MTP 20: Moorad Alexanian from Cuba to Mexico, knowing yourself, CS Lewis, nothingness, and arming students with the truth.

Dr. Moorad Alexanian, Professor of Physics at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, shares his personal journey of becoming a Christian and Jesus' impact on his life. He discusses the role of the Bible in understanding oneself, the need for unification in knowledge, and recognizing aspects of reality that are not physical, even though his subject matter is physics. Moorad encourages Christian students to be prepared to defend their faith in a secular environment. He also highlights the significance of reading books by C.S. Lewis, such as Mere Christianity, for intellectual growth and understanding of the Christian faith.

You can email Moorad at: alexanian@uncw.edu

Read more about Moorad at: https://meettheprof.com/view/professors/entry/moorad-alexanian/

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Transcript

Shane Hartley (00:00)
Hi professors, my name is Ashley Davis and I'm a junior at UNCW studying Business Administration and a concentration of Marketing Strategy. And I wanted to come on here and ask how do you guys show love and grace within the classroom when having open discussions with students in regards to hard conversations and even areas such as

science, where, God created science and stuff like that that comes across as loving and not

Shane & Spence (00:33)
Hey everybody, welcome back to Meet the Prof. My name is Shane Hartley and my friend, Spence Hackney and I take questions like you just heard and we ask them to college professors who are believers. And I think that this will probably help encourage Christ -centered conversations on the college campus. To us, college students are rock stars. They are the future and the college age

is a generation that should not be neglected. And we think the number one need they have is to know Jesus. And so we see one of the greatest solutions being that there are professors out there that know Jesus and are available to answer tough questions.

our goal is to help make some connections here between Christian professors and students.

And whether you're a college student or you're just someone who loves college students, we are so glad you are here. Thank you for joining us. And the interview that you'll hear today is from Dr. Moorad Alexanian. He's a physics professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

would actually suggest you pause and read his testimony that's on MeetTheProf .com. You will be amazed at

the experience he has had and his story. And so you would go to meettheprof .com and you can search for him by his first name, Moorad, which is M -O -O -R -A -D. We'll put a link to it in the show notes.

But I think you'll be very encouraged about his love for knowing

having answers for the Christian faith, and finding really how Jesus makes life work.

He has a real heart for the field of apologetics and you'll hear that he has a love for CS Lewis, who I also love. And so before we get started, would you take a moment and on whatever app you're listening to this, would you like or subscribe or follow whatever the button is there that helps us get this out to more college students. So without any further ado, here is our interview with Moorad Alexanian.

Shane & Spence (02:51)
Well, Moorad, thank you for joining us today. Welcome to Meet the Prof. And it's a joy to get to sit down and spend time with you. And you on Meet the Prof, when I read your story, it read sort of like an action novel or an adventure novel. And so yeah, we appreciate you telling your story like that.

So how are you doing?

Moorad Alexanian (03:15)
Oh, I'm doing fine. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share some of my views with students and faculty.

Shane & Spence (03:21)
Of course. Yeah, thank you for being available.

one of the first questions we always ask our professors is, what is an embarrassing moment that you had as a college student?

Moorad Alexanian (03:32)
Well, the only one I remember was I had taken a shower, I had a towel around my waist, I was walking in the fraternity and a brother just pulled the towel from me. I ran after him, I think I grabbed his shirt and if I'm not wrong, his shirt ripped. I was so angry. That was about it.

Shane & Spence (03:43)
Hahaha

That's a classic embarrassing moment. The, you know, the yank the towel and the naked.

Moorad Alexanian (03:53)
 was something that I didn't want someone to do to me,  I mean, there was nobody there. There was nobody else except brothers, fraternity brothers.

Shane & Spence (03:58)
That might be the best one so far.

That's That was my next question. It's like, who was there for that? Well, if that's the worst thing that happened at your fraternity house, you lived in a pretty tame fraternity house. So you had a good college career.

Moorad Alexanian (04:06)
No.

You know, I was in New England, in Rhode Island, and our fraternity house was such that we slept in the attic. And because of fire regulations, all the windows were open, so it was very cold. And I remember one night I really got sick. Probably was food poisoning. And the president of the fraternity.

helped me, I went downstairs, I really vomited, I was really, really sick. So I remember that. And another case is that we heard a dog bark. You know, when we were up sleeping in the attic, the dog was barking. All of a sudden, the dog stopped barking and the smell of the skunk came right through the windows. Those are a couple of cases I remember. But I had a good experience.

