Cramming New Thinking Into Our Old Ways

Rich Dixon thought about Jesus’ metaphor of pouring new wine into old wineskins.

Of course, we have no clue what Jesus was picturing. What the heck is a wineskin? You mean they were allowed to drink wine back then?

Rich transformed the thinking from first to twenty-first century language.

It’s tempting to cram Jesus’ teaching into our old ways of thinking.

For a math teacher, I think he nailed it.

Can we think of times someone has tried to persuade us that their old way of thinking actually reflected what Jesus taught? I hope we haven’t fallen victim to reinterpreting Jesus to suit our own politics or prejudices. That would be a huge loss.

This entry was posted on May 1, 2026 at 4:55 am and is filed under Attitude, Thinking, Wisdom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Cramming New Thinking Into Our Old Ways”

Rich Dixon Says:
May 1, 2026 at 10:06 am | Reply
Hey Gary – Thanks for the kind words.

Even former math teachers need to work at opening our minds to new ways of thinking.
- Gary Mintchell Says:
  May 1, 2026 at 2:51 pm | Reply
  The best math teacher I ever had opened the semester with “I am here to teach you how to think, and yes, you will learn geometry.” And he did–teach me how to think. I bet you were there, too.

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