I'll add in a little story about myself that loosely ties into the discussions that have occurred here, but turning it a little more into the direction of the whole "nature vs nurture" debate.
For most of my short just under 30 years of life, I have struggled with the quite rare issue of being an extremely picky eater. I'm not talking about the common childhood picky eating that goes away over time; I'm talking about a legit phobia of trying new foods that severely limited my palate to basically plain hamburgers and french fries. I would not eat a bun, I would not eat cheese, I would not eat any condiments, I would not eat hash browns, I would not eat mashed potatoes, I would not eat thick cut french fries, and etc...
I had my handful of "safe foods" and anything beyond that was a complete no-go, no matter how hard my parents tried to get me to eat other things. I am told by my family that I was not like that in my first very few years of life (of which I have no memories of), but for as long as I can remember (since 1st grade), I had been like that and being like that is all that I ever knew.
My phobia of trying new foods naturally led to intense "dinner table battles" between me and my parents, of which I do not have very fond memories of, and of which only made my new-food-phobia situation much worse rather than better. I always felt that I was just "made that way", that I had no control over it, and that no one understood me. I felt like a complete outcast from everyone else throughout much of my lifetime to date. Any sort of social gatherings with anyone (and even family holiday gatherings) were Hell-on-Earth for me, since social gatherings almost always involved food, and as an extremely picky eater due to my phobia of trying new foods, I was a complete misfit in that regard compared to everyone else. I've lived most of my almost 30 year life having to endure very negative and "put-me-down" comments from others regarding my phobia, but worst of all was when those comments would come from family members. There was nowhere I could turn to get away from it. I remember fervently praying to God as a child, asking why I was made like this, to please take away the pain, to make me "normal" like "everyone else", etc...
These sorts of negative experiences surrounding my phobia eventually led me down a path of depression and loneliness (throughout most of my 20s), which led into a path of self-harm (in my case, purposely inflicting knife-cuts into my left upper-arm as an attempt to alleviate the mental/emotional pain by causing physical pain), and when that stopped working, it eventually led me down a path to planning out my suicide. Thankfully, I did not follow through with the plan. After the wish to commit suicide fled my mind, it scared the living hell out of me, and I knew that I needed to make some drastic changes to flee from the road that my choices were taking me down.
Long story short, I made changes, which slowly helped, but the real help came just a few years ago when it finally clicked in my mind that I was not actually opposed to all of those foods themselves (some foods I was, but other foods I actually wasn't), but rather I was opposed to the horrific "dinner table battle" experiences that I endured as a young child and subsequently throughout my childhood. In other words, I finally recognized the irrationality of my phobia, and recognized that I was misapplying my repulsion of those "dinner table battles" to a supposed "repulsion of" the foods themselves.
Ever since that particular self-realization, my palate expanded multi-fold. I eat buns now, I eat cheese now, I eat some condiments now, I eat potatoes in any form now, I eat apples now (whole or dehydrated), I eat various other fruits now (watermelon, peaches, pears, grapes, etc.), I eat various other types of meat now (pork, chicken, ham, steak, turkey, hotdogs, etc.), I eat pizza and various types of pizzas now, and so on... These are all things that I never ate throughout most of my lifetime. I still basically only eat corn, peas, and lima beans for vegetables, but I'm just not a big vegetable fan and I think that's more due to my genetics than my nurturing.
So, when ITN made his comments about people overcoming their genetic weaknesses, the weaknesses of this world, and etc, I can personally attest for those comments as I've "lived it". Even though my particular story is more due to "nurture" than to "nature" (even though some "nature" is involved, as there are genetic predispositions to liking/hating certain foods), it shows that "nurture", especially concerning infants and young children, cannot be forgotten in these types of discussions either.
Even though my experiences with that phobia were very rough to say the least, I've come out of it with knowledge and strength. I know that making the dinner table into a battlefield is a very bad thing to do to a child. I know that shaming people due to their phobias does NOT help them to overcome said phobias. I know that praying to God should be about HIS will for me and the world, rather than MY will for me and the world.
I have progressed. I have made some progress in my short life, to date. I am still in the process of progressing, and I still have some unproductive behaviors in my life that I need to address and make productive. I still have behaviors in my life that are not bearing any spiritual fruit. This phobia of mine, however, has since been overcome, and is now productively bearing fruit for God via providing knowledge and help to others who suffer with similar issues/phobias/etc.
Shaming people for their phobias does nothing to help them; it does nothing productive; it does nothing to bear spiritual fruit.