Shane & Spence (04:51)
Ha ha

Yeah. And you were, you were at Rhode Island then, right? University of Rhode Island. Okay. Now, were you a Christian then? Were you a Christian when you were young and in college?

Moorad Alexanian (04:59)
Right, at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston.

No, I became a Christian when I was in Mexico.

Shane & Spence (05:13)
Okay, all right.

Moorad Alexanian (05:14)
I was around 32 years old.

Shane & Spence (05:16)
Okay, why don't we start with that? So you shared that Ephesians 6: 4, I think was a big turning point in your life. And can you tell us more about that?

Moorad Alexanian (05:24)
But it was, well, what happened is I was born in Cuba, so I spoke Spanish. My wife was born in Rhode Island. And she's also Armenian, but she didn't speak Spanish. So she was looking for, for someone, you know, people in Mexico to speak English so she could converse and meet people. Now in Mexico, there is three kinds of people. The people that go with companies.

Shane & Spence (05:41)
Hmm.

Moorad Alexanian (05:47)
you know, big drug companies or whatever. And then a lot of missionaries. And then crazy people like myself that was there on his own. I was working in a, what do you say, it was sort of the analog of the Princeton Institute of Advanced Studies.

Shane & Spence (05:52)
Mm-hmm.

Moorad Alexanian (06:03)
The director was a professor from Harvard for about 20 years, and he went back to Mexico and created this institute. So that's where I was working. So the only people that we could meet with missionaries, from all kinds of denominations, missionaries. By the way, they're not very welcome in Mexico. They go there as tourists, and every six months they have to leave and come back.

Shane & Spence (06:10)
Hmm.

Hmm.

No.

Moorad Alexanian (06:27)
So she started taking Bible studies because she dealt with missionaries. And of course, she would ask me things. Now, you must remember that Mary and I were there with our two daughters that were like four or five years old. So my concern was, Mary, here we are. We're like orphans in Mexico. You know, we have no families. And the...

How do we raise our kids? You know, there's no aunts, there's no uncles, there's no grandmothers, there's no grandfathers, there's nothing like that. And what happened? I came across that verse somehow.

Shane & Spence (06:55)
Mm-hmm.

Moorad Alexanian (06:59)
And I said, well, here's where I drop anchor. This is what I'm going to do. Because after all, Armenia was the first nation that adopted the Christian faith. So I figured, well, I'm going to do what my, you know, my ancestors did, and I'm just going to go to the source. So I did go to Bible studies. In fact, we were in one for about eight years.

And so that's the way I became a

And as time went on, I, one of the missionaries, Harry Burke, who died recently, he used to give me a book by C.S. Lewis. So I started reading a lot.

Shane & Spence (07:29)
Uh, yeah.

Moorad Alexanian (07:30)
To me the Christian faith has something to do with the truth. It's not about religion really. It's about the truth. And as I was telling to a fellow Spaniard this afternoon, I was in Panera having lunch with him. I said the reason I'm a Christian is because it allows me to understand more things more clearly.

Shane & Spence (07:49)
Hmm

Moorad Alexanian (07:49)
Like C.S. Lewis says, I cannot look at the sun, but the sun allows me to see things very clearly. That is to say, suppose the sun was like God, but God allows you to see. And I think that's the biggest experience I have gotten. It's an experience of wisdom. And believe me, a lot of what goes on campus as education is I have no very high feeling for it.

Shane & Spence (08:11)
Mm.

Moorad Alexanian (08:12)
we need that more than ever in our country, this idea of knowing, because you know Christianity is not a religion.

To me, a religion is like men seeking God. In the Christian faith, God sought men. So our faith is based on the death and resurrection of Christ. Like Paul said, if that wasn't true, our Christian faith doesn't exist. So it's sort of, it's based on history. It's not so much based on philosophy.

Shane & Spence (08:37)
When you were a kid, do you remember having this desire to understand things? Did it come up then?

Moorad Alexanian (08:43)
What well, that's a long story

First of all, I was born in Cuba, in Havana, and there was no Armenian church. So since the country is basically Catholic, I never went to church, but I did see a lot of processions in the streets and so on and so forth. But I never understood why Christ died. I thought he was an innocent man, but I didn't know what he was accomplishing with his death on the cross.

