Tough Questions 1

A: First, let me say that I have never personally had an issue with homosexuality, but I have fought other battles of a moral nature—namely, the lust of the eyes and lust of the flesh.

My heart goes out to those who fiercely battle same-sex temptations. From what I’ve been told by those who struggle with it, it can be, like all other moral temptations, an almost overwhelming battle.

That said, my answer to the question is two fold—YES, you were born with a sinful nature, and NO, there is no “gay gene.”

First, those battling homosexuality were born that way IN THIS SENSE—we were all born with a fallen, sinful nature that manifests itself in various ways—one of them being the pull to homosexuality.

Some people have a strong, almost overwhelming pull toward alcohol. Others battle a powerful craving for drugs. Still others battle with lust toward the opposite sex. Others battle powerful cravings for pornography. In fact, there is not a person in the range of my voice that doesn’t battle a natural, sinful inclination toward something!

So in that sense, yes, some people’s fallen natures have a pull toward same-sex attraction. But if you mean that, since you naturally experience that particular temptation it is okay to yield to it, and even justify it and demand that others agree with you, that is where the Bible would draw the line.

For example, a person with lust issues toward the opposite sex is likewise born that way…it is part of their fallen nature to lust.

Even Paul admitted to a moral struggle: “But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire (lustful urges)” (Ro. 7:8).

Catch that! Paul battled lust and points his finger at the sin dwelling within him, saying that it produces “all kinds of evil desire.” So all moral struggles have their root in sin.

Paul vividly describes the vicious nature of a moral struggle: “For what I want to do, that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do…But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me” (7:15).

Now, I have a question: What if the church started teaching—based on the fact that many church members experience strong temptation to commit fornication with the opposite sex—that since they’re born with a nature that naturally wants to do that, it must be okay with God to act on it?

After all, they’re born heterosexual with sexual desire that doesn’t want to wait till marriage! Does that make it ok? God clearly says, no and calls it fornication!

You see, we’re all born with various sinful weaknesses. And we could easily argue regarding those weaknesses that we have no choice. We must do it. It is natural to us.

But that’s only half true. It is “natural” to our fallen natures, but that doesn’t mean we should therefore practice what God forbids!

And here’s another question: What makes the homosexuality issue any different from the various moral battles others deal with seeing that we were all born with a fallen nature that wants to break God-given sexual boundaries?

In the Bible God says to all Christians—whether their moral battle is fighting against fornication, or homosexuality, or adultery, or incest, or any other sexual impulse that “naturally” comes to them from their sinful nature:

“But clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for [nor even think about gratifying] the flesh in regard to its improper desires” (Ro.13:14).

And again the Bible says:

Col. 3:5 “So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, evil desire, and greed which is idolatry.”

That little phrase “put to death” means “to deprive of power, destroy the strength of, render the evil desire lurking in the members (of the body) inoperative.”

Bottom line: NEVER does the New Testament teach us to indulge in or justify what the Bible clearly forbids—not fornication, or adultery, or homosexuality, or any other sexual sin.

We are instead to quench the power of wrong desires by walking in the Spirit:

“For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” (Ro. 8:13).

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Now, something else the defenders of homosexuality claim is—since it is inborn, they have no choice but to obey it…that their sexual urges spring from genetics, therefore they cannot be denied.

Okay, first of all, a “gay gene” has never been discovered, though it has been searched for desperately.

Secondly, if you think it through, a genetic cause for homosexuality is not scientifically possible. A homosexuality gene, if it existed, would quickly die out!

Let’s enter the belief system of the evolutionist a moment.

Under Evolution, if a person is actually “born” homosexual, there would have to have been a point in time somewhere on Earth when that genetic mutation first occurred in one particular individual human.

And this would have occurred at a time when everyone else on Earth had the normal heterosexual plan in their DNA.

But here’s this one individual with a genetic mutation causing them to desire the same sex instead of the opposite sex.

Since they have no desire for the opposite sex, how then is the “gay gene” reproduced to carry on down through history since the one carrying the first “gay gene” would never have sired a child?

The extinction of a homosexuality gene would occur in only one generation!

