Nature? Nuture? Nah!

It's Friday night, and I'm doing homework.  I just realized that I should probably blog before I forget.  I was trying to come up with an idea to blog about and the first thing that popped into my head was psychology.  Why psychology?  Because I'm working on Psychology homework.

Nature Vs. Nurture is a classic debate in the psychological world.  Example: People on the nurture side of the debate say that I'm good at math because I've been surrounded by people who are good at math.  People on the nature side of the math say that I'm good at math because my parents are good at math and it is part of my genetic code.

Basically, people on the nurture side of the debate would say that if my father was a murderer I would be much more likely to be murderer, because of my DNA.  People on the Nature side of the debate would say that if my dad is a murderer I am more likely to be a murderer because I've been exposed to an environment where there is a murderer and you learn through observation of other people's behavior.

Which side am I on? If I had to choose one or the other I would probably choose nurture, but I believe that nature still has an affect.  Why?  I would choose nurture because I have seen children completely change when adopted by parents who truly loved them and took care of them.  The parents gave the child a better, more enriching environment, and the child changed.  I believe nature still has an affect.  Scientific evidence has proven that a child of an alcoholic is much more likely to be an alcoholic than a child who hasn't had alcoholic parents.

I think there is one very important aspect that psychologists leave out.  God!  When you accept Christ as your Savior you not only get a Savior, you get a new father!

 

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the

 right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor 

of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

John 1: 12-13

 

It doesn't matter what your parents are like, what your grandparents have done, or what you siblings are doing.  You're a child of God.(There goes the Nature side of the debate!)

 

The other thing that happens when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior is the Holy Spirit entering you.  It doesn't matter what surrounds you, the Holy Spirit is still with you.  He is there to comfort and convict you, no matter the environment! (There goes the nurture side of the debate!)

Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?

I Corinthians 3:16

 

I feel the need to say that this blog is purely hypothetical and my parents are great!  They are not murderers, nor alcoholics.  My mom is pretty good at math, though. :P