What is the Difference Between Determination and Desperation?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

G00WZ

Senior Member
May 16, 2014
1,318
453
83
38
#21
Maybe... But the passive person can feel free to enjoy a nap while the more driven people feel compelled to keep striving. :cool:

*Lynx goes off to take a nap on a tree limb.
Change and new perspectives are open for everyone but at the same time they're closed and beyond comprehension to those who are occupied. It's impossible to change a persons mind for them, all you can do is tell them what's available. You remember KJ91, remember how much time and effort people spent in trying to convince him to see things different only for him to post 2 more threads basically saying the same statements about himself but in the forms of questions.

When someone has a perspective that's all they can produce from, they can't have anything else unless they somehow are able to snap out of whatever they're on. That's why i always tell people when they truly get tired of themselves that's when they're open to change, but it is what it is, some people are just destined to be professionals at being miserable.
 

TheNarrowPath

Well-known member
Jul 17, 2022
1,012
548
113
#22
One describes a republican and the other is a democrat. 😎😁
 

Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
Aug 13, 2014
27,704
9,636
113
#23
One describes a republican and the other is a democrat. 😎😁
That's exactly the kind of thing a democrat would say about republicans...

:sneaky:

...and a republican would say about democrats.

So it's hard to tell which you intend for which group.
 

Sculpt

Well-known member
Apr 18, 2021
1,147
368
83
#24
Hey Everyone,

In another thread, we were talking about a scenario in which a good Christian guy was looking for a good Christian wife... And so, he proceeds to start asking girls out.

First, he asks 3 girls out at his church, one after the other, but they all say no.

Then, he sets his sights on his workplace. He asks 2 girls out at his place of employment, about 4 months apart, but these girls also turn him down.

Because the people at his church tell him to "keep trying" and "never give up", he decides to keep going and has now joined 3 dating sites in the hopes of finding his "true love". He always prays over every situation (asking someone out, joining a dating site, etc.) and he believes every decision he has made in all of this has been "led by God."


Some would call this determination.

Others would call it desperation.

* What would YOU call it, and what do you think is the difference?
I'll break-up answering your questions...

What would I call what this young chap doing?:

1. Getting incredibly important experience

2. Increasing his chances of finding the love of his life... probably ten-fold

3. Sharpening his discernment of the Holy Spirit

4. Increasing his integration of God into his life.

"Desperation"? HA! Let the naysayers trip on their own stumbling blocks.

On the other hand... I'm sure he'll learn with the experience he's getting that he probably would be better off talking to the ladies and church and at work a bit before asking them out. But in some ways it doesn't matter... there's the phrase, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown'... meaning some 'hometown' folks will just want to see him as he was, not as what he's becoming; so, their opinion probably doesn't matter so much for a while.
 

Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
Aug 13, 2014
27,704
9,636
113
#25
I'll break-up answering your questions...

What would I call what this young chap doing?:

1. Getting incredibly important experience

2. Increasing his chances of finding the love of his life... probably ten-fold

3. Sharpening his discernment of the Holy Spirit

4. Increasing his integration of God into his life.

"Desperation"? HA! Let the naysayers trip on their own stumbling blocks.

On the other hand... I'm sure he'll learn with the experience he's getting that he probably would be better off talking to the ladies and church and at work a bit before asking them out. But in some ways it doesn't matter... there's the phrase, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown'... meaning some 'hometown' folks will just want to see him as he was, not as what he's becoming; so, their opinion probably doesn't matter so much for a while.
So a guy should go to a different town to find a girl?
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#27
the book 138 dates was about determination but it was the girl asking the guys.
But it was also about desperation as well so maybe a mixture of both. And she didnt stop at her local town she went overseas as well.

Anyhow when she found the one to make babies with she didnt end up marrying him (so far) anyway.

Basically she applied her start up entrepeneurial skills to mate hunting as she did for fundraising/investing.

I think well good on her she could have given up. But she was also lucky she didnt get scammed or abused though there were some hairy moments. A lot of people dont recover from a broken heart.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#28
when you do find someone, determination may end but then the desperation starts.

I am sure there was a tv series about it called Desperate Housewives. I dont know if you ever watched this show but not everyone was happy being a housewife. I think it got boring. I know I'd probably be bored if my husband and just left me locked in the house all day with nothing to do except housework...for no pay. In the tv series the premise was one of. the housewives commited suicide and the other ones tried to figure out why she would top herself. They all had lovely homes in Wisteria Lane it wasnt like they were living in a slum!
 

Krumbeard

Well-known member
Apr 15, 2019
1,140
775
113
#29
when you do find someone, determination may end but then the desperation starts.

I am sure there was a tv series about it called Desperate Housewives. I dont know if you ever watched this show but not everyone was happy being a housewife. I think it got boring. I know I'd probably be bored if my husband and just left me locked in the house all day with nothing to do except housework...for no pay. In the tv series the premise was one of. the housewives commited suicide and the other ones tried to figure out why she would top herself. They all had lovely homes in Wisteria Lane it wasnt like they were living in a slum!
The housewives that I know do it because they want to and love it. They are not locked in a house by their husbands.

Was your mother locked in her home by your dad?
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#30
The housewives that I know do it because they want to and love it. They are not locked in a house by their husbands.

Was your mother locked in her home by your dad?
?

no she was allowed out lol
But she had to catch the bus cos she he took the car and she was afraid to back out of the narrow driveway

Or get rides from others.

I know lots of housewives who got abused by their husbands and thats why they not with them anymore. Many pretended that they were fine for a while until they got sick of pretending that their hsubands loved them, especially when they cheated on them. or hit them.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#31
There was a big domestic violence awareness campaign that we had in the library every year called Behind Closed Doors and a white ribbon march to highlight this problem, which is quite common. Rich or poor, happens in all levels of society, unfortunately.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#32
Most of the time people wont tell you they having problems cos its shameful. Why marry someone and that someone you love then beats you up. They can them claim their marital rights or whatever. cos they 'own' you. Its horrible
 

Krumbeard

Well-known member
Apr 15, 2019
1,140
775
113
#33
Most of the time people wont tell you they having problems cos its shameful. Why marry someone and that someone you love then beats you up. They can them claim their marital rights or whatever. cos they 'own' you. Its horrible
That's not marriage! That's slavery wrapped on the guise of marriage.

Marriage is a covenant. It's a physical representation of our relationship to and with Christ.

Sadly we lose sight of that and distort and twist it in our sinfulness.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#34
That's not marriage! That's slavery wrapped on the guise of marriage.

Marriage is a covenant. It's a physical representation of our relationship to and with Christ.

Sadly we lose sight of that and distort and twist it in our sinfulness.
is marriage a covenant?

How come theres no blood involved then, I dont see that in most marriages today. Maybe theres just a lot of sham marriages nowadays plus who is marrying all these people off in something they cant handle so that they bail at the first hurdle.

and I suppose theres no rule saying you have to be a christian to be married anymore.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#35
wife equals personal slave for a lot of men it seems. I dont get that, why treat your woman so badly that all she wants to do is leave? Makes no sense.
 

Krumbeard

Well-known member
Apr 15, 2019
1,140
775
113
#36
wife equals personal slave for a lot of men it seems. I dont get that, why treat your woman so badly that all she wants to do is leave? Makes no sense.
Are these Christian men or not?
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#38
Are these Christian men or not?
hm. some of them *said* they were christian, I know several wives who left christian men and they were like pastors and ministers of churches etc
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#39
In the Bible an example is the knocking at a friends door at midnight...you know its not a good time to wake them up but you are desperate for bread. Because the person is your friend he or she will open the door for you. Perhaps that is determination too

However, desperation might be that you go begging.
what about the woman who touched Jesus garment to stop her bleeding...shed go to doctor after doctor. .For 18 years!!!! Jesus said your faith has made you well.

I think there are many times in a christian life when we are desperate and have to rely on our faith when we dont know the outcome. We also have to be determined i.e make up our mind, be singleminded about things as being doubleminded we wont receive anything from God if we are like 'meh whatever. '