I had no training at all in faith. My mother read the Bible and she used to mention Proverbs all the time. So I've learned to say things short and sweet.

Shane & Spence (09:18)
Hehehe

Moorad Alexanian (09:18)
That's my style, a little bit like C.S. Lewis I guess. I don't like verbose things. So I mean, so, but I always, I always believed in God, but I didn't know what the Christian faith was all about. I just didn't know that. Did I answer your question or did I veer off?

Shane & Spence (09:21)
Hmm.

Yeah, I really that about you too. Yeah, this desire to understand God even came from you wanting to be a better parent. That's that Ephesians 6 verse. So uh.

Moorad Alexanian (09:49)
that really, well, you know, I didn't know what to do. What do we do? How do we raise our kids? I even once held the Bible and said, this is our boss. I'm not your boss. Now, the interesting thing about that is that your kids can tell you when you're wrong, when you're not following the book. You see what I mean? I think it was the...

Shane & Spence (09:52)
Yeah.

Our what? Our boss. Oh, our boss, yeah.

That's right, you're making yourself like... Yup. Yeah, yeah.

Moorad Alexanian (10:11)
Albert Camus, a French philosopher, he was a writer, he said, the trouble with stating your principle is that you become a slave to them. So when you say you're a Christian, there's a certain behavior that has to follow.

Shane & Spence (10:20)
Ah. Yeah, yeah.

Hmm. Yeah. You know, it strikes me that parenting is one of those things where it is a crisis, parenting is, because we don't know how to do it. And so many times it's the crisis in our lives that makes us turn to God to say, I need truth. I need fact. I need direction, on these things. And that, yeah, very much so.

Moorad Alexanian (10:46)
Well, I mean, you know, you buy a car, there's a manual with the car. Well, I think the Bible is the manual that comes with humans.

Shane & Spence (10:53)
Yeah. And how to make life work.

Moorad Alexanian (10:56)
I always in... What?

Shane & Spence (10:57)
So you've been motivated to really learn how life works and to look to the Bible to see how life works.

Moorad Alexanian (11:02)
Well, you know, I don't know if you remember that, I forget in what city in Greece, ancient Greece, there was the entrance of the school, it says, know thyself. I've struggled with, how do you know yourself? Well, then it dawned on me that to know that, to know yourself, you have to know God. Or you don't know who you are.

Shane & Spence (11:13)
Mm, yeah.

Moorad Alexanian (11:23)
But then maybe five, six, seven years later, I said, no, you have to know Christ. If you know Christ, then you can know who you are. I can envision.

Shane & Spence (11:27)
Mm-ah.

Explain that more. Explain that more, please, because I think students want to know themselves.

Moorad Alexanian (11:34)
Well, I mean, let me say it this way. You probably have interviewed psychologists. One day there'll be a ton of books in a library associated with what human beings are. And the guy will tell you, look, if you know what human beings are, you gotta read all those books, or else read the Bible. That's what I mean. Who you are.

Shane & Spence (11:51)
Ah.

Moorad Alexanian (11:54)
I mean, for instance, the obvious thing is when many people don't like to say, oh, you Christians say I'm a sinner. I'm a nice guy. Well, then that guy doesn't know who he is. That's the truth about us. We're fallen creatures.

Shane & Spence (12:07)
Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah, that we if we're denying being broken, then we're missing part of our identity.

Moorad Alexanian (12:14)
Yeah, well, even.

Yeah, well, I think that, I think like CS Lewis said, I think in most cases, when you go deep into it, is an issue of pride. Pride, as Lewis says, that's the worst of sin. That's the sin that made Satan, Satan, pride.

Shane & Spence (12:27)
Hmm.

Yeah. It you said earlier that the problem with having principles is that you become a slave to them. You know, it's also the problem. The problem with reading the Bible and hearing the truth and knowing your identity is you become a slave to it. You know, what would you say to the society, you know, the person in society today who kind of rebels against the identity that God has for them?

Moorad Alexanian (12:41)
What the...

Shane & Spence (12:56)
They're pushing back against that truth. Yeah, well, just that definition God has of truth for them. You see that all the time today. The truth about what man and woman is, or marriage, or anything else. What do you say to people that rebel against that truth?

