I seem to come across a lot of new learning at seminars these days. Come to think of it, I guess that’s what the seminars are for! I guess what really strikes me are the insights these seminars give me beyond my immediate career. Last time I wrote about the ‘Matthew Effect’ a term to describe a phenomenon in education taken from Jesus’ Parable of the Talents. I recently came across another idea that put me in mind of my Christian walk through my teen years.
Growing up in a Christian home, going to a Christian school and attending church every weekend I had some beliefs and behaviours that were pretty well worn in. One of these beliefs was that belief is more important than actions. Put simply I had a very narrow view of verses in the Bible such us ‘for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,’ – Romans 3:23-24. The idea that I am a sinner and nothing can change that – but I shouldn’t worry too much because God will save me anyway. Of course, that’s a very simplistic view, but nonetheless, one I held.
