Antioch Agent

Over the weekend i had an interesting conversation with some people regarding the subject of homosexuality. The prevalent thought among those I spoke with (as with many others) is that people are born with it and they can’t help themselves. We’ll address the “born with it” issue soon. But it’s the “can’t help themselves” bit that i really disagree with. The point being, that while a person may even possibly have some tendencies, it does not warrant them to engage in a lifestyle that God has clearly declared to be sinful and wrong. A simple example here might help. Let’s say for example that I somehow have a short tempered nature, it still gives me no right to go snapping at everyone and fly into a rage. Unbridled anger is wrong whichever way you look at it. The principle is the same for this issue of so called homosexual tendencies. Essentially, God’s standards of morality have never changed (as He is unchanging), standards of ethics don’t differ because of ethnicity. What is required then, is that one should come to God, commit these sinful habits and tendencies to Him and asks the Lord for help in those areas of his life. Much like the case if a male is perhaps slightly inclined to be ‘effeminate’ or so to speak ‘hormonally challenged’… that is no license for him to say he can’t help himself and can willfully engage in any sinful lifestyle. God will judge us as responsible for our own actions.

Now with regards to the being ‘born that way’, this is a common perception which needs to be addressed with regards to the scientific community’s consensus. And here is where a helpful and short article on the subject may cast a more balanced light on the issue. Here are excepts from the article titled “Is there a Gay Gene?” (http://www.narth.com/docs/istheregene.html)

Many laymen now believe that homosexuality is part of who a person really is ­ from the moment of conception.

The “genetic and unchangeable” theory has been actively promoted by gay activists and the popular media. Is homosexuality really an inborn and normal variant of human nature?

No. There is no evidence that shows that homosexuality is simply “genetic.” And none of the research claims there is. [emphasis in original] Only the press and certain researchers do, when speaking in sound bites to the public.

Also in the article..

But before we consider the specifics, here is what serious scientists think about recent genetics-of-behavior research. From Science, 1994:

Time and time again, scientists have claimed that particular genes or chromosomal regions are associated with behavioral traits, only to withdraw their findings when they were not replicated. “Unfortunately,” says Yale’s [Dr. Joel] Gelernter, “it’s hard to come up with many” findings linking specific genes to complex human behaviors that have been replicated. “…All were announced with great fanfare; all were greeted unskeptically in the popular press; all are now in disrepute.”

Read through the article for yourself and the other balanced resources on the subject available and arrive at your conclusions. I don’t think you’ll arrive at the understanding that environment, upbringing, exposure and (may i add) man’s innate sinful tendencies that drive people to this.

This calls for balance and an understanding disposition. We should not be what people term as homo-phobic, labeling and insulting people who are living in this way. No one is outside of the reach of God’s grace and we certainly musn’t turn away those who are in need of the liberating power of the Gospel. May God grant us the wisdom in this matter as we maintain a clear line of God’s standards in a world where the lines are getting blurred.