My Friend, Zeus

By Philip Ramsey

"My Friend, Zeus" is a science fiction novelette about a university professor and his ET Scientist friend, Zeus. In Chapter 1 the professor introduces himself and his hobby of puzzle solving such as the simple 9-ball problem and the more difficult 12-ball problem. Zeus communicates with the professor only during the professor's dreams where Zeus shows a knowledge of science and puzzle solving. In Chapter 2 the professor and Zeus discuss health, religion, mathematics and other topics. In Chapter 3 the discussion turns to religion in general and Christianity in particular. As a scientist, Zeus questioned the beliefs of Christians. The professor tried to explain the meaning of "faith" for many religions including Christianity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098342531

Philip Ramsey

Dr. Phil Ramsey is a Senior Lecturer at Massey University in New Zealand, where he teaches Organizational Learning, Leadership and Teamwork. He also works as a Director of Incite Learning, a consulting company that mainly works with schools, helping school leaders apply Organizational Learning concepts to solve tough problems.

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My Friend Zeus

© 2020 Philip Ramsey

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

ISBN: 978-1-09834-253-1

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

APPENDIX I

APPENDIX II

Chapter 1

Let me start with some personal background. I grew up in a south Alabama town in which I had a very undistinguished beginning in school. It took nine years for me to complete the first eight grades. In fact, in eighth grade, we had to multiply numerous pairs of four digit numbers. I could do it, but I was slow and was lucky to pass the math class with a grade of D (that is D, as in David).

I did have a number of childhood illnesses which may have been partially responsible for my poor academic performance. My explanation was much simpler. I just thought I was stupid. After all, someone had to be the stupidest person in the class. It certainly did not do my self-esteem any good.

Fortunately, in ninth grade I was in first year algebra where we were required to construct equations and solve them with very little arithmetic needed. I fell in love with math and did fairly well in all my high school math classes. I went on to graduate with a BS in math from Georgia Tech. I even taught high school math in the Peace Corps for two years.

My family was very religious, attending a local Southern Baptist Church every Sunday. I joined the church and was formally baptized at the age of about six. The Baptist teaching was that if you accepted Jesus as your Savior and joined the church, then you would go to Heaven when you die. Otherwise, you would to Hell. It seemed like a simple choice.

Even before graduating from high school, I began to have some concerns about religion. For example, I wondered what happened to the American Indians for the first thousand years after Jesus died? They could not accept Jesus as their savior because they never heard of him. It hardly seemed fair for them to go to Hell, but that seemed to be the only alternative. I wondered what an intelligent extra-terrestrial would think of our Earthly religions.

Growing up in the deep south, I spent most of the summers in one swimming pool or another. In the Boy Scouts, I even learned about drown-proofing, a technique developed by a Georgia Tech swimming coach named Freddie Lanoue. Years later, I took the required swimming class at Georgia Tech for which I was better