God has set a path before us. He never said this path would be easy, however, He has asked all who want true fulfillment on earth and eternal life in the after life to take this path out of obedience. The issue is not that of science vs. the Christian view, but instead to what extent, as Christians, are we willing to be to obey God’s commandments.

Stephen Herweynen

Of course it is always dangerous to talk about “hardwiring” and the like. Humans are far too complex to put things down solely – or even mostly – to physical determinism of various kinds. Even Richard Dawkins has argued this way. He said that “the body of genetic determinism needs to be laid to rest. Whether you hate homosexuals or whether you love them, whether you want to lock them up or ‘cure’ them, your reasons had better have nothing to do with genes. Rather admit to prejudiced emotion than speciously drag genes in where they do not belong.”

But even if we do buy the hardwiring argument, then as a believer you should know the obvious response: we are all hardwired. It’s called the biblical doctrine of original sin. We are all born with an orientation and predisposition away from God and toward sin and self. Thus if we want to speak of human beings as being hardwired, then we can speak of being hardwired to sin. And then the answer is not to say, ‘oh well, I guess we are born that way and can therefore do nothing about it’. What is the gospel all about? It is about helping us to be set free from any moral, behavioural and spiritual hardwiring that we are in bondage to.

And Christians do not say homosexuality is “purely” a choice. All complex behaviours are multifactoral. We are simply saying that choice is a major part of the equation. Sure, environment plays a big role (weak or absent fathers, abuse, etc) and nature may play a small role. Some people may be born with a predisposition to overeating or anger, etc. But we are not animals, and we can make choices about our inclinations. And with God’s help, we can radically change the direction of our inclinations or orientations. God is in the business of changing lives. As a Christian, I trust that you believe that Doug.

And there are plenty of homosexuals beside Altman who have admitted to choice. Why should we believe them on everything else but ignore them here? And are you suggesting that all the people who have left the homosexual lifestyle are simply liars, or deceived? All sexual addictions are difficult to be set free from, but tens of thousands of people have done just that. It is called the transforming power of the Gospel.

And if your want to take these things further, then you should be visiting the experts at places like NARTH: http://www.narth.com/ Or you should be reading books like Jeffrey Satinover’s Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth, or Stanton Jones and Mark Yarhouse’s, Homosexuality: The Use of Scientific Research in the Church’s Moral Debate, or Neil and Briar Whitehead’s My Genes Made Me Do It. Or check out a booklet I and others worked on: 21 Reasons Why Gender Matters: http://www.gendermatters.org.au/Home.html

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

Thank you for your reply. Respectfully Bill I found your comparison between ‘choice’ of sexual orientation and criminality unconvincing thought I would agree in general that lifestyle has a consequence. If Christians say homosexuality is purely a choice then we have some issues to overcome. Some studies suggest a ‘wiring issue’ in the brains of homosexual people. Now the problem for us Christians is that if we consider these findings factual and accurate just how exactly do sinful homosexuals choose to rearrange their brain connectivity as a conscious choice? If homosexuality is a choice then how do they do this? My aim here is not to be obtuse or argumentative merely to open to consideration the possibility that homosexuality may have some kind of built in predisposition.

Yes I agree some gays have said it is a chosen lifestyle (e.g. Denis Altman) however lets ask ourselves – is he representative of that community and is he correct?

No I am not gay indeed I’m a married father of 3 children.

In spite of our differences best wishes

Doug Holland

You have provided the homosexual activist position pretty well here. I would have thought a believer should know better. This furphy has of course been answered many times before. We are all sinners, so we all go our own way and all get into big trouble as a result. It is called sin and rebellion. That is the pretty straightforward biblical position.

If we take your/the homosexual argument that people would not choose a lifestyle like this (even though many homosexuals do readily admit to choice) then we might as well extend it elsewhere: Why would a robber or murderer or arsonist or any other criminal choose their behaviour? After all, they get nothing but misery for it. There are laws against what they do, they can be thrown in jail for what they do, etc. So surely criminals do not choose crime – they therefore must have been born that way.

People make wrong decisions every day, knowing full well they are wrong and that they may face consequences for their actions. But that is how sinful, fallen humanity operates. Try reading the first three chapters of Romans for a starter, in case this seems like a novel position to hold to.

And the fact that tens of thousands of homosexuals have left that lifestyle and now live heterosexual lives – with many married and with children – gives lie to the claim that homosexuals are born that way, that they cannot change, and that they are stuck in that lifestyle.

But I have written all this up elsewhere on this site. If you indeed want to know more, then feel free to have a look around.

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

Australian society, as is all of western society is influenced most by Christian values and morals, yet the disintegration of these values and morals which underline the true and most correct way of living is unfortunately profound.

All around us, we are subject to increasingly left-wing, liberalist views and change in social structure away from traditional norms, almost it seems, for the sake of it.

I am a 16 year old boy who is one of the few (of my age)that hold onto what most would call “old-fashioned” views about society and ingrained in me is the hope that positive change will occur and that we can get our youth, those young adults and teenagers to become catalysts for a better world. I hope that we can break free from the view that sinful experiences, actions etc are desirable and acceptable. Mr Muehlenberg, it is my hope that people such as you can influence society to get increasingly involved and do not let these societal evils become societal norms.

Although in this instance, I am inclined to agree that we are to love all humans, it is in loving all humans that we make sin known to be sin and try to be catalysts for change. Only God is the final judge, but it is the role of humanity to identify where there are problems in the world for we are all sinners, and endeavour to make the world a better place.

Once again thank you for your marvellous contribution.

Jakov Miljak

Yes that clarifies things. One point I had tried to make was that the charge of “homophobia” is for the most part a furphy. It is thrown out by the homosexual lobby to anyone who dares to challenge their lifestyle. But I have no fear of that which is the same (which is what the term literally means), nor of people who embrace homosexuality.

Yes we are to love homosexuals, and from a Biblical point of view that means letting them know the good news of the gospel: that they can be set free from this destructive lifestyle if they so choose, with God’s help.

And yes, some believers may be fearful, as they can be of many things. But again, biblical love means caring enough to confront, when necessary, and not misleading people into thinking their lifestyle is somehow acceptable or OK.

But we mainly agree here I think. So thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch