehicular communications can be found at this EPFL link, and a brief perusal of that page indicates that security and privacy issues are also of paramount importance; for example, it would be highly undesirable for a hacker to send a rogue signal to a moving vehicle, causing it to turn and crash into a brick wall.
3. Applications of biology: I used to regard biology as a subject unworthy of my attention (probably due to the relative lack of mathematics involved). Then I attended two interesting talks at VTC where biological principles were used to design interesting wireless communication strategies (one involved sensor node timing offset correction based on firefly emission coordination, and the other involved sensor node sleep cycle scheduling based on positive/negative feedback in ant colonies). Along with genetic algorithms, such strategies tend to be quite neat and intuitively satisfying. The key challenge in this area is to prove why such strategies work well…or are such proofs even possible?
