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American Vision received an email from a Christian who claims that it is unloving to condemn the homosexual lifestyle. His arguments are based on faulty science, bad logic, and a misreading of the Bible. His comments are in bold, my comments follow**:**

Please accept the fact that gays do not choose their orientation, nor are they able to change it.

Can the same be said for pedophiles, rapists, adulterers, murderers, people with violent tempers, etc.? If it’s their “orientation,” as some studies suggest, then why do we condemn such practices? Why are homosexuals the only group exempt from the genetic orientation theory even if it has scientific validity? Neither genetic predisposition (see here) nor “desire” nullify moral evaluation. Your claim that homosexuals cannot change is false. I suggest that you take a look at the website of Exodus International. There is a “Real Story” section on the site where former homosexuals tell how they’ve come out of the homosexual lifestyle. You might want to take a look at the story of former lesbian and editor of pro-homosexual magazine Venus, Charlene E. Cothran. She states that she was a homosexual her entire adult life. “Following a religious conversion to Christianity in 2006, Cothran changed the editorial policy of Venus, and began to promote what is popularly called the ex-gay movement through the magazine.” Of course, you can argue, as some homosexuals do, that “ex-gays” were never homosexuals in the first place. Cothran was a practicing homosexual for more than 30 years. Since you believe the Bible, you are left to deal with what it says about homosexuals changing their “orientation”: “Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:9–11).

Numerous studies have found all animals, birds, fish, and even insects have homosexual species in them.

Are animals the standard for human behavior? I hope not. “It has happened to them according to the true proverb, ‘A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT’ [Prov. 26:11] and, ‘A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire’” (2 Pet. 2:22). Are these behaviors we should accept in our children? Numerous studies have found that animals eat their own. Maybe in the world of evolution it’s normal for, say, chimpanzees to eat other chimpanzees (see this video), but this type of animal behavior has no human parallel that I know of even though Richard Dawkins argues that chimpanzees are our “cousins.”[1] Following the argument that if animals do it, it’s okay for humans to do it, then if it’s not wrong for chimpanzees to eat other chimpanzees, then why is it wrong for humans?

Certainly, with the horrendous hate for gays/lesbians, no one would choose the orientation.

Why is it that people continue to smoke cigarettes and drink excessively when they know these things will kill them? These are the four surgeon General’s Warnings that cigarette makers must rotate through on their packs. Here are two of them:

  • “Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy.”
  • “Smoking By Pregnant Women May Result in Fetal Injury, Premature Birth, And Low Birth Weight.”

And yet people still smoke and pay a lot of money for the very things that are killing them. People practice all types of behaviors even though they know that if they get caught they will go to jail or worse. This is hardly a good argument.

First John 4 plainly states that anyone who does not show love to and for others is obviously not connected to the God of LOVE!

You can’t quote the Bible on the issue of love when the Bible condemns homosexual behavior. Love is defined in terms of God’s commandments, and one of God’s commandments is that homosexuality is a sin. You need to read 1 John 5:3: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.” Is it unloving to point out that certain behaviors are sinful? No. It’s the very definition of love. “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” Love is defined by the law. “For this, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:8–10). The “saying” that Paul uses comes from Leviticus 19:18, from the same book that condemns homosexual behavior (18:22 and 20:13).

Endnote:

[1]“It is the plain truth that we are cousins of chimpanzees, somewhat more distant cousins of monkeys, more distant cousins still of aardvarks and manatees, yet more distant cousins of bananas and turnips. . . . continue the list as long as desired.” (Richard Dawkins, “Creationists, now they’re coming for your children,” TimesOnLine [August 24, 2009): Excerpted from The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution (New York: Free Press, 2009).