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Mave
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 Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:36 pm Post subject: Jesus's Sinless Nature |
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I couldn't help wonder when I read through the first chapter of Matthew last night. Skimming through the genealogy stuff, the commentaries quote that when Jesus was born through the Holy Spirit and the human Mary, He took on a human figure and yet retaining the sinless nature of God.
A pretty careless thought went through my head: Mary wasn't exactly sinless so how did Jesus's birth 'cancel' that out? In the simplest sense, under the assumption that sin = sin, how does a positive (Holy Spirit's sinless nature) and negative (Mary's sinful human nature) equate to a super positive (Jesus in human form)?
Did God's Holy Spirit sinlessness overcome Mary's sinfulness in proportion sense? Or is there a theological explanation? Or does this fall under the category "Button up and accept the mysteries of the Christian faith"?
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SK
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| Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 3:58 pm Post subject: Re: Jesus's Sinless Nature |
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| Mave wrote: | I couldn't help wonder when I read through the first chapter of Matthew last night. Skimming through the genealogy stuff, the commentaries quote that when Jesus was born through the Holy Spirit and the human Mary, He took on a human figure and yet retaining the sinless nature of God.
A pretty careless thought went through my head: Mary wasn't exactly sinless so how did Jesus's birth 'cancel' that out? In the simplest sense, under the assumption that sin = sin, how does a positive (Holy Spirit's sinless nature) and negative (Mary's sinful human nature) equate to a super positive (Jesus in human form)?
Did God's Holy Spirit sinlessness overcome Mary's sinfulness in proportion sense? Or is there a theological explanation? Or does this fall under the category "Button up and accept the mysteries of the Christian faith"? |
I would never advocate any believer to "button up" and simply "accept the mysteries of the Christian faith" - that's NOT what the Lord intended and history has shown how religious leaders of supposedly unimpeachable character have twisted the truths to serve their ends simply by encouraging people to accept the "mysteries" of the faith without questioning things.
To answer your question, here's a question for you: why is Mary's sinful nature even in the picture when it comes to Jesus' purity? Sin is not an "inherited gene". It is not a physical defect but a spiritual one. Jesus' birth was spiritually pure because He was born fully God so He was not "infected" with the same spiritual death Man is and did not, therefore, have a "sinful nature". In order to be fully Man (and, therefore, fulfill just one of over 300 Messianic prophecies), He was physically born of a human mother - not just any human mother but Mary in particular - and in so being, He was subjected to the same vulnerabilities that we all face as He allowed God the Father to "train" and prepare Him for His ministry by LIVING as a Man for 30 years WITHOUT sin.
The key issue here, then, is this: in being born fully God, Jesus was untouched by sin. However, He had to lead a blameless life to KEEP OUT sin and continue to be sinless. His divine nature didn't "cancel out" Mary's sinfulness because her sinfulness never once became a factor in His life.
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Mave
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Joined: 24 May 2008
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| Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 12:51 pm Post subject: Re: Jesus's Sinless Nature |
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| SK wrote: |
I would never advocate any believer to "button up" and simply "accept the mysteries of the Christian faith" - that's NOT what the Lord intended and history has shown how religious leaders of supposedly unimpeachable character have twisted the truths to serve their ends simply by encouraging people to accept the "mysteries" of the faith without questioning things. |
I suppose no one wants to ask questions if the typical response is questioning back one's i) level of faith ii) obedience/submission iii) respect and then, conveniently spouting out biblical verses such as Job 11 and Romans 13:1. Let's see how this goes here. ^^
| Quote: | | To answer your question, here's a question for you: why is Mary's sinful nature even in the picture when it comes to Jesus' purity? Sin is not an "inherited gene". It is not a physical defect but a spiritual one. Jesus' birth was spiritually pure because He was born fully God so He was not "infected" with the same spiritual death Man is and did not, therefore, have a "sinful nature". In order to be fully Man (and, therefore, fulfill just one of over 300 Messianic prophecies), He was physically born of a human mother - not just any human mother but Mary in particular - and in so being, He was subjected to the same vulnerabilities that we all face as He allowed God the Father to "train" and prepare Him for His ministry by LIVING as a Man for 30 years WITHOUT sin. |
I think I confused myself by associating sin with a biological defect or inherited gene. It does make sense now if we see it from a spiritual aspect only. So uhm, can I clarify this - Sin is purely a spiritual defect but it can affect the physical in some negative way such as death & disease? Yes no?
