Dr. Charles Jackson
The crowd at the state capitol shouted “Shame on YOU! Shame on YOU!” and “Hypo-CRITE! Hypo-CRITE!”
Were they calling down yet another politician guilty of graft or fraud or infidelity? What was it this time?
They were calling down a politician who was guilty of—having a petition out to be signed voluntarily by community leaders, clergy and citizens, to voice their opposition to legislative endorsement of so-called “gay marriages” in the State of Oklahoma.
Amidst tell-tale black tees with the red “A” for Richard Dawkins’ atheist clubs, and the shouts from homosexual activists, yes, the Judeo-Christian community began singing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” and other songs of patriotism and national pride.
The opposition responded by seizing civil rights status and singing “We Shall Overcome.” It was a microcosm of what has been happening on the global scale in the current clash of world-views, so aptly referred to here at Creation Truth Foundation as “The War of the Ages.”
The Science
I’m not a politician, nor philosopher. I’m a science teacher. That being the case, I’ll not likely be invited to speak on The View about what I witnessed in the rotunda. But, what I can do is bring to bear some of the science relevant to the common question, “Are gays born that way?” I can also address the close-second shoe-drop question of “Once gay always gay?” For that, I will reference the Bible as anyone can.
But first let’s look at that important “biological destiny” question. There’s some science history that can be brought in to help us on this one.
It is common knowledge that amongst post-WWII generation Germans living in Berlin, there was a notable and large portion of males in that population who grew up to adopt a homosexual lifestyle in adulthood. German researchers took the opportunity to study this, and discovered a pre-natal link to sexual orientation. Pregnant women living in Berlin during the Allied bombings, went through their terms with frequent episodes of high and prolonged emotional stress. This was understandable, since they were in constant danger during the nightly raids. Meanwhile, the effect inside their wombs was a sudden staunch of the masculinizing hormone testosterone to their un-born male children.
Avid Saturday Night Live viewers may relate this to the foppish Bohemian Berliner named “Dieter” portrayed on that popular TV show.
This was one of the first biological-cause studies done on the condition for which Sigmund Freud pronounced there was “no cure.” A curious thing occurred, however—only some of the boys born to bomb-gestating gals grew up gay. And there weren’t any additional differences between them and their heterosexual age-mates. Oh sure, there was a definite bumper crop of homosexuals as that group came up. But it was still definitely only a fraction of the group.
So while this is a sure sign that a pre-natal event at a crucial point in development can make a difference in hetero/homo sexual orientation—it is also just as sure a sign that the event is not destiny! Still, homosexual activism continued to seize claim on equal status with ethnic and people-groups, saying “we’re born this way.”
Was this really true? At the time, science seemed to be saying both “yes” and “no.”
More recently in the 90’s, autopsies of male homosexual AIDS victims found that a small part of the brain called the hypothalamus in most cases was atrophied. This endocrine gland was shrunken and had fewer blood vessels than is normal in heterosexual men. Immediately, this was claimed as an anatomical distinction of gay men. But there’s really no reason to believe such cause-and-effect was called for, since it could have been the AIDS disease that had affected the hypothalamus. Or maybe it was even something about the homosexual lifestyle could have caused the gland to shrink, rather than the atrophy causing the homosexuality.
Finally, genetic research, after isolating dozens of genetic markers for various other effects, suggested that a specific version of a gene found on the Y (male) chromosome seemed to be present more often in homosexuals than in heterosexuals. Word went out that “the gay gene” had been found.
But What Does This Mean?
A surprise reaction came from the gay community—they were against the finding.
Why? For decades, the activists had been claiming “born that way” status. Now that a gene-link might lend credence to that notion, gay movement leaders announced they were against any further research, because they were against seeking a “cure” through gene therapy.
Let’s be clear. Possessing a genetic marker does not scientifically legitimize homosexuality. Research has never proven conclusively that said gene really functions as such. But even if it does, then the following must be considered by homosexual advocates in the medical fields:
- Must we then think of it as biologically good and normal for people to be living with results of 2000 other effect-causing genes ranging from Huntington’s disease to Sickle-Cell Anemia, and also including most known cancers with a genetic predisposition?
- Why should a gene that stops a necessary life-cycle function of the human race (i.e., sexual reproduction) be categorized as medically acceptable, when all others that have the same type of cause are not?
- Would you embrace colon cancer because a grandparent had it, or diabetes because your uncle has it?
