ADVENTURE

ADVENTURE

An adventure is an activity that is comprised of risky and uncertain experiences that are undertaken at least in part for the sake of physical or emotional excitement. According to two psychologists, Yerkes and Dodson, adventure creates physiological and psychological arousals that can be interpreted as negative (for example fear) or positive (for example flow). In other words, when one enters into a risky and uncertain experience, he either fears for his life or adapt to suit the situation.

Amongst most people, particularly the youth, adventure is undertaken for the purpose of fun and excitement. In this context, people do dangerous things that they know can jeopardise their lives but because of the taste of fun, excitement and retelling to other people, they undertake them willingly.

THE BIBLE AND ADVENTURE

In the Bible, many incidents took place that was more of adventure. Some of the incidents ended up being disastrous whilst others were profitable:

ADAM AND EVE

This couple were blessed but when Eve was lied to by the serpent, her eyes led her on a journey of adventure. She ended up eating something that was forbidden, not for the purpose of disobeying God but trying something new and unusual to see what happens, to feel what it feels like to be on the same level with God.

LOT

Lot was connected with Abraham but because he wanted to see new and more exciting things, he moved and settled in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. At the end of the day, he lost everything in the fire that destroyed the cities.

POTIPHAR’S WIFE

This was a woman after sexual pleasure. She was married to a soldier who was trained to have special skills in protecting the most important citizen of the most powerful nation of the world at that time. It is apparent that Potiphar was strong and powerful but she wanted to experience the excitement of sex with a 17 year old man and bear the risk of sleeping with a boy in the home of her powerful husband without being caught by anyone.

ACHAN

This was a man who stole what was meant for God. From records, the people from the tribe of Judah were the richest in Israel in those days. Achan was from the tribe of Judah but he hoarded certain things meant to be put in the temple of God not because he had nothing but because he wanted to take a risk that would put him ahead of the rest and probably get something to talk about with his contemporaries.

SAMSON

Samson was a prophet by birth. He was called on to marry in Israel but for the sake of adventure; taking risk and experiencing unusual things, he married a Philistine woman. It is also on record that Samson slept with a number of prostitutes not because there were no women in Israel but because he wanted to take the risks for the sake of adventure.

DAVID

This was a man who took a lot of risks, some of which were positive and some of which were negative. Positively, David trusted in the Lord. He used the anointing to go before Goliath and fight him when everyone believed he would die but he survived. He engaged in a lot of battles but he survived because of the glory of God on him. On the other side, David’s crave for adventure caused him to count the people of Israel when it was against the will of God and also, he slept with a woman he knew not when he had over ten wives all in the name of adventure.

SOLOMON

He loved adventure so much that he ended up taking very civil adventures that made him marry 300 wives and also get 700 concubines.

THE LEPERS

In II Kings 7:3-12, certain lepers took a big risk and entered the camp of the Syrian army in a time of acute hunger. These lepers went to the camp in search of food when they knew very well that there was a likelihood that they could die but they went ahead. However, they survived and ended up saving themselves and the people of Israel.

GEHAZI
He sought for adventure in a major international issue between Israel and Syria. He took a gift rejected by Elisha, the prophet at the centre of this case in the name of enjoying them only to be cursed.

JESUS CHRIST

The second temptation of Jesus Christ by the devil was more of a test of his sense of adventure. In Luke 4:9-11, the devil took Him to Jerusalem and set him on a high point of the temple and told Him to jump down if He was truly the Son of God. This temptation was just to test the sense of adventure of Jesus Christ. However, He resisted this and refused to show off His powers as son of God

In today’s world, this trick of the devil continues to be used to destroy lives all over the world. Many young people become drug addicts, social deviants and criminals because of their taste for adventure. It begins with ‘can you do this’ ‘who can do this?’ ‘how can?’ amongst peer groups and this ends up carrying people beyond their bounds.

In other cases, particularly in secondary and tertiary institutions, when younger students enter, they look at the lifestyles of the older students particularly the worst in character and imagine how it feels to live their lives. After a few years in the institution, particularly after the first year, these young students begin to experiment the lifestyles of the older students that were negative. They end up becoming social deviants. It is through this crave for adventure that certain bad habits remain in some institutions forever.

After hitting the most negative limits, people begin to form groups and cliques within which they can discuss and brag with the things they could accomplish and go unharmed. For example in a group of marijuana users, they are likely to discuss how they smoked in a group and escaped police arrest. In a group of young drivers would gather to discuss the time they were able to move from one spot to another driving at full speed. The list goes on and on.

Adventure is certainly the key to the destruction of the morals of many young people. It is interesting to note that people who were victims in the Biblical adventure cases were mostly young people who wanted something new to talk about with their peers! With a strong control of adventure amongst the youth, many problems in society would be curbed.

On the other side, it appears that no one has undertaken an adventure in the name of God and failed. Anyone who took a step with God ahead of him ended up being successful. Notable amongst them was David who survived many battles in the name of God until he died at an old age.