Moorad Alexanian (12:56)
You mean the society is rebelling against what? God?

Well, you know...

I mean, when you're rudderless if your boat has no means of maneuvering itself, you just go around in circles. I mean, there's a lot of things going around secretly in this country, even maybe even the politicians that are running the country. I mean, they, people have lost their sense of orientation. You know, you know what a gyroscope is. When you're up in space.

Shane & Spence (13:33)
Yeah.

Moorad Alexanian (13:34)
You gotta know there's a certain direction, so that's why you have a gyroscope. People have lost that. I

Shane & Spence (13:37)
Mm-hmm.

Moorad Alexanian (13:41)
you see, in physics, there's a concept of unification. Unification, that means that if you have many phenomena,

Shane & Spence (13:46)
Okay.

Moorad Alexanian (13:49)
You want to have one theory that explains many things rather than have one theory for every phenomenon, you know. And the famous scientist Heisenberg, who invented quantum mechanics, he said that this idea of unification in physics, this concept is like having one God.

Shane & Spence (13:55)
Hmm. Mm-hmm.

Moorad Alexanian (14:07)
instead of many gods, a god for the trees, a god for the rocks, and so on, to have one god. And so to me that's what the Christian faith does. It unifies moral issues. See what I mean? And this is a very important thing. I have written a lot about that, that if you ask me about what is reality,

Shane & Spence (14:07)
Mm.

Hmm.

Moorad Alexanian (14:25)
Well, in reality, there's three aspects. There's the physical. By the way, that's the subject matter physics, matter, energy, that stuff basically. Then there is the non-physical. Things like, you know the number pi? You know the number of  pi?

Shane & Spence (14:40)
Yeah, sure.

Moorad Alexanian (14:41)
Where is that? Do you see it in your garden? Do you see it on the highway? It's up here in your head. That's a non-physical concept. And then there's the big thing that is the supernatural. Those are the three aspects of reality. Now materialists would say, oh no, everything is matter. Well, look at that, I'm a physicist, I deal with matter, but I don't say that. That's foolishness, you know? I mean there is a world...

Shane & Spence (14:43)
Ah, hmm. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Moorad Alexanian (15:03)
of moral issues.

Physics cannot answer moral issues or these things. So that's where in our case the Christian faith comes in. We deal with that aspect of reality. I mean, but many people, they say, you know, all kinds of things about the brain, about the body, and they want to explain everything from matter, which to me is kind of nonsense, to be honest.

Shane & Spence (15:07)
Hmm

I'd love to hear more about how you've been able to explain this to students, have conversations like this with students, because you know personally my brother-in-law, Tommy Castleberry, had you as a student. He said about 30 years ago and said that you had a profound impact on him as you would talk about your faith. And so I was wondering like if you have memories of conversations you've had like this with students where you talk about these things.

Moorad Alexanian (15:26)
and see you.

Shane & Spence (15:49)
these things of faith.

Moorad Alexanian (15:50)
Well, usually I think a couple of students have asked me things and I usually have sent them copies of what I have written. I've written a lot of stuff and but whoever asked me I just tell them always what I told you. I think that's important to know to know that there's aspects of reality that are not physical.

And believe me, I deal on the physical. That's my subject matter, physical.

Shane & Spence (16:13)
Yeah, it's in your title, Physic.

Moorad Alexanian (16:17)
Now for instance, you know, like I don't know if I were a psychologist I would be like a Christian psychologist. I don't know if there's any people like that on campus or whatever, you know, people that, I mean, because you see, when I teach physics, yeah I know, yeah I agree, no, the thing is when you teach physics, these issues don't come up. But if I were teaching history.

Shane & Spence (16:27)
Mm-hmm. We've interviewed one of them.

Moorad Alexanian (16:40)
I couldn't stop saying, with the greatest event in history was the birth of Christ. You see what I mean? I couldn't stop from saying that. I don't want to be a phony teacher. Okay? Like one time I was on campus and, you know, the students would come to our table, physics or philosophy, and ask questions about courses and programs and so on. So next to me was a guy

Shane & Spence (16:45)
Yep, yep.

Moorad Alexanian (17:04)
in philosophy at the table because physics philosophy you know they put it in alphabetical order or something so I asked him if they teach religion or something and he said yes we do teach religion I know they do I said do you believe in religion? You're christian you believe in religion? Oh, no. No, we don't believe in it Then I said look at it's like us in physics teaching. Uh, what is that?

