Page 13 - Biblical Counseling II

much is nurture? Can someone without natural athletic abilities (maybe they are even clumsy!) work hard to
become excellent? These are nature-nurture questions.

To use my siblings as another
example, I have an older sister, Amy,
a younger brother, Tim, and a
younger sister, Xandi. My sister,
Xandi, was adopted at the age of six.
She has different parents and a
different set of genetics compared to
Amy, Tim, and me. The three of us
are tall, have brown hair, and look
alike. Xandi is short, has blond hair,
and does not physically share similar
traits with us. In addition, she spent
six years with other families before
she came to live with us. Her parents
were unable to care for her, so she
lived with different relatives and
foster families until my parents
adopted her. This meant that while
the three of us grew up in the same house, same parents, same structure, and in the same community, she
had very different early life experiences. The nurture part of her early life has influenced who she is, even
though she has been in my family for almost 30 years.

Think about your siblings or other relatives you grew up with. What do you have in common? What is
different? What parts of you come from nature, and what is nurture?

The following picture is one I would usually draw in class. You can see a nature side and a nurture side. As
Christians, we believe and know that God is in both nature and nurture as He is our creator and present
throughout every aspect of our lives.

What does the Bible say about nature/nurture?

Take a few minutes to think of how you would answer this question. Can you think of verses in the Bible that
apply to the nature/nurture debate? It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on this during a class
discussion. While the Bible doesn’t directly deal with nature/nurture, there are many verses that address our
nature (born with/genetic) as well as our nurture (learned behavior/life experiences). Look at the following
(summarized) verses from author John Blythe:

Nature: "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3)
Nurture: "be imitators of me as I am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11)

Nature: "there is no one righteous, no not one" (Romans 3)
Nurture: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God."(2 Corinthians 5)

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