What I don't say in the classroom

I appreciate this opportunity to be here to share my Christian faith. It is not only very important to my personal life and my family life but also influences everything I do as a professor.

I used to keep silent about my Christian faith in the classroom. Recently, in the

I used to keep silent about my Christian faith in the classroom. Recently, in the beginning of a class, I will mention that I am a Christian and encourage students to let me know any unchristian behavior during my interactions with them. However, there are many things left unsaid such as why did I become a Christian, How does Christianity fit into what I do and believe as an engineering professor.

I came to the United States from Mainland China in 1998. Like some of my fellow Chinese in the audience, I was an atheist because I was brought up and educated in an anti-God environment. Any idea I had about God came from fairytales. When I came here, my atheistic mindset was challenged in many directions. First, there were clear evidences that God exists in the real life of this country: frequently used church buildings, devout Christians who are nobody or somebody, and even the currency we use daily. Second, my involvement in a car accident back in 1999 led me to fortunately realize the sad fact that I am not the controller of my life. My life is so fragile that I can die in a split second. Third, I did not know how to get along with my wife. I can reason well, of course in Chinese, and have no difficulty in understanding complex equations and sophisticated computer programs, but I did have difficulty in communicating with my wife. I could not find satisfactory answers for all these observations, which made me to think critically about my old worldview: maybe God is real, maybe the world is not formed by matter only, maybe there is a supernatural being commands my destiny, maybe people cannot be simply understood through logic, words, there might be a thing called soul. The real change happened in the Thanksgiving of 1999 when I was listening to a sermon on a parable told by Jesus. A rich man had good harvest and he did not have enough places to store his crops. He thought to build bigger barns to store all his grains and goods. And then he said to himself “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink and be happy. ” But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ I was not rich but I was certainly a fool because I did not know that it is futile for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? At that very moment, I decided to open my heart to God and invited Him to become my Lord. Looking back, it is the best decision I had ever made in my life. As I often shared with others, my biggest accomplishment in the past thirteen years in United States is knowing the only true God, my Creator and His son Jesus Christ, my savior. In fact, it is not what I achieved, but a gift from God, which is also available to every one of you here.

Regarding how Christianity fits into what I do and believe as an engineering professor, let me quote from C.S. Lewis: I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen -- not only because I see it, but because by it, I see everything else". In other words, my Christian faith is foundational, even far more foundational than thermodynamics laws, to what I do and believe as a professor. We are in a university. Her mission should be to seek unity among diversities. What is the unifying truth underlying all the knowledge, the methods, and life styles we are pursuing here? Bible tells us that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. Jesus himself said: “I am the way and the truth and the life”. Because God is the Creator who created us in his own image, we as engineers can create and invent. Because God ordained natural laws, we can find these laws and formulate them; Because God commanded us as stewards of his creation, we are motivated to understand, and take care of the environment. Because God is logos, we can reason logically and develop theories for predictions. Basically speaking, Christianity not only provides me a new view of life but also provides me a completely intelligible framework for academic teaching and research.

Finally, the most important part of being a Christian, according to my understanding, is the commitment to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Although I am a professor at USU, it is not my main duty. I am assigned by God to be a witness of Jesus Christ in academia for His glory and His purpose, only. And this is the reason why I am here tonight.