Shane & Spence (17:08)
Hmm, alphabetical.

Moorad Alexanian (17:27)
Astrology. I don't believe in astrology. Would we ever teach astrology in the physics department? Certainly not. So I don't know how you could teach something and don't believe in it. I mean why don't you say look at this is all a lie don't learn about it. Close the book the semester is over.

Shane & Spence (17:29)
Hmm. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah.

Hmm. Yeah.

Hmm.

Moorad Alexanian (17:46)
Look at this, a lot of nonsense going on.

Shane & Spence (17:48)
So I had a conversation in Sweden with a physicist who would have died on the hill that it was most probable that the universe came together by chance, right? That's the most probable thing. And I look at it and think, that seems like the most improbable thing that all these systems came together by chance.

Like how would you answer that? I mean, that seems to become a fundamental question that.

Moorad Alexanian (18:11)
Well, look, I remember what my niece once told me. She said, oh, this is my niece, OK? She said that scientists came to God and said, oh, we can do what you did, you know, creating men and so on. He said, OK, do that. Then they took some earth. Then God said, no, get your own earth.

Shane & Spence (18:23)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Hahaha

Moorad Alexanian (18:32)
The point of creation is at the center of things. I mean, I can't conceive because if you say, look at it, I give you another example. You cannot think of nothingness. You know what nothingness means. When you think of nothing, what do you think? A empty room.

Shane & Spence (18:35)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Hmm. Yeah. Hmm. And that is something.

Moorad Alexanian (18:50)
 of nothingness? You know who is the only person that can do that is God? Because then he can create from nothingness. But we cannot think of nothingness. Sit down for an hour and try. You always think of an empty something or something. You gotta, you know, remember we live in time. We live moment by moment. You know? You see,

Shane & Spence (18:55)
Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Hmm.

Moorad Alexanian (19:16)
 if you live in time, then you realize that God is eternal.

You know, it says in the Bible, God sustains the creation. He holds, upholds the creation.

Shane & Spence (19:28)
Well, you've been a Christian in a hard sciences field.

And it sounds like you've gotten some support along the way. Have you also gotten pushback? Do you ever feel like you've gotten, you know, people kind of discounting you or pushing you out because of your beliefs or has that been a problem for you?

Moorad Alexanian (19:43)
Well, let me answer that in the best way I can. When I was in Mexico, I was going to write a letter to the physics today. Physics today. That's the magazine of the American Physical Society,

So I was going to write a letter.

And in that letter, I used the term, professing to be wise, they became fools, and gave

You know, I was afraid to send the letter, because I didn't want, from the question that you asked, that people would say, gee, you're a physicist. How can you believe that nonsense? But I did send the letter, and it did get published. So now, I don't care.

Shane & Spence (20:06)
Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Moorad Alexanian (20:17)
I guess in a way, you know, I have a secure job with tenure. I don't know what would have happened if I didn't have tenure. But in any case, I don't hide my faith. Because it's an integral part of who I am, how I think. You know?

Shane & Spence (20:24)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Moorad Alexanian (20:31)
I used to communicate in a Christian group, but there was a an Italian scientist and

He was a materialist. So he was going to get married. So I said next time you meet your girlfriend tell her that she's nothing but a complicated solution of the Schrödinger equation. I mean you know that's the Schrödinger is the basic equation in quantum mechanics.

Shane & Spence (20:47)
The what equation?

Oh, yeah. Schrodinger's cat. I know that.

What was it about Jesus for you that attracted you specifically to the person of Jesus? You said you always believed in God, but then there was a turning point for you when you began to believe Jesus was really who he said he was.

Moorad Alexanian (21:09)
In my case, what is very important is the education associated with the Christian faith.

I mean, I do believe in salvation and so on, but then it's like the, I think Paul said, you know, you drink milk, now you gotta eat meat. You know what I mean? I think the notion of knowing how you understand things when you're a Christian is, I think it's fundamental. I think that's what a lot of students don't realize. You see, the trouble, I'll tell you what is the trouble with students. They come to school.

Shane & Spence (21:23)
Hmm.

How so?

