The Christian Geek

First, let me welcome you to The Christian Geek.  I hope you will get as much out of reading has I have had in writing.  I will break this introduction down into three parts:

• My background
• Blog topics
• Rules

I would strongly urge you to read this entire introduction before digging into the blog itself and certainly before posting.  This will help avoid any misunderstandings or surprises.  It will also help you decide if this website is for you without wasting too much of your time.

Who Is Raul?

There are four answers to that question, in decreasing order:

1. A disciple of Jesus,
2. The husband of Anthea and father of Antonio,
3. A scientist and engineer,
4. An unabashed geek.

As a disciple of Jesus, I believe He is the incarnate Son of God who was born of a virgin, crucified on a cross, buried and resurrected after three days.  I believe that man is created in God’s image, but is a fallen creature separated from God and in need of redemption.  That Jesus came and made the sacrifice to allow the redemption of man and this is the freely available gift to all who will believe.  I believe that due to man’s fallen nature we are incapable of our own salvation and that the acceptance of His sacrifice and lordship is the only way to a relationship with God.  Also, I believe in the inerrancy of scripture in the original manuscripts and a literal interpretation in the historical context of the author and with respect to the genre of the particular book.

As a husband and father, I have a wonderful wife and son who are the most important earthly people in my life.  My wife is a talented musician and a gifted teacher.  Without her support I would have not achieved my many successes in life’s journey.  My son is proof of Bill Cosby’s mother’s curse; “I hope you have a child that is just like you.”  He is quite brilliant, very active, has dimples and knows how to use them.  In 2011, we had to pull him out of public school and switch to home schooling to keep him sufficiently challenged.

As a scientist and engineer, I have spent my professional life in the area of cardiac research and clinical care.  The way I’ve described it in the past, I’m one of the few non-PhD/MD people left in the field.  The short explanation is that I started as a pre-med student, got several invitations to med schools, but after seeing the junk they were calling “medical software,” switched to computer science going into my senior year.  My thinking was that someone as comfortable in an engineering lab as they were in an electrophysiology lab could do anything they wanted.  That has proven mostly true.

As far as geekiness is concerned, what can I say?  Sure I’m on the high end of my 40’s, but I’m the guy those youngsters come to when they want to learn how to push their tech.  I’m also a rather accomplished sound engineer with experience in live, studio and even a bit of broadcast sound.  And what geek isn’t a sci-fi and fantasy nut?  At age 4 and 5 I would sneak it to watch Star Trek then discovered Heinlein in 3rd grade, and it’s been downhill from there.  I’ve worn out two copies of Lord of the Rings and on my 3rd copy.  On the subject of Star Trek vs. Star Wars, my opinion is the White Star fleet (Babylon 5) would chew up both!

On The Menu

As you probably surmised from both the blog’s name and my introduction, expect to see a lot of writing on technology and science fiction/fantasy (F&SF).  In particular, mobile tech and the television show Fringe rank very high on my list of interests.  As a Christian, I will not be shying away from religious implications or applications on any of my writings as I feel appropriate.  Expect to see writing on Pro Audio and possibly even some consumer grade AV.  I will be addressing Christian apologetics as well; a particular – and somewhat geeky – passion of mine.  I have a particular love of science and origin apologetics.  This will almost certainly cross over into discussions of homeschooling.

Just be warned, when writing on any of these topics from a Christian perspective, it is easy to cross into territory that some will consider controversial or even offensive.  That is not a sufficient reason to avoid the topic.  Sadly, I expect much of the offended to come from the Christian community.  I hope reality proves me wrong, but history has tended otherwise.  This brings me to…

The Rules

The rules for comments and feedback are really quite simple.  A Christ-like attitude is expected.  Posts should be able to live up to the 1 Peter 3:15 test, “always being ready to make a defense to anyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is within you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (NASB).      This means feel free to disagree, but do so calmly and with respect.  If a topic steps on your toes, think through it before pressing “Send.”  Comments I find insulting, belittling or offensive will be deleted without warning or explanation, even if I happen to agree with the basic idea.  Understanding comes from debating through areas of disagreement on ideas, but that cannot happen if you don’t have good manners.  It’s all about the attitude rather than the position.

So with all this behind us, let’s go have some fun…