…welcoming gays (among others) to worship with them. Chris Matthews had Jerry Falwell on Hardball last week where he tackled the gay-as-sinner-or-saint issue (Slate also blogged this item).
FALWELL: And the gay couple. They chose to marry each other.
MATTHEWS: How did they get to be gay, though?
FALWELL: Well, we probably differ there.
MATTHEWS: I‘m asking.
FALWELL: But I think all behavior is chosen.
MATTHEWS: I‘m open. I don‘t know.
FALWELL: I think that…
MATTHEWS: Did you choose to be heterosexual?
FALWELL: I did.
MATTHEWS: You choose it? You thought about it and you came up with that solution? That lifestyle?
(CROSSTALK)
FALWELL: Put it this way. I was taught as a child that‘s the right way to…
MATTHEWS: But did you feel an attraction toward women?
FALWELL: Oh, of course.
MATTHEWS: When people are born and they find themselves having an attraction to somebody from the same sex, do you think that‘s a choice?
FALWELL: I think you can experiment with any kind of perversity and develop an appetite for it, just like you can food.
MATTHEWS: You don‘t think it‘s nature? You think it‘s nurture.
FALWELL: I don‘t think any—I don‘t think anybody is born a bank robber or born a hostile left-winger or a hostile right-winger or gay or a promiscuous heterosexual. I think there comes a time in childhood where environment may be a part of it, whatever, teaching, instruction, one chooses, I will do this or that. And that‘s why good, godly parenting…
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: How old were you when you chose to be heterosexual?
FALWELL: Oh, I don‘t remember that.
MATTHEWS: Well, you must, because you say it‘s a big decision.
FALWELL: Well, I started dating when I was about 13.
MATTHEWS: And you had to decide between boys and girls. And you chose girls.
FALWELL: I never had to decide. I never thought about it.
Falwell makes the logical fallacy of the homosexual-as-a-choice argument painfully obvious. (Also, Falwell’s comment on “good, godly parenting” seems to imply that Dick and Lynn Cheney are bad, ungodly parents.)
Why is it so important to conservative Christians to assert that homosexuality is a choice? If gays do not choose their sexual orientation, then they can not choose to change and become heterosexual. This makes a lie of the Christian movement to “cure” homosexuality and to the conservative legend that gays are out recruiting our children to join their “lifestyle”.
If sexual orientation is not chosen, but is part of who God has made us, merely being homosexual can’t be a sin. A sin is an act committed by someone, not their inborn nature of which they have no control. Of course, engaging in homosexual sex could be a sin, since an inborn attraction to the same sex does not have to be acted upon. However, this would mean that the only moral lifestyle choice for gays is celibacy, which is the official view of most mainline protestant denominations (see here, here and here). There are many good reasons why I don’t believe even this somewhat more enlightened view is God’s will for gays, but I’ll leave that for another day.
Not all conservative Christians make the “it’s a choice” argument. I, for one, think it’s wrong. However, I don’t agree with you either. The argument, as presentd, is based on a false premise, accepted by both sides: God would not punish us for how we are born. Actually, scripture is quite clear that he WILL punish for how we are born, which is in rebellion. Furthermore, the doctrine of of inherent corruption is clear, in Romans we are told that no one seeks God, and in Ps 51 it speaks of sinning from conception. So the the correct position in this debate is: (1) Yes, I have no doubt that some (many, all) are born homosexual (2) That’s no excuse, for we all are born with sin in our genes.
After all, that is why we need a redeemer.
I believe this all goes back to how we see the nature of God. If He creates some of us as homosexuals and clearly states in His word that homosexual behavior is wrong, what does that say about His nature? That doesn’t make any sense either. Also, why would He ordain marriage as recorded in Genesis and then choose to create some of us outside of that possibility?
We are all created as sinners, even though all sin is wrong. Thems the breaks. It’s the doctrine of Original Sin.