| Quote: | | The key issue here, then, is this: in being born fully God, Jesus was untouched by sin. However, He had to lead a blameless life to KEEP OUT sin and continue to be sinless. His divine nature didn't "cancel out" Mary's sinfulness because her sinfulness never once became a factor in His life. |
Living a blameless life must be one huge challenge. I sometimes wonder why the Bible doesn't detail Jesus' life growing up. We could have learnt some life application tips on how Jesus grew from a kid, hit His teen years and entered into the golden 20s. Did young Jesus not experience any teen angst (doubt identity crisis would be an issue for Him haha)? What did Jesus do with His raging hormones when puberty hit? Tee hee
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SK
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| Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 5:54 am Post subject: Re: Jesus's Sinless Nature |
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| Mave wrote: | | I suppose no one wants to ask questions if the typical response is questioning back one's i) level of faith ii) obedience/submission iii) respect and then, conveniently spouting out biblical verses such as Job 11 and Romans 13:1. Let's see how this goes here. ^^ |
When fear overtakes reason and hope, faith is no longer faith - it's desperation. Being afraid of questioning the reasons for one's own faith (whether that be Christianity or Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism or Shintoism or Evolutionary Biology or whatever) is what keeps a person ignorant, enslaved, and ultimately ineffectual. If anyone is confident in his/her beliefs, there should never be any fear in examining them, right? 
| Mave wrote: | | I think I confused myself by associating sin with a biological defect or inherited gene. It does make sense now if we see it from a spiritual aspect only. So uhm, can I clarify this - Sin is purely a spiritual defect but it can affect the physical in some negative way such as death & disease? Yes no? |
Yes, sin is a spiritual condition, which can have physical consequences. Romans 6:23 is very clear: "The wages of sin is death." This relates more to eternal death since Romans chapter 6 deals primarily with the sanctification and redemption of Christ's death and resurrection but it is also relevant to physical death.
| Mave wrote: | | Living a blameless life must be one huge challenge. I sometimes wonder why the Bible doesn't detail Jesus' life growing up. We could have learnt some life application tips on how Jesus grew from a kid, hit His teen years and entered into the golden 20s. Did young Jesus not experience any teen angst (doubt identity crisis would be an issue for Him haha)? What did Jesus do with His raging hormones when puberty hit? Tee hee |
Oh, but the Bible does speak of His childhood and youth. The actual verses dealing with His growing years may be few but when you understand the context in which they were written and read them in conjunction with His life as a man, it speaks volumes about what Jesus must have been like growing up.
We know His earthly parents (Joseph and Mary) were devout in their faith. On the 8th day after His birth, Jesus was taken from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to be circumcised and consecrated to the Lord (Luke 2:21-24). We're told that Joseph and Mary did "everything that was required by the Law of the Lord" (Luke 2:39) before they went home to Nazareth.
Nazareth lies about 105km north of Jerusalem. In those days, it would have taken 5-7 days to make that journey. Yet, every year, Joseph and Mary would make that trip to celebrate Passover (Luke 2:41) so they continued to observe traditions of the Law. When Jesus was 12 years of age, they brought Him on just such a trip, probably in preparation for His bar mitzvah, a rite of passage to adulthood that all Jewish boys must undergo at age 13 (Luke 2:42). So, we see a very typical boy growing up a very typical devout home of that time.
Joseph and Mary must have raised Jesus well because what we see next is a glimpse of what He was like at age 12. When it was time for them to return to Nazareth, Jesus lingered behind at the Temple without Joseph and Mary being aware of it. Jesus wasn't being "naughty" in this instance - He was not "sinning" against His earthly parents - but was being led to His Father's business as is made clear for us in Luke 2:49.
Now, Jesus was missing for 5 days (1 day out of Jerusalem before Joseph and Mary realised He was missing, another day to travel back to Jerusalem to search for Him, then 3 days searching before they found Him at the Temple). 5 days during which He didn't panic but, instead, managed to find food and drink (probably with relatives and friends or at the Temple), and spent His time listening and learning from the Teachers of the Law at the Temple (Luke 2:44-47). From this story, we know Jesus must have displayed great maturity and wisdom for not only was He not dismissed as a mere child but His understanding of what He had heard and the answers He gave astonished "everyone who heard Him" (in some translations, He delighted those Teachers of the Law) - not just in passing, not just for 1 day or 2 days but for 5 days. Think about it! Try picking out any 12-year-old youth in our church today and imagine him/her in the same situation! What 12-year-old do you know of will not whine about how boring it is talking about such things, wanting food, a drink, or a Nintendo, or going home?