Moorad Alexanian (21:38)
with the mind of a 16-year-old or whatever, then they start learning things, you know, secular things, when they're 20-something. But they don't grow in the Christian faith to be able to match the fight between the secular and the Christian faith. You see what I mean? So they're really babies fighting giants. You know what I mean? So...

Shane & Spence (21:54)
Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

Moorad Alexanian (21:58)
For students, they have to do what I think I do. Understand what the faith is. C.S. Lewis said it's an education in itself, you shouldn't be ashamed of it.

I would say every Christian student should read C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, every one of them. And you know, his books are good because every time you read it, you learn something new. That's the definition of a good book. But they don't do that. So, you know, they go to church and they do this.

Shane & Spence (22:15)
Mm. Yeah.

Hmm.

Yeah, yeah.

Moorad Alexanian (22:27)
They are without any weapons to fight what they're going to encounter because let's face it, most faculty members don't believe what I

Shane & Spence (22:30)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

we have a question for you from a student, and this one was unique because she actually asks it to be applied towards the sciences in school. So take a listen to this student's

Shane Hartley (22:49)
Hi professors, my name is Ashley Davis and I'm a junior at UNCW studying Business Administration and a concentration of Marketing Strategy. And I wanted to come on here and ask how do you guys show love and grace within the classroom when having open discussions with students in regards to hard conversations and even areas such as

science, where, God created science and stuff like that that comes across as loving and not

Moorad Alexanian (23:22)
you, Ashley. I'll answer the best way I can. I really don't think that I would make a distinction. If I had students, and I knew one student was a Christian, the other one was not, I don't think I would treat them differently, to be honest. I would express the same dedication to the learning and follow anything they ask me or...

or something that I don't think they understand. So I would try to be a good teacher to everybody. Now, as I said, when I teach physics, how do I express love? I mean, because you care for the education of the students. I mean, I don't see how else you can express that. And I think that's what I would do. Of course, a student can approach a professor and ask anything they want.

And as I said, I don't hide my Christian faith. I mean, I don't have a flag waving it all the time. I don't do that. But I mean, some of them gather because I have said something. Well, scripture says this. I quote something. So they know that other professors don't do that. So there's an opening for them to be able to ask me something different.

Shane & Spence (24:19)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Moorad Alexanian (24:24)
Like one time I was in the lab and a student says, what is the meaning of God, professor? Like that. You know, all the people were at the table. I said it's to please God. That's what I said. Well, how can I please God? You have to know God. And really, the only way you can know God is by knowing Jesus Christ. There's no other way.

Shane & Spence (24:34)
So I.

Great, thanks. Well, we have some lightning round questions for you. So these are the questions where we'll shoot them out almost like a machine gun and you can just tell us first things that come to mind. So the first one is, what advice would you give your 18 year old self?

Moorad Alexanian (24:44)
I think that's the way I...

Me? And your 18 year old self?

Shane & Spence (24:58)
Uh huh. You're, yes, if you go back in time and you're 18 years old, what advice now would you give yourself then?

Moorad Alexanian (25:05)
Well, I don't know. You know, I had a pretty good, happy upbringing.

But I will tell them a little bit of what I can tell them. Now remember, you know, when I raise my kids, I never baby talk to them. If I talk to you about eggs and I talk to them about eggs, I use the same language.

So at 18, you know, that's pretty old, I probably would tell them much of what I told you. The main thing is truth and wisdom. I think that's, you know, like if people read the scripture, they become wiser. They may not become Christian, but they become wiser, you see.

Shane & Spence (25:29)
Great.

Yeah. Here's another one. What is the single most important thing that you would like to tell a college senior who's getting ready to graduate?

Moorad Alexanian (25:49)
I know that I read C.S. Lewis. Yeah. There's four books, Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain is good. Screwtape Letters. That was a book that was given to me by that missionary in Mexico. I didn't like it, but now I know it's a very deep, deep book.

Shane & Spence (25:51)
Read C.S. Lewis. Read mere Christianity. Great.

Yeah.

Okay, yep.

Moorad Alexanian (26:08)
and also Miracles. Miracles, The problem of Pain, screw tape letters and Mere Christianity. I don't read Narnia and things like that.

Shane & Spence (26:14)
That's interesting.

I would have put Four Loves in that. That would have been on there for me. Yeah, yeah. The book Four Loves by C.S. Lewis, yeah.

