Comments for reTHINK

Comment on God of Fire? by Nick H

Nick H — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 20:28:51 +0000

This is a great perspective on God’s nature, and our relationship with him, as believers or unbelievers.

Comment on Incorrect Interpretation, Part V by Joseph Dindinger

Joseph Dindinger — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:33:51 +0000

Very true. However, let’s not give up trying. Just because there are many interpretations, does not mean that we cannot arrive at the correct one. One of the purposes of writing these blogs is that people will study the Bible in a way that will help them get past incorrect interpretations and understand what is truly being said. Hopefully they will help in some small way.

Comment on Incorrect Interpretation, Part V by Amanda Perez

Amanda Perez — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 13:47:59 +0000

The thing about the bible is that every church or religion or people have their own interpretation of the words and passages in the bible, which is also the reason why sometimes there are conflicts between beliefs.

Amanda Perez

Comment on Incorrect Interpretation, Part V by Marilyn Munro

Marilyn Munro — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:47:34 +0000

HI there. This is one enlightening blog. The words should be brought out be read by everyone. Are there more on these?

Comment on Jesus Abandoned on the Cross? by Stephen D.

Stephen D. — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 01:06:13 +0000

This is an amazing article… well not really. I’m just amazed at my own stupidity in not seeing verses 23 and 24! In fact, most people I talk to have no idea about those verses. Everyone seems to thing that the whole thing ends with what Jesus quoted! … and yet that is only the first sentence of the first verse! (context can help sometimes)

Thanks for posting this. It is very helpful.

Comment on My Overwhelming List of Things to Teach My Children by Stephen Dindinger

Stephen Dindinger — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 20:29:58 +0000

I love it!! I have my own overwhelming list in the works!! I think it’s great for reference. I’m right in with what Samantha commented! In my own “education” research I’ve been “educated” about a whole different approach to “education”! It’s called interest-driven-learning. It’s also known as natural-learning, or organic-learning, or student-led-education, … and that frightful term: “unschooling”!

Scary as it may sound, you are already at the first level of unschooling. You’ve said boo-hoo to those God-forsaking government schools, and taken education into your own hands. Congradulations!!

So, relax a bit. You didn’t teach your children to walk or talk or any of those other precious things that leave you asking, “Now where on earth did they learn THAT from?” They learned all THAT stuff on their own. I’m sure you helped them on their way… but mostly by example.

There were two things that made me wind up finding out about unschooling:
1. Language
I am fluent in 3 languages, understand lots of 3 more languages and can read a few more. With that said, I believe that one of the worst possible ways to learn a language is in a traditional school-class-curriculum setting. (lot’s of variety here, please understand)

2. Math
I was in search of a good curriculum for math when I came upon unschooling. I knew deep inside that there was something dreadfully wrong with all the curriculum I knew of. I loved math but I hated the way my curriculum had presented it. Was I ever in for a surprise! The popular curricular approach to math is perhaps the farthest from what professional mathematicians do – then any other school subject is from it’s highest object. (give me some space here too… some forms are better then others)

Unschooling is a lot like WordPress. It’s hard to find definitive official documented help, but it’s perhaps one of the most powerful versatile forms of education out there.

just a couple links here to get started:

Overall winner: Democratic Schools! http://www.sudval.org/ (Sudbury Valley School) This alone will blow the traditional mindset away! It’s a good place to start exploring.

Best introductory article (a must read) : http://www.ishmael.com/Education/Writings/unschooling.shtml This one will make you think twice! … and there are hundreds of similar things out there.

Just google “unschooling”!

Comment on My Overwhelming List of Things to Teach My Children by Joseph Dindinger

Joseph Dindinger — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:43:37 +0000

I added the following topics: 1) Housekeeping, 2) Navigation, 3) Art, 4) Dance and 5) Writing. I also updated the Relationship topic. Thanks everyone for the feedback (and for making this an even more overwhelming and long list!)

Comment on My Overwhelming List of Things to Teach My Children by Joseph Dindinger

Joseph Dindinger — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:49:45 +0000

As far as relativism, the four types I want to make sure to teach my children about are: 1) Moral Relativism, where there is no right and wrong or good and evil, but every action should be based on the circumstances, 2) Relative Truth, where there is no absolute truth, what is true for you may not be true for me, 3) Cultural Relativism, where all cultures and religions are judged to be equally valid and good for them (anti-missionary), and 4) Cognitive Relativism, where even factual, scientific truths are called into question and everything is judged by a person’s experiences.

Of course, there are certain elements of relativism that are true, which is the case with almost any lie, as in the case of aesthetic relativism. What is beautiful to me may not be beautiful for you, so there it is hard to say there is an absolute standard for beauty. However, even that form of relativism is somewhat limited because we know that God is beautiful, period.

All of this is very interesting to me, as you can probably tell. It is also essential that we teach our children about this because relativism is one of the main tools used by unbelievers to try to convince our children against God and Christianity.

Comment on My Overwhelming List of Things to Teach My Children by Joseph Dindinger

Joseph Dindinger — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 01:59:07 +0000

Thank you to all of you mentioning the most important things: teaching our children to love God and to love learning.

You are absolutely right about those two things being primary when teaching our children. However, I would consider them more “meta-topics” than topics themselves. They are the bigger picture. But they can’t be the only thing we teach, obviously, (which I know you are not saying) or else we will raise little learners who don’t know anything. My thinking is that we can teach them initially, and guide their learning as they grow older. This list of topics is a way of me ensuring I don’t forget any area that might be important to me. Until I wrote them down, I knew there were all these things “out there” that I maybe should teach my child, now this list will help me make a decision as to what is important to teach, and what I can safely pass over.

Thanks for the grounding, and by the way, we are planning on doing Classical Conversations too!

Comment on My Overwhelming List of Things to Teach My Children by Leslie Esparza

Leslie Esparza — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 19:09:37 +0000

Wow. This list is extensive and quite comprehensive, but you left out one of the most important things: Being Cool – do they know how to breakdance?

Aside from that, Art History is at the top of my list. Also, not sure in what category this falls, but I want to be sure to teach all my children basic housekeeping skills- how to cook, clean, etc. And, I noticed you have Literature (reading). I would include writing (and even handwriting) in that as well. Within the relationship field, it is very important to me that my children understand the characteristics of a godly spouse. Lastly, Jesse Wise strongly encourages Debate, but I’m not sold on that personally.

This blog is amazing. I would love a place to “subscribe via email.” I’d also love to know what the 4 types of relativism are.