When Joseph and Mary found Jesus at the Temple (probably after being told by relatives or friends in Jerusalem), they were amazed to find Him in deep discourse with the Teachers of the Law. Now, these were no ordinary parents. Joseph and Mary had both gone through a LOT to bring Jesus into the world so they KNEW that He was special, conceived of the Holy Spirit, the Son of God. Yet, they were completely unprepared for this and could only think that He had gone missing deliberately. Note that they didn't ask Him how could it be that He could hold his own in discussions with the Teachers of the Law but asked Him, rather, how He could have done this to cause them so much worry. What does that tell us about Jesus? He must have been a good kid for Joseph and Mary to expect nothing less than obedience and for them to see this as being out of character for Jesus. He must also have been very knowledgeable about the Law or at least displayed an empathy for it growing up.
Subsequently, we're told that Jesus returned to Nazareth with His earthly parents and was obedient to them, "growing in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men" (Luke 2:51-52). Already wise beyond His years at the age of 12, we're told that He grew (further) in wisdom. He also grew in stature (physically, emotionally) and found favour with God His Father and amongst a hardy but simple folk that the Galileans were. This paints a very good picture for us of Jesus' growing years.
He was wiser than His parents but submitted to them in perfect obedience and honoured them in accordance with God's law. He was already brilliant at 12 years of age - He could easily have chosen to become a scholar and lived the "high life" but, instead, entered into His earthly father's profession as a carpenter to live among a people who were looked down upon as "backward" or "provincial". That would have brought joy to Joseph to be able to pass on his trade to his son and it certainly brought joy to God (Luke 2:52). There were no universities in Galilee, no massive libraries, but Jesus must have devoted time to study because by the time He started His ministry, He was well-versed in Hebrew (the classical language of Scripture of that time) and in the Scriptures themselves.
He was popular with those who knew Him - parents must have tried hard to persuade Him to marry their daughters, girls must have had crushes on Him, guys must have wanted to be His friends, children would have looked up to Him like a favourite big brother or uncle. Also, at some point during those 18 years between going missing at the Temple and starting His ministry at 30, Joseph must have died and Jesus took over the family business, caring for his mother, 4 brothers, and an unknown number of sisters (Jesus was NOT an only child as most people seem to assume).
So, you see, there is quite a bit. God did not choose to reveal the rest to us through the Bible for His own reasons - obviously, they had less or little bearing on how we are to live our lives because Jesus' ministry was sufficient in teaching that. If something unusual had happened (such as Jesus going missing for almost a week), it would have been recorded. The "life application" tips that you speak of are not so much found in Jesus' life growing up but in His life in His final years.
Did Jesus have raging hormones when He hit puberty? You can be sure He did since He was also fully Man. What did He do? No specifics are given but whatever it was, it related to focus on what His mission was on earth - at 12 years of age, He was already aware that He was to be about His Father's business.
Did He experience "teen angst"? Probably not because "teenagers" are a fiction of the mid-late-20th century. There is no mention of what we would recognise as a "teenager" in the Bible. If you look at dictionary definitions, you won't find the word before World War 2. The term is a reflection of how we, as a society, have done a grave injustice to youths by giving them a convenient excuse to not expect more of themselves because we don't expect more of them. The introduction of the "teenage" identity ushered in the concept of adolescence that inhibits growth in "wisdom and stature" as set out in Scripture. One only needs to look back at how kids grew up during or before the 2nd World War and after to see the difference. 1 Corinthians 13:11 sets for us the Biblical standard of growing up: "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me."
Anyway, sorry for the essay.
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Mave
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| Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:10 pm Post subject: Re: Jesus's Sinless Nature |
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| SK wrote: | | If anyone is confident in his/her beliefs, there should never be any fear in examining them, right? |
Amen, brotha'.
| Quote: | | So, we see a very typical boy growing up a very typical devout home of that time. |
Do you think 'typical' in that society is equivalent to devout? I assumed it's the opposite of today's typical secular society.
| Quote: | | Now, Jesus was missing for 5 days (1 day out of Jerusalem before Joseph and Mary realised He was missing, another day to travel back to Jerusalem to search for Him, then 3 days searching before they found Him at the Temple). 5 days during which He didn't panic but, instead, managed to find food and drink (probably with relatives and friends or at the Temple), and spent His time listening and learning from the Teachers of the Law at the Temple (Luke 2:44-47) (snip) |
This is the first time the '5 day' fact is sinking in. I'm not sure how dangerous the streets were back then (temples should be safe places, I assume) but I suppose all parents start getting worried after not seeing their kids within 24 hours without notice.
| Quote: | | Think about it! Try picking out any 12-year-old youth in our church today and imagine him/her in the same situation! What 12-year-old do you know of will not whine about how boring it is talking about such things, wanting food, a drink, or a Nintendo, or going home? |
Pfft. My major concerns at 12 were boy crushes, cartoons/comics and monthly allowances.
| Quote: | | He also grew in stature (physically, emotionally) and found favour with God His Father and amongst a hardy but simple folk that the Galileans were. This paints a very good picture for us of Jesus' growing years. |
Eat your veggies! Ok, I think Jesus was a pretty good humble kid, despite knowing His destiny and purpose. Initially, I imagined being His earthly parents would be stressful. "How do I get God's Son to behave properly? What should I do if He bullies other kids?" "Would God the Father zap me if I lifted even a finger on Jesus to discipline Him?" I think they didn't have to worry about that!
| Quote: | | He was popular with those who knew Him - parents must have tried hard to persuade Him to marry their daughters, girls must have had crushes on Him, guys must have wanted to be His friends, children would have looked up to Him like a favourite big brother or uncle. Also, at some point during those 18 years between going missing at the Temple and starting His ministry at 30, Joseph must have died and Jesus took over the family business, caring for his mother, 4 brothers, and an unknown number of sisters (Jesus was NOT an only child as most people seem to assume). |
LOL crushes....did little girls and boys interact with each other that much back then? Ah yes, Joseph's disappearance from the narration has always made me wonder. Was it important for Joseph to disappear from the picture? Why? What would have happened if Joseph was around to witness Jesus' death? <--- It's ok, no need to answer. I'm just wondering out aloud.
| Quote: | | The "life application" tips that you speak of are not so much found in Jesus' life growing up but in His life in His final years. |
Good point. I think I can live with that. XD
| Quote: | | Probably not because "teenagers" are a fiction of the mid-late-20th century. There is no mention of what we would recognise as a "teenager" in the Bible. If you look at dictionary definitions, you won't find the word before World War 2. The term is a reflection of how we, as a society, have done a grave injustice to youths by giving them a convenient excuse to not expect more of themselves because we don't expect more of them. The introduction of the "teenage" identity ushered in the concept of adolescence that inhibits growth in "wisdom and stature" as set out in Scripture. One only needs to look back at how kids grew up during or before the 2nd World War and after to see the difference. 1 Corinthians 13:11 sets for us the Biblical standard of growing up: "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." |
This was a real eye-opener. I didn't realize that there is no concept of teenagers in the bible. It was always this direct transition from child to adulthood. It's amusing to suppose that 'teenagers' are just a social contruct for us to deny/delay the maturing process. How many of us wished we didn't have to grow up?
| Quote: | | Anyway, sorry for the essay. |
No no, there's no such thing as TLDR for me. Thank you very much. Looking forward to more on other topics eventually.
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SK
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| Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:10 am Post subject: Re: Jesus's Sinless Nature |
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| Mave wrote: | | Quote: | | So, we see a very typical boy growing up a very typical devout home of that time. |
Do you think 'typical' in that society is equivalent to devout? I assumed it's the opposite of today's typical secular society. |
Sorry, I meant Jesus had a typical upbringing of a typically devout family, not that society in general was typically devout in that day. So, if you were the typical devout family, you would be doing the typically devout things just as in today's world, Pastor Kenny's children come to church, participate in things that are "typical" (expected, almost) of kids who grow up in such homes and in such families.
| Mave wrote: | | This is the first time the '5 day' fact is sinking in. I'm not sure how dangerous the streets were back then (temples should be safe places, I assume) but I suppose all parents start getting worried after not seeing their kids within 24 hours without notice. |
Well, as I've mentioned, the passage tells us that Joseph and Mary had friends and relatives in Jerusalem so it's not impossible that Jesus went to them for help during His time alone there. However, I'm not entirely convinced that's what happened since it was His first time in Jerusalem and I feel it more likely that people in the Temple fed Him and looked after Him. Who knows? It's a curiosity which we can satisfy when we see Jesus face to face.
| Mave wrote: | | Quote: | | He also grew in stature (physically, emotionally) and found favour with God His Father and amongst a hardy but simple folk that the Galileans were. This paints a very good picture for us of Jesus' growing years. |
Eat your veggies! Ok, I think Jesus was a pretty good humble kid, despite knowing His destiny and purpose. Initially, I imagined being His earthly parents would be stressful. "How do I get God's Son to behave properly? What should I do if He bullies other kids?" "Would God the Father zap me if I lifted even a finger on Jesus to discipline Him?" I think they didn't have to worry about that! |
I think we can have no doubts that Jesus was a humble kid growing up. He is shown to have been an already very learned individual as a boy. Yet we know that He did not "show off" His intellect because when He started His ministry, people in His hometown of Nazareth were surprised by His proclamation of the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1 and (the first part of) 61:2 in Him. Luke 4:22 tells us that "All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. 'Isn't this Joseph's son?' they asked." Jesus had essentially announced that He was the promised Messiah foretold in Isaiah 61. The Israelites had a very particular idea of their Messiah: a glorious, powerful charismatic king, the like of David, who would overthrow Roman rule ... Jesus, it is clear, did not fit that description.
When His hometown people heard Him, they only saw "Joseph's son". Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't this that nice kid who built my kitchen table? Isn't this that bright boy who was really helpful around town? We're told that "all spoke well of Him" BUT they did NOT see Him as any kind of person fitting the description they had in mind: someone regal (a little stand-offish?), warrior-like (aggressive?), bold (a little brash?), radiating a magnetism strong enough to convince people that he could rally the Jewish nation to arms in rebellion ... all of these traits are the opposite of the humility and gentleness that Jesus displayed.
| Mave wrote: | | LOL crushes....did little girls and boys interact with each other that much back then? |
Hahaha, I'm sure human emotions were no different then as they are today, save for the way they are acted upon. 
| Mave wrote: | | Ah yes, Joseph's disappearance from the narration has always made me wonder. Was it important for Joseph to disappear from the picture? Why? What would have happened if Joseph was around to witness Jesus' death? <--- It's ok, no need to answer. I'm just wondering out aloud. |
Joseph, Jesus' earthly father, is one those characters in the Bible that are mentioned only briefly, yet are absolutely fascinating to study! I think people focus too much on how little is said about Joseph; I prefer to see it in terms of how much can be said about him. Look at this way: if you were a parent and you were compelled by circumstances to entrust the responsibility of raising your kid to someone till your kid was more or less able to look after himself, who would you choose? You would choose surrogate parents who were like you (with regard to values and principles in life) or better to give your kid every opportunity to be brought up right, wouldn't you? Well, God chose Joseph. God trusted Joseph to raise His Son. God gave us a brief look at the kind of person Joseph was - a righteous man of deep convictions about right and wrong, yet in the face of severe personal humiliation was sensitive to someone else's (Mary) shame - and then says no more about him as if saying, "I AM I AM, and I trust Joseph - what more do you need to know about him? What further words can bestow greater praise?"
I don't know why God chose to call Joseph to His side at the time He did, instead of having him survive Jesus. Perhaps God knew Joseph would not be able to bear watching his "son" die. Perhaps Jesus needed to focus on one "father" only. Perhaps Joseph had fulfilled his purpose in life and could contribute no more to Jesus' life. We'll know when we see them all in Heaven one day. 
| Mave wrote: | | Quote: | | Probably not because "teenagers" are a fiction of the mid-late-20th century. There is no mention of what we would recognise as a "teenager" in the Bible. If you look at dictionary definitions, you won't find the word before World War 2. The term is a reflection of how we, as a society, have done a grave injustice to youths by giving them a convenient excuse to not expect more of themselves because we don't expect more of them. The introduction of the "teenage" identity ushered in the concept of adolescence that inhibits growth in "wisdom and stature" as set out in Scripture. One only needs to look back at how kids grew up during or before the 2nd World War and after to see the difference. 1 Corinthians 13:11 sets for us the Biblical standard of growing up: "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." |
This was a real eye-opener. I didn't realize that there is no concept of teenagers in the bible. It was always this direct transition from child to adulthood. It's amusing to suppose that 'teenagers' are just a social contruct for us to deny/delay the maturing process. How many of us wished we didn't have to grow up? |
It isn't just ancient (Bibilical) history in which there is no "concept" of teenage years. The Biblical concept of children maturing into adults was one that stood the test of time until the mid-20th century. My favourite example is that of David Farragut (1801-1870), the US Navy's first full admiral. At 10 years of age, he became a midshipman (an officer cadet) in the US Navy; at age 11, he partook in his first sea battle; at age 12, during the War of 1812, the ship he was serving on (USS Essex) captured a British whaling ship in battle - David was given command of the captured ship and ordered to take her back to the safety of an American port. When the British captain heard that a boy of 12 was in command of the prize crew (a skeleton crew that is just sufficient to oversee the captured crew at work) and his ship, he announced that he was going below to fetch his pistols and re-take his ship. David sent a polite but firm message to the British captain that if he showed his face on deck armed, he would be summarily executed. The captain elected to remain below decks until the ship arrived at the American port!