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The Bible says that homosexuality is a choice.

For instance, listen closely to Romans 1:26-27,

“For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.”

The word “exchanged” here destroys the “no choice” argument because exchanging one thing for another involves a choice.

The women “chose to exchange” the natural sexual use of their bodies for what the Bible says is “against nature.” And likewise, the men did the same.

Second, Paul describes homosexuality as men burning with passion “for one another” (v. 27). That requires mutual choice. They chose to lust for one another.

So in short, those battling the temptation to homosexuality are in the same boat as those battling fornication, adultery, incest, or any other moral sin.

They all must quench a forbidden sexual urge by the power of God’s Spirit.

Homosexuals are not in some exceptional category or class where the battle is any worse than it is for anyone else battling a moral sin that would be very natural for them to succumb to.

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Yet another argument used by those seeking to justify the practice of homosexuality is that only the OT condemns it.

They typically claim this when someone quotes Leviticus 18:22, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”

Homosexuality’s defenders immediately pull out other Levitical prohibitions like—you shouldn’t eat shellfish:

“As to fish, you may eat whatever has fins and scales, whether taken from rivers or from the sea; 10 but all other water creatures are strictly forbidden to you. 11 You mustn’t eat their meat or even touch their dead bodies. 12 I’ll repeat it again—any water creature that does not have fins or scales is forbidden to you” (11:9-12).

This would include catfish, lobster, crawdads, and so on. Pappadeaux would go out of business!

The defenders of homosexuality say, “See, Leviticus and other OT verses condemning homosexuality are ancient history from a backward, unenlightened civilization. Everyone eats shellfish. Those old rules no longer apply!”

But let me give you one golden rule of Bible interpretation: If the New Testament repeats an OT prohibition, it still applies to New Testament times.

For instance, Paul the Apostle settled once and for all the prohibition against eating certain things in 1 Tim. 4:1-5…

“They will say it is wrong to be married and wrong to eat certain foods. But God created those foods to be eaten with thanks by faithful people who know the truth. 4 Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks. 5 For we know it is made acceptable by the word of God and prayer.”

So right there, by the Spirit of God, Paul removes the OT prohibition against eating certain foods and sanctions the practice in New Testament times!

Yet NOWHERE in the entire NT are we ever told that homosexuality (or any other moral sin identified in the OT) is okay. The NT repeats the OT over and over again on this topic.

In Matt. 19:1-8, Jesus indirectly spoke about homosexuality. When asked about marriage, He quotes Gen 1:27 where Moses clearly sets in stone God’s intent for the two genders, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them. Male and female he created them.”

And for what purpose? “This explains why a man (ish) leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife (ish-shaw), and the two are united into one” (Gen 2:24).

We’ve already read passages from Romans 1 (18-32) where, for the first time, there is a specific mention of female homosexuality. And we discover it too is condemned and is brought on by a sinful nature.

To the Corinthian church Paul writes:

1Cor 6:9-11—“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

This is the only passage of scripture that clearly acknowledges former ex-homosexuals in the church. They are listed along with other ex-sinners who have been changed by the power of Christ, giving all who fight this particular battle great hope!

Paul mentions the sin of homosexuality to Timothy as well:

1 Tim. 1:9-10 “For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders. 10 The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching.”

So homosexuality, as seen through the eyes of scripture is a spiritual/sexual aberration, a result of the fallen nature of man, a disease of the soul. It produces nothing life giving. And so it is with ALL forms of sexual sin.

I close this “tough question, tougher answer” time with some words of hope for those battling this temptation and all other sexual temptation:

Paul writes:

“He died once but now lives. He died to break the power of sin, and the life He now lives is for God. 11 You must do the same thing! Think of yourselves as dead to the power of sin. But now you have new life because of Jesus Christ our Lord. You are living this new life for God. So do not let sin have power over your body here on earth. You must not obey the body and let it do what it wants to do. 13 Do not give any part of your body for sinful use. Instead, give yourself to God as a living person who has been raised from the dead. Give every part of your body to God to do what is right” (Ro. 6:10-13).

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