Posts Tagged ‘learning’

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How Did You Get Where You Are

March 31, 2014

Are you doing now what you thought you’d be when you started out?

I loved science as a kid. Electronics, especially, fascinated me. I learned about circuits. I learned math that was way beyond what they were teaching in school. Enough so, that I always tested well in standardized tests on math. I learned a lot of science that is still with me.

This was all outside of school. I think I learned some things in school, but to this day most of my education is outside the walls of Academe. (Note to educators 😉

Writing always had an attraction to me. So, after working in engineering-related jobs for many years, I started writing (which requires thinking, by the way).

Jesus, John, Peter and the rest of the original group must have been somewhat similar. They were very smart, and they knew a lot. But several times in the Gospel accounts they are referred to as “uneducated.” I think that is because they were educated outside of the “Ivy League” of the day. They weren’t part of the establishment.

As an aside, I looked into studying in a seminary a long time ago. It wasn’t attractive. The course of study was weird to me. And, I viewed it as just an apprenticeship toward getting into the “club” so to speak–being an official pastor. Not an attractive option to me then–or now.

Take a look at John, whose Gospel I’m studying right now. He wrote in Greek. His logic is somewhat complex. I think the same person wrote the Gospel, the three letters and the Revelation because the logic is the same and the vision is consistent–although you can see growth.

John probably came from a wealthy family. Learned the family trade of fishing. Became an intimate disciple of Jesus. Became a leader of the early movement. Probably Peter being the organizer and John being the intellectual visionary. Then he moved to Ephesus and taught a community. Was exiled to an island. And became a writer.

I think what John did was a mixture of intentionally learning and following the proddings of God. I think that’s how I’ve wound up where I am.

So, how did you get where you are? There is, of course, still time to follow the little whispers of God suggesting things you should be learning and doing.

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Debating Society or Living in Love

January 24, 2014

A teacher recently explained something of the difference between the Reformed view of Scripture and the Dispensationalist view. I found it interesting to learn that I was closer to the Reformed view than I’d have expected.

The Reformed strain begins with Luther, then Calvin and others of the 16th and 17th Century. The Dispensationalists (precursors of much of today’s “fundamentalists”) originated in the 19th Century.

By the way, these are Protestant strains of thought. There are other theologies alive in the Catholic and Orthodox traditions. I say that lest we think that we’ve discovered the one true way through some philosopher.

I’ve always found it instructive to read the earliest sources and tend to find writings that seek to explain the “secrets” of the Bible to be less than instructive.

To me, the Bible exists to show us how to live our lives in relationship with God. What would our lives look like if we did so.

I thought about this in relationship to theology and organized religion. I realized that over the course of the past 35 years or so, I’ve spent very little time thinking about religion. I used to subscribe to theology journals, but found the playing of mind games merely entertaining–not instructive.

There was a song that appeared in the mid-late 60s I think co-written by Paul Stookey of the folk music group Peter, Paul and Mary (and I’ve forgotten the title), that starts “Sunday morning very bright, I read your book by colored light that came in through the pretty window picture.” It’s about a person who shows up in church at times but finds it not nourishing. In one verse, he says they passed a plate and I just had time to write note that said “I believe in You.”

Jesus said we’d know his followers by their love. Sometimes I wonder if we’ve forgotten that simple description in our quest for theological purity (of a philosophy developed 1600 or 1900 years after Jesus) or doctrinal argument or unlocking the “secrets” of the Bible.

What have we done to show love today? It’s just that simple. And that hard.

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Avoid The Inoculation Theory of Learning

August 19, 2013

My 6-yr-old grandson was in town for his first overnight a couple of weeks ago. We told him we were going to church on Sunday. He asked why. ” Your grandpa is singing,” was one answer–which didn’t impress him. “To learn about Jesus,” was the next answer. He said, “I already know that.”

I see this attitude often. I have taught and mentored kids and adults to become soccer referees for over 20 years. Most take the entry level class and think they should immediately start working top level games, and, oh by the way, I really don’t need to return for additional training year after year.

Many years ago I ran across a quote. I don’t remember its entirety any longer. The concept remains. People think of education like being inoculated from a disease. You get a little injection of it, then you’re immune for life.

Continual learning

The thing is that life requires of us to keep learning. One reason is that we need to learn new things simply to survive. We learn about new dangers–why we should watch carefully at intersections for cars running stop signs, why we should buckle seat belts, why we should be careful of the influx of coyotes in the neighborhood.

We also need to learn in order to grow. Early in my life, I was a baby. I just reacted to stimuli. Then I went through all the stages of growth that developmental psychologists have described so well. At every stage you may think you are mature, but you aren’t. Years later you look back and think about how poorly you handled a situation that today you’d handle much differently.

That is why one of the most important Spiritual disciplines is study. Read from the Bible or other thoughtful writing every day. This weekend I was leading a discussion on the first part of Exodus. I’ve read it before. I saw the movie when I was a kid. There are insights I just picked up yesterday. You never stop learning.

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