As in strength - “the ability to withstand or adjust to challenges”;
As in “adaptability” - “the ability of something to return to its original shape after it has been stretched, pressed, bent, etc.”
Proverbs 10:25.
When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more; the righteous is secure forever.
It would seem, IMO, that anyone who denies the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth would be the least knowledgeable person teach me anything about resilience.
Of latest interest to me is Ezekiel 33:11. “Tell them, ‘As certainly as I’m alive and living,’ declares the Lord God, ‘I receive no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Instead, my pleasure is that the wicked repent from their behavior and live. Turn back! Turn back, all of you, from your wicked behavior! Why do you have to die, you house of Israel?’”
That said, an unbeliever may have nothing to teach me about consistent resilience, but do the weak and the inflexible have anything to teach me? If so, what, other than the consequences of their weakness and inflexibility?
Part of me was thinking it’s just a bit of tongue and cheek joking about the saved are saved for eternity , always here while the lost are no more. I think he was just kind of joking about the long term implications of eternal life versus being no more ( dead ).
I don’t think he actually means that unbelievers can’t teach us about standing up and trudging forward throughout the struggles of life. Imagine he would agree that those locked up in concentration camps, or the slaves that were just treated as property but kept their hope alive, even if some were not believers, could still teach us about not giving up.
Let no statement go unchallenged, eh? Not a problem: just because I connected some dots doesn’t mean everybody should view the same dots or see the connections that I see.
So let’s start at the very beginning. What do you think, or know, about resilience? Specifically, is resilience a “genetic trait” or a “learned trait”: Is there a gene for it or a school for it?
Boot camp maybe if you’re in a dang hurry otherwise aren’t we all enrolled in the school of life? Don’t tell me you think Christian vocabulary and iconography are essential to graduation, do you?
Sorry, Marta was in line before you, and I’m not a fan of tackling a tag team. Maybe when the dust settles, if I’m still here, I’ll still have the wherewithal to answer your questions.
Terry, I’m very curious where you’re going with this.
If you would like to see where resiliance is taught in spades, hang out, or better yet start volunteering, in childrens’ hospitals.
You can focus just on the therapy gym; that will be plenty. After you watch the kids for a while, study the therapists. Then spend the rest of the time observing the parents.
Nobody has a badge indicating “elect.”
I don’t believe at all that it’s genetic.
School for it? We all go to university of life, don’t we? Certainly not all will graduate, and those who do, often with poor grades.
Isn’t that pretty much the same question that Marta asked?
So here’s a question:
*What’s the difference between these two sentences?
1. Terry says the least knowledgeable person to teach Terry anything about resilience, would be someone who denies the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. And:
2. Kendel says the most knowledgeable persons to teach Kendel anything about resilience are:
Children in the therapy gyms of childrens’ hopitals,
If that’s how you feel, then that’s cool, you’re entitled to subjective opinions like that.
Well, I don’t think resilience is something gained through knowledge. Think about all the children living in warzones who don’t even flinch at bombs exploding and often don’t even cry when injured. If that’s not resilience, I don’t know what is. On the other end of a scale compare it with a girl who was crying her eyes out because wasn’t allowed to wear frilly pink blouse to her investment banking job (a real story, not making it up…no, it wasn’t me!). Neither example is dependent on knowledge as far as I can tell.
Sure, being devout can help loads in dealing with stress, but I’m just not sure if that’s resilience, some would say the opposite.
Since you’re asking, I think they are substantially different.
Speaking of which, I came across the following “Brief” at the Harvard University ***Center on the Developing Child": “InBrief: The Science of Resilience. This brief is part of a series that summarizes essential scientific findings from Center publications.”
Rather than cutting and pasting a wall of text, I’ll restrain myself and post this:
“No matter the source of hardship, the single most common factor for children who end up doing well is having the support of at least one stable and committed relationship with a parent, caregiver, or other adult. These relationships are the active ingredient in building resilience: they provide the personalized responsiveness, scaffolding, and protection that can buffer children from developmental disruption.”
Gee, “the single most common factor for children who end up doing well is having the support of at least one stable and committed relationship with … an adult.” Fancy that!
Pardon me while I give thanks to God for your eyesight.
Undoubtedly, it’s too much to expect that any person even casually interested in this thread will bother to remember that my mother-by-adoption had three blind brothers, … but I remember them well; and two blind Deaf people who were well-known and highly-esteemed among Oklahoma City Lutheran and Southern Baptist congregations of Deaf, two of maybe 3,000 Blind-Deaf in the U.S. in the mid-1950s. Both were firm believers in the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
Although I have never been and am not now called upon to be as resilient as any of them, I am no stranger to people who have needed a healthy portion of resilience. My personal observation was that the meekness of the believers outpaced the boldness of the non-believers by a long shot.
I’m not sure why you find this surprising.
But where does it say that resilience depends on having a specific piece of knowledge, in academic sense, knowing specific piece of information, not gaining mental strength through experience or some mental exercises?
Well, ok, so it’s your observation that believers in crucifixion are more resilient. I’ve heard of some statistics suggesting that theists may be happier and healthier and live longer etc etc but I’m just not convinced whether this is all down to resilience resulting from beliefs (so NOT knowledge). As Kendel already stated above, I don’t know where you’re going with this, perhaps you could elaborate further?
If you’re saying resilience is greater among those who believe in something greater, it wouldn’t surprise me if that were true. If you’re saying only the Crucifix brand of greater power yields resilience I’d chalk that up to being one of your idiosyncratic beliefs, note that ours don’t align in that regard and move on with a “have a nice day”.
A person who says things like this is not someone I WANT to learn anything about resilience from – the ignorance in this is just too vast. And if someone refuses to learn things from people who believe differently than they do (on completely unrelated topics) then I do not see much capacity for resilience in them at all.
And there are believers converted from unbelievers who will simply know that this is extraordinarily ridiculous.
Not a problem: just because I connected some dots doesn’t mean everybody should view the same dots or see the connections that I see.