TWELVE years old! Today, we can't even expect a 12-year-old to keep his room tidy, nevermind take command of a prize ship in a time of war!!! Why is that??? It's not the ability of a person in his/her teens that have changed over the centuries but that expectation of maturing into an adult. David Farragut was by no means unique as a "teen" who did "adult" things. Indeed, it was the norm! Prior to the 20th century (and in many cases, even up to the mid-20th century), there was an expectation of a "teen" (both from adults and from the teen him-/herself) to prepare for adult life, to assume adult responsibilities. As societal affluence grew and the emphasis of keeping kids in schools longer grew (on education) grew, there was a shift in attitudes that began to stratify those that could afford to send kids for further education and those that couldn't. Somewhere along that line, expectations of what "teens" were capable of doing - of a "teen's" maturity - dropped. It also didn't help that parents began to abdicate personal responsibility of educating their kids to schools and falling into the trap of believing that their kids could do only so much and no more.
Now, I'm not advocating a "direct transition from child to adulthood", as you put it. I do not expect my son, Jared, to go from playful kid to serious adult upon reaching the age of 12, as if some switch had been thrown. What I'm talking about is the attitudes during that period of transition from child to adult, the expectations and the nuturing of the potential in each child that is God-given since the day the Lord created Adam and Eve. We should not be dumbing down everything for a child, thinking, "Oh, he/she is too young to understand this so I'll just give him/her the goo-goo-gaa-gaa version." Explain it. Fully. Yes, in terms he/she can understand but explain it fully. Don't discourage kids or teens or even young adults ever to try, to reach, to stretch themselves because if we do, we will stunt their growth spiritually, emotionally, even physically, and we won't have our modern day Warren Buffet (2nd richest man in the world), who filed his first income tax return at the age of 13, or David Farragut, who commanded a ship at 12, or Clara Barton, who nursed her sick brother back to health over a period of 2 years at age 11 and went on to found the American Red Cross, or Timothy, who was seen as being too young to pastor a church, or King David, who as a humble shepherd boy (whom we're told was too young to serve in the army) slew the giant Goliath, just to name a few. We need to believe in our kids and our youths, that they can do more. Thomas Edison, who had minimal formal schooling as a child because he was considered lazy or inattentive by his teachers, attributed his success to his mother who homeschooled him: "My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint."
You said:
| Quote: | | It's amusing to suppose that 'teenagers' are just a social contruct for us to deny/delay the maturing process. How many of us wished we didn't have to grow up? |
This is the heart of it, isn't it? The wish not to grow up. Therein lies the difference between the "old" (pre-WW2) generation and "new" (post-WW2) generation (speaking in generalities, of course - there are many instances where families still observe pre-war traditions). Teens of today's generation (generally) don't look to their future. Very many times, they're not even encouraged to do so! So often, we hear people say to youths or kids:
"What's your rush to grow up?"
"That's not your concern."
"So? What can you do about it?"
"You're only a kid!"
And the thousands of comments like these. Subtle or not, these are all put-downs. Malicious or not, these are all negative. Intentional or not, these all perpetuate the myth that kids and youths are incapable of doing more than what society's expectations of them and, boy, are the expectations low. How many people do you know would associate positive thoughts or feelings with the word "teenager"? I Google the word and get (relevant) hits like "Cyber bullying", "Re-defining binge drinking", "Safeguard[ing] your sanity by understanding the mechanics behind your offspring's behaviour", "Parenting teenagers can be frustrating", "Teenage peer pressure", "Teenagers HIV AIDS", etc.!! It's time we all stopped treating adolescence as a time when youths get a Get Out Jail Free card with respect to the way they live their lives.
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