Is 'talent' God-Given Or Something Else?

[agchristie]

Lord Coe stated tonight that an athlete had been given a God-given talent.Is he right to say this or do some people just have a natural aptitude? Or is it something that is achieved through hard work?

[Sqad]

murray.......LOL.......It wasn't supposed to be a prayer......

[murraymints]

Lol...you're like my God on earth though sqad !! ...what you say is always good enough for me xx..

[VHG]

Why do people here say "god given".

Surely the more accurate term is "born with".

[murraymints]

Excuse the aside at


See here squad
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Body-and-Soul/Question1348490.html

[kvalidir]

Talent and hard work are entirely different. I'm grade 5 on piano but I have always found piano awkward, unnatural and difficult to me and had to work like stink to be able to play as well as I do ( which is not particularly brilliantly). Enter my brother Joe, who listens to what I'm playing, can't read sheet music and sits down and plays it anyway. Likewise he can listen to almost anything and produce a pretty good copy- give him half and hour and it's brilliant. I hate him ;-)

[murraymints]

Good kick in the shins shar...that'll teach him ! Lol...xx

[Sqad]

murray, I did indeed see that.......good news. My comments to you on that thread may well have been premature and misplaced.........I hope so.

Kval......yes, i agree entirely, however i was mainly commenting on the ingredients that are required to achieve at the highest level, but your point is well taken.

[murraymints]

:-) xx

[pixie373]

I think you're absolutely right sqad. Natural abilities are inborn, but hard work to make the most of them.

[jennyjoan]

Natural abilities come to the fore all the time. Let's say all the members of my family are beautiful singers but I got hit by ugly stick - haven't a note in my head but lurve to sing.

Recall many moons ago at a club - a crowd of my friends put my name up for a song for a laugh. Of course I didn't get up.

My brother who was a professional singer was sitting on a night out with his girlfriend at the back of the club. The following morning he told my mother "Oh mother mother I nearly died if Connemara gets up - my career is over. LOL

[royfromaus]

When Coe ran he was graceful and it looked like it was the most natural thing in the world , his great adversary Ovett look awkward in comparison .

But there was hardly a fag paper between them on the track. It's a mixture of both IMO.

[woofgang]

but it wasn't Roy. He spent a lot of time with health issues and lingering infections due to his training regime. What a thing looks like to outsiders is often no reflection on the reality and no indicator or whether talent or hard work is the cause.

[jennyjoan]

Didn't Coe get a transplant - maybe a kidney.

[Sqad]

JJ...no he got a knighthood.

[jennyjoan]

Sqad - I am thinking of the rower.

[Prudie]

God given talent and natural aptitude are surely the same thing, just depends on your religious stance on where you think it came from. Basically you're born with it. Coe didn't say that's the only way to have it though, just this particular athlete in this case. Natural gift is another phrase.

[jno]

God-given talent is the same thing as natural aptitude, isn't it?

Hard work won't make you a good footballer, or chess-player or anything; you do need that extra bit of natural ability.

[agchristie]

Interesting replies everyone,thanks.I still don't buy the phrase 'God given' as a synonym for natural aptitude.Why do things come so easy to a select few in cases where people don't have to apply themselves to be champions.Has God given this gift? I think not,I am happier to look at genetics and science as a likelier answer rather than a religious one.