(AgapePress)
- Recently, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said he
believes that people are born gay. In an interview for MTV viewers,
Kerry declared, "I think it's entirely who you are from birth,
personally. Some people might choose, but I think it's who you are ....
I have a friend who was married for many years and then the marriage
dissolved and he came out and he announced that he was gay, and he lived
this life of tension and great difficulty ... and I don't think that's a
kind of choice .... It's in your system. It's in your genes." Kerry then
added Americans "have a right to be who they are" and that "we are all
God's children."Kerry's comments remind me of the old adage: "It
would be wonderful if mistakes could be sold for as much as they cost."
Believing homosexual behavior is inborn or that we are all the children
of God are two critical mistakes that can result in the worst of
consequences. They could especially be costly when espoused by someone
who might become the leader of the free world.
The belief that homosexuality is genetic, or biologically
predetermined and unchangeable, has received a lot of positive press as
"scientific fact." But the proposition is not a new one. It actually
dates all the way back to 1899, when German researcher Magnus
Hirschfield regarded homosexuality as congenital. Nevertheless,
regardless of how some scientists have argued that they have "proven"
homosexuality is inborn, there has never been any solid scientific
evidence to indicate there really is a homosexual gene.
I remember on one occasion sharing these thoughts with a friend, who
quickly responded: "Then you must believe homosexuality is entirely a
choice." To which I responded, "No, I don't think that's exactly true
either." I then added, "What I think is that we are all born sinners. We
inherited our sinful natures from our parents, Adam and Eve. The problem
is essentially a spiritual one. Some obviously have a natural proclivity
to certain sins. One may be given to jealousy, while another may have a
problem with pride. Someone else may be characteristically covetous.
Others may lean more toward sexual sins. Each of us is both born in sin
and willfully chooses it. Our circumstances in life also play a role in
what sins we may prefer the most. But whatever the case, each of us is
responsible and the only remedy is a rebirth that converts the sinful
heart."
Now having said that, let me pick up on Kerry's second statement, "[W]e
are all the children of God." The idea of the universal fatherhood of
God and the universal brotherhood of man are popular themes today. But
it's not a biblical teaching. It's true Paul told the Athenians: "For we
are also his offspring" (Acts 17:28), but this is not the same as saying
everyone is a legitimate child of God. In this verse, Paul was simply
quoting a Greek poet, obviously to establish a point of contact with his
Greek audience. By contrast, in his own teachings, Paul stressed we only
become a child of God by means of the new birth.
It's also true there are Old Testament texts that refer to the nation
of Israel as God's children. Exodus 4:22 calls Israel the "first-born"
son of God. In speaking for the Lord, the prophet Jeremiah says to
Israel, "I thought how I would set you among my sons, and give you a
pleasant land, a heritage most beauteous of all nations. And I thought
you would call me, My Father, and not turn away from following me" (Jer.
3:19,20). It's true God speaks of the nation Israel as His child, but
it's also critical to note such verses are not talking about the
Babylonians, Egyptians, Syrians, or even Americans. They are
specifically talking about God's relationship to Israel -- and not one
of these verses even makes the relationship of father to son the
relationship of God to any individual Israelite.
The true biblical teaching is best seen in the eighth chapter of
John. In this text, Jesus was discussing the subject of freedom in a
country (Israel) that was extremely sensitive about the Roman
occupation. He said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free" (Jn. 8:32). The hearers of Jesus' remarks were greatly
offended, replying, "We are Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to
any man. How sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?" (v. 33). Christ could
have easily refuted their claim by reminding them that there had almost
never been a power in the ancient Near East to which Israel had not been
in bondage at some time. But he didn't mention this, because he was
really talking about their slavery to sin. So instead Jesus responded:
"Ye do the works of your father." To which they said, "We have one
father, even God" (Jn. 8:41). At this point, Jesus made the matter
abundantly clear by denying they were in any sense God's children. For,
"If God were your father, He said, 'ye would love me' ... Ye are of your
father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do" (Jn. 8:42,44).
Here all the families of the earth are simply divided by two. God's
own redeemed ones constitute one family; and those who refuse His grace
constitute another. One family is free from the oppression and power of
sin -- able to overcome it. The other is a slave to it. One is morally
committed to the principles of God, the other to the works of the devil.
One is born of God, the other naturally belonging to Satan. So you see,
there is neither universal fatherhood nor universal brotherhood. It is
true God is the Creator of all men, and God has made all persons of one
blood; but sin separates us from Him and each another. Without a radical
remaking of our spirits that deals with the sin problem, universal
fatherhood and brotherhood just make for good political rhetoric.
This is the urgency behind Jesus' great command, "Ye must be born
again" (Jn. 3:7).
No one is born with a homosexual gene. But persons who practice
homosexuality, like all men and women, are born with a defective
spiritual nature that may hold them in bondage to this sin. Only a new
birth can really set them free.
But there are also other sinful practices about which we should be
concerned. You may not be a homosexual, but do you find yourself
characteristically striking out at others in anger? Are you generally
exploitive of others? Do you typically think only of yourself? Are you
filled with animosity, bitterness, or malice? Do you rarely, if ever,
consider God or His ways? If so, then you are demonstrating a demonic
ancestry. Such doesn't come from the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
How can you be born again? The Scripture says, "But as many as
received Him (Christ), to them gave He power to become the sons of God
..." (Jn. 1:12) This is the means by which all of mankind may look into
the face of God and in one voice say, "Our Father, which art in heaven"
(Mt. 6:9).
Telling people who practice homosexuality their situation is
physically fixed and unalterable is terribly uncompassionate and
unloving. It robs them of their freedom to change and could result in
someone losing his or her life to the unhealthy practice of gay and
lesbian behavior. What is more, telling people "we are all the children
of God" is worse. Such might lull many into a false sense of spiritual
security that would result in the loss of their soul!
