Nature or Nurture? Living by Promise

Prov 22:6, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Prov. 1: 8 My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother

Gal. 4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, 24 which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— 25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— 26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all...28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.

For all of my life I have heard the debate about Nature vs. Nurture.  It is the scientific, cultural, and philosophical debate about whether human potential behavior, and personality are caused primarily by nature or nurture. Nature is often defined in this debate as genetic or hormone-based behaviors, while nurture is most commonly defined as environment and experience.

Children need nurture. Nurture means: care, provide conditions for growth, feed, train, develop, cultivate, monitor environmental conditions.

As a person raised by loving parents and from positive experiences growing up, the answer seems obvious to me; Nurture. However, the weight of modern culture and those who wish to exclude God from life and human development insist it is mostly about Nature. This view also supports the theory of human evolution and provide covers for behaviors such as homosexuality, bisexuality, anger, Illness, and even husbands who cheat on their wives. Many want to believe that all human behavior is genetic in origin.

In 2001, something happened in the realm of science that set back the growing consensus that behavior is mostly genetic. An article published by NOVA of the Public Broadcasting System:

“The most shocking surprise that emerged from the full sequence of the human genome earlier this year is that we are the proud owners of a paltry 30,000 genes—barely twice the number of a fruit fly. 

After a decade of hype surrounding the Human Genome Project, punctuated at regular intervals by gaudy headlines proclaiming the discovery of genes for killer diseases and complex traits, this unexpected result led some journalists to a stunning conclusion. The seesaw struggle between our genes (nature) and the environment (nurture) had swung sharply in favor of nurture. "We simply do not have enough genes for this idea of biological determinism to be right," asserted Craig Venter, president of Celera Genomics, one of the two teams that cracked the human genome last February.”

 

I believe our text somewhat illustrates this dilemma to day. People are obviously born of “flesh,” but we are can also born of “promise” through Christ. 

Nurture is far more powerful in human development than nature. Of course we understand that the spiritual sin nature is a barrier to progress. My experience growing up in the inner city and around poverty was that my parents nurtured abilities in me that my environment would have allowed to languish. 

We should nurture children and not allow nature to become an excuse, because Jesus can change the nature... and that people can do much better even before their nature changes. This is what mother