- Must you embrace a pronounced fate of a life-long misery of serial drug addictions, merely because you carry an addictive-behavior gene?
Of course not.
If colon cancer runs in your family, you eat fiber to compensate.
Genetics is not destiny.
A sweet tooth may not be considered abnormal, but diabetes is an ailment. Anger is normal, but murder is one way it can go wrong. The Bible calls that a sin. Sex is normal, but adultery’s a sin. Mankind has many afflictions. Some are inheritable and some are not.
But all afflictions, by definition, are abnormalities and undesirable. All sin comes from our fallen human flesh-nature. There was a time that our sin nature was considered abnormal. It is now in everyone. But it is still not considered desirable. Even unbelievers will agree, there are many points of our destructive human natures that must be curtailed by enforceable laws. That’s why only maniacs like Batman’s “the Joker” are in favor of anarchy.
Some of mankind’s many physical and spiritual afflictions are fatal. Many cause lifetime torment. All are unwelcome additions to our lives and society. None were normal to the original creation, which God himself declared was all “very good.”
So homosexuality, even if encouraged by some abnormal inheritance or development, is not scientifically nor medically justifiable. Nature and nurture may in fact have some cause in homosexuality, but they may also do the same in altruism, pedophilia, addiction, cancer, and many other individual predispositions.
The Cure
But is it, as Freud said, “incurable?”
In the biblical empirical worldview it is not. No sin is incurable. The gospel proclaims the cure for sin. And this is no different from any other sin resulting from the fall. The Bible says one day Christ shall “put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Cor 15:26-7). Death is not yet destroyed. Everybody ages and dies. This is inevitable until after the Second Coming. But healing from our spiritual death is available now.
What are the manifestations of the sin nature before a person accepts the free gift of deliverance and of salvation in Christ? Lust for money, power or sex; addictions to porn, drugs, partying, gambling—the list goes on.
Is there deliverance from these? You know there is. We are each living proof.
Is there deliverance from the homosexual bondage? Of course, there must be. Otherwise, the Bible extends hope only to all other categories of sin bondages, with the exception of this one. Biblically, how can we even imagine that to be so? It is not in keeping with the scriptural principles and the portrayal of the character of God in his dealings with mankind throughout our mutual history.
What does the Bible say? Look it up.
“If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman … they shall surely be put to death” (Lev. 20:13). “… vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use … also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman” (Rom 1:26-7). “The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom … nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind” (1 Cor 6:9).
But the Word goes on to say, in this epistle written to heaven-bound blood-washed believers,
“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, as by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Cor 6:11)
This is what the Bible says on the matter.
A Believer’s Response
Homosexuality is a sin. But like for all sins, Jesus is the cure for it. Do we believe this book? If you say so, yet do not stand by its every word, then the rotunda-shouting activists were right in shouting “Hypo-CRITE!”
Do we believe? Is there forgiveness through repentance? Is there healing through deliverance? What does the Bible say?
“If any man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” (Gal 6:1)
This is the Bible. This is the truth.
Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free … If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (Jn 8:32, 36).
Do we believe it? Or do we just think King James English sounds pretty when we read it in public? The answers to the big questions in this article are simple and clear, if we take the Bible literally and seriously.
Jesus himself said of his earthly ministry that he was come to “preach deliverance to the captives … to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Lk 4:18).
What could be more captive than a crowd created in the image of God that feels compelled to shout “Freedom!” at those who are not denying them freedom, but rather stand for the only One Who truly offers it to them? What could be more bruised than a group that feels compelled to label themselves with a word that paradoxically means “happy,” when they are in fact most tormented? The ironies are hideously clear.
Do we know “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is” (Exodus 20:11)?
Then we must also know homosexuality is a sin, as are all works of the flesh (Lev. 20:13, Rom 1:26-7, 1 Cor 6:9). So must we know there is deliverance from all the works of the flesh (1 Cor 6:11, Gal 6:1, Jn 8:32, 36, Lk 4:18).
And how is the Christian to treat the homosexual, when any come reaching out to Christ for deliverance?
“Restore such an one.” (Gal 6:1)
And what does the Bible say about the “born gay” question?
The Bible says we are all born into sin. Should any sin therefore—whether it be inherited spiritually or physically or even developed over a lifetime—really be a surprise?
Jesus still says today, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (Jn 14:6). The Bible clearly teaches that “once gay always gay” is not true, even if “born a homosexual” (just like “born a sinner”) may indeed be true.