Moorad Alexanian (26:19)
I've read, I've read Four Loves. You mean the book Four Loves? Yeah, I've read it, but if I need to do something, I have to go back and read parts of it. I don't, the other ones are more alive with me.

Shane & Spence (26:30)
Yeah, it's good. It's good.

I like your answer about all these books because they could also be graduation gifts. It's actually good these books.

Moorad Alexanian (26:39)
Oh yeah, you know, I don't know if they do that now, but they assign a book to freshmen. Do they still do that when they come in?

Shane & Spence (26:45)
They do it. They do it some schools. I don't think they do it at UNCW. And I haven't heard that. Summer reading for the freshman class. Yeah.

Moorad Alexanian (26:52)
I would, I would, mere Christianity. You know, I remember now that I used to go to a conference, a scientific conference, they were called Gordon Research Conferences, and it was usually in a prep school in New Hampshire. So one time I used to take these books with me, so I was reading mere Christianity, so I left everything.

When I came back to my room, the person that cleaned the room had written in a, you know, those brown folding napkins, you know, that you get from machines, brown. She had written, I admire you for reading a Christian book. Please do not tell the administration that I wrote this note.

Shane & Spence (27:20)
Yeah.

That's great. Yeah. All right, well another question is what is the single most important advice you would give to other Christian professors?

Moorad Alexanian (27:41)
I mean, be truthful, you know. If something is apropos for what you're talking in class, just say it. Like I said, if something came in my physics lecture that I would say, oh, I should say something about my faith, I wouldn't stop from not saying it. I would say, don't. I mean, don't.

Shane & Spence (27:50)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Moorad Alexanian (28:01)
I've got you know, you know, campuses are very anti-religious, so I don't know. I never hid my faith. That's the point. Don't hide your faith.

Shane & Spence (28:06)
Yeah, yeah. All right.

Yeah. All right. Here's one. So what's the most important thing for a parent to do to help their college student?

Moorad Alexanian (28:21)
the college student?

Shane & Spence (28:22)
What's the most important thing for a parent of a college student?

Moorad Alexanian (28:25)
Well, you know, you have to arm them. Arm them, I don't mean with real weapons, I mean with truth. Because they're going to go out there. You know... Let me put it this way.

You don't want to do the sums for your kids. If you don't want to do the sums, you know, adding for your kids, you teach them how to add. The same thing he says, don't give a guy a fish, teach him how to fish. That's what you have to do. As I said, a lot of the Christian boys and girls that go to campuses are not prepared. They're very gullible. I don't think they are mature in the Christian faith.

Shane & Spence (28:41)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Moorad Alexanian (28:58)
and very easily can go in any way. And I wrote an article once about that, but I think a lot of the Christian students that go to secular campuses, they kind of lose their faith. I don't know if you encounter that. You must encounter that.

Shane & Spence (29:13)
I heard recently that 80% of kids who come in saying they're Christians come out of college saying that they're not Christians anymore. I'm not sure if that's accurate, but...

Moorad Alexanian (29:20)
Well, you know why, in the strict sense of the word, they were never Christians. I mean, to be a Christian means that you know a lot about what your faith is. You can defend it with reason, like in Paul or Peter said. And if you cannot do that, you're like a bird that anybody can shoot down.

Shane & Spence (29:25)
Eh, that would be the argument. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Moorad Alexanian (29:39)
You know, in a way, I blame a lot of the faculty members because they are the ones that preach their faith in many classes because they can do it. Physics, you can't do it. But in psychology, in philosophy, and all those places, you can be put in your own...

prejudices in the head of the students. You can do that very easily.

Shane & Spence (29:57)
Mm-hmm.

You know, I feel grateful for you being there for all of the students that you've touched, but it's more personal for me because of your investment in my brother-in-law. So thank you for your care for the students and we really appreciate you taking this time to let us get to know you more and to share more things like this with the students.

Moorad Alexanian (30:19)
Well, I mean, if any student wants to approach me through email or whatever through the university, I'd be happy to answer any additional things.

Shane (30:28)
Well, I hope you enjoyed that interview and you can learn more as well as read about other Christian professors on our website, meettheprof.com. And you can search for professors by name or by state or even by college campus. And you can also find many helpful resources about questions that were in the interview and other ways of answering tough questions at Cru.org and that's Cru.org.

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