Or All have 'hearts of flesh'--just some of those are only flesh for their own, and stone for others. For instance, in Schindler's list, didn't it show a Nazi official smiling benevolently at his child, patting him on the head indulgently and ordering cruelties for his Jewish prisoners...Everyone has a heart of flesh for someone....some hearts of flesh have walls of defenses built around them, some people are so afraid to be vulnerable, that their heart does appear 'stone cold.' Then there are the 'hard hearts'--I don't want to generalize, for there may be a separate cause for that state for each person so 'afflicted.' I call it an affliction, because it is a deep-seated part of how that person responds. In the Bible, it was the hard hearts that always pitted themselves against God, and lost. No one has a completely stone heart--a heart of flesh with lots of defenses for one reason or another. What I'm wondering is if there is a difference between a heart of flesh with lots of defenses and a ' hard heart.' Perhaps the defenses 'grow into' the heart, hardening it? Is the person to blame for allowing that to happen? Again, it depends what triggers the process...there seem to be some people with a hardness in their heart that has no visible outer cause, even knowing their life story....is it something in the genes?
Re: Part 1
Date: 2004-07-23 12:06 am (UTC)Or All have 'hearts of flesh'--just some of those are only flesh for their own, and stone for others. For instance, in Schindler's list, didn't it show a Nazi official smiling benevolently at his child, patting him on the head indulgently and ordering cruelties for his Jewish prisoners...Everyone has a heart of flesh for someone....some hearts of flesh have walls of defenses built around them, some people are so afraid to be vulnerable, that their heart does appear 'stone cold.' Then there are the 'hard hearts'--I don't want to generalize, for there may be a separate cause for that state for each person so 'afflicted.' I call it an affliction, because it is a deep-seated part of how that person responds. In the Bible, it was the hard hearts that always pitted themselves against God, and lost. No one has a completely stone heart--a heart of flesh with lots of defenses for one reason or another. What I'm wondering is if there is a difference between a heart of flesh with lots of defenses and a ' hard heart.' Perhaps the defenses 'grow into' the heart, hardening it? Is the person to blame for allowing that to happen? Again, it depends what triggers the process...there seem to be some people with a hardness in their heart that has no visible outer cause, even knowing their life story....is it something in the genes?