Alone: Suffering Is Good For The Soul

  • Welcome to Christian Forums, a Christian Forum that recognizes that all Christians are a work in progress.

    You will need to register to be able to join in fellowship with Christians all over the world.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Wrangler

Well-Known Member
Feb 14, 2021
13,001
4,799
113
55
Shining City on a Hill
Faith
Christian
Country
United States
I just finished watching Season 4 of Alone. In this season, they added a twist. Teams of 2 were dropped off 'alone' 10 miles apart. One was given a compass heading. The average team member arrived to find their partner in 10 days. (For those not good at math, that is traveling, on average, 1 mile per day.) The terrain was very tough, soaking wet with slippery rocks, tree roots and vines obstructing every step.

The conditions were so bad that 2 of the first 3 teams to tap out were mechanical injuries the team member at the base camp sustained. The final 3 teams were:
  1. husband and wife
  2. father and son
  3. brothers
Amazingly, none of the contestants were pulled out due to medical reasons. The wife lost too much weight. Her starting BMI was 8 points lower than her husbands. The father was 61 years old, the oldest contestant in Alone history. He was suffering from a bruised sphincter valve in his stomach, making eating and drinking the smallest amounts very painful.

The younger brother was suffering from a stomach medical condition. I forget the name but it was something like GEED. He was bed ridden for 4 straight days. The older brother stepped up, collecting 1,000 lipids and 2 dozen air breathing fish. After losing nearly 70 pounds, on the 74th day their girl friends were flown into their location, suprised them from behind as they got their increasingly frequent medical checks, to be the ones to tell the brothers they had won. It was a very emotional scene.

These 3 teams were interviewed several months later, after they somewhat recovered from the experience. The older brother was interviewed last. Not the philosopher or a theologian, he was asked about their strategy to achieve victory.

It's hard for modern Americans to grasp. Skill was not the key. The husband and wife built a far better shelter that made the brothers feel inferior when they saw it. The key was determination. While practicing bushcraft skills, like starting a fire without a lighter and building a primitive shelter are important, it is not as important as practicing suffering.

To condition your body, mind and spirit to endure through literally starving to death was their successful survival strategy. Profound discipline. Are you such a disciple? Or do you only go to church when the weather is nice? Read the Bible when there is nothing good on TV? Donate only your spare change? Or do you sacrifice your life, liberty and happiness to the calling of our lord and savior?

I confess I'm not such a disciple but this show moved me in the right direction. How about you?
 

Behold

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2020
15,224
6,249
113
Netanya or Pensacola
Faith
Christian
Country
Israel
The OP's TV program is very interesting to watch


And..Bringing your body under control, is always a good way to develop discipline.

Personal accountability and Discipline are very important to maintain.

Reader....A good way to "suffer" some discipline training, that will do you more then good, is to JOIN A GYM, and go. To add this as a lifestyle. It will change everything in your life , if you will do this...
Its a miracle cure for laziness, lack of discipline, lack of self confidence... lack of self esteem...
The GYM< is a fountain of youth, that just keeps renewing you and helping you to surpass yourself.

Another way to broaden your horizons, is to become active in a ministry outreach. Any... Jail, hospital, feeding the poor,...
And if you really want to deepen your faith, then go on a Missions's Trip, or come here to Israel and take a tour of "holy sites".

just do something for God before you die and meet him.
That's the main thing.
You dont have to be a TV Minister, to minister. All you have to do is find the hurting and the lost, and just give of yourself.

Find a way.
Start today.

You are never more like God, then when you Give.
God is a Giver, and we are to be the same.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wrangler

Behold

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2020
15,224
6,249
113
Netanya or Pensacola
Faith
Christian
Country
Israel
To condition your body, mind and spirit to endure through literally starving to death was their successful survival strategy. Profound discipline. Are you such a disciple? Or do you only go to church when the weather is nice? Read the Bible when there is nothing good on TV? Donate only your spare change? Or do you sacrifice your life, liberty and happiness to the calling of our lord and savior?

I confess I'm not such a disciple but this show moved me in the right direction. How about you?

Ive done some suffering in my time., and still do...but, let me talk about my younger bro instead.

My younger brother, is a missionary to the Ukraine. (Odessa)(Kiev)
He's been there 25+ yrs.
There was a time that He and his wife and the 3 young daughters, were taking a bath, outside, using a garden hose.
This was years.
You could not have dragged him away from it. As God empowered Him & them to endure with Joy.
He is the Mission's director for "Missions to the World"....Its big, and there he is, using a garden hose for a bath, and the entire family sleeping in one room for some years.
He still built churches, He still built Pastors and trained missionaries, and built a soup kitchen and a orphanage.

He has this really nice house in Georgia, in the States, ... but he never uses it, as he's always in the Ukraine, or he's back in the States due to the rules that require him to leave for some months.
Currently he and his wife are stuck outside of the Ukraine due to the "conflict" in the Ukraine.
They are in Romania for the last 5 months, and do go back to the Ukraine, but have not been able to stay there, yet.

Paul said....>"i have learned to be content, in all things..... the good times, and the bad, the hard times and the worse."

I think, Wrangler, that you would find that God would make it possible for you to exit in any hardship that He required you to endure.
Even Martyrdom.
You've read Foxe's Book of Martyrs?
Its very inspiring.

The wonder of Salvation, is that its all of God......right down to the holy living part, after we are born again.
God actually created SALVATION so that it takes care of our sin, and it empowers us to do what God wants.
Its all of God, and is a GIFT.
God does it all through us....as that is how Salvation is designed to function correctly.
Its not a situation were we are cast out of the boat and told..>"try to swim now'.

When a person isn't doing it correctly, its because they are not resting in God's Grace.
See when we work at our salvation, God rests. And when We Rest in God's Salvation, then God works through us.
Its always a lack of understanding that causes the breakdowns in discipleship.......usually not the willingness.
-
-
5b39040039cba4c8be0d403949ab6de7be198504.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: marks

Behold

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2020
15,224
6,249
113
Netanya or Pensacola
Faith
Christian
Country
Israel
I confess I'm not such a disciple but this show moved me in the right direction. How about you?

Did you notice that as you watched and then thought about the program, you then contrasted it with sincere Christian discipleship.?
Did you notice you did that?
Not everyone would see that program... that way.
Not everyone (Believers) could see it that way.