Homosexuality: Born That Way -- Stay That Way?

If today “is the day which the LORD hath made,” then we are directed to “rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).  Everything most literally is made out of words, even the day, and we are directed to take words and rejoice in it.

 

If we are made out of words (and we are – even our DNA functions in a four-letter alphabet), what do you think would be the outcome of daily bathing in bad words?  Consider Proverbs 18:21:

           

Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

 

Bad words flood the earth and find their root in the fallen, sinful, Satanic nature of man. 

 

Example: the rancorous bombardment of the 24-hour news cycle.

 

Example: the lust-filled, dirty-talking, violent entertainment industry that pours out its evil through your television or electronic device into your living room, even between your ears.

 

Example: Gossiping lips.  Even if you are not carrying the gossip, listening without rebuking makes you complicit.

 

The redeemed are directed to regulate word intake and how to participate effectively in them.  This form of mind control is written in Philippians 4:8:

 

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

 

We choose the words we bathe in whether they be living or dead, and these words most certainly affect our spiritual and physical health.  Regulate your words in and out.

 

If you have yet to be born again, your ability to regulate words will be weak at best.  The born-again are new, in-progress creations of God who learn to speak a new language.  II Corinthians 5:17:

 

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

 

The first words of the new language are spoken, as declared in Romans 10:10:

 

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

 

Will today be the day you participate in this verse?  Are you ready for a brand-new beginning, free of all your sin and shame?  Do you yearn to be washed clean?  Click onto “Further With Jesus” for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  Now for today’s subject.

 

GOD SAID, I Corinthians 6:9-10:

           

9  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

 

10  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

 

GOD SAID, Leviticus 20:13:

 

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

 

GOD SAID, Exodus 20:5:

 

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

 

MAN SAID: Homosexuality is a genetic issue; and when you’re born that way, it is irreversible.  It’s nobody’s business – except yours – who you love.

 

Now THE RECORD.  Welcome to GodSaidManSaid feature article #851 which will once again certify the inerrancy of God’s Holy Bible.  All of these features are archived here in text and streaming audio for the edification of those who are born-again and as a platform from which to convince the gainsayers.  Every Thursday eve, God willing, we grow by one.  Thank you for coming.  Peace, grace, and mercy be multiplied unto you.

 

God is a Spirit and He is the creator of all things visible and invisible.  The root of all good or evil is never physical, but it is spiritual.  Today, a devastating evil is being sold to the global society by Satan and his minions, and a strange group of bedfellows they are: universities, the entertainment industry, politicians, medicine, newscasters, the pharmaceutical industry, manufacturers, clergy, parents, siblings, etc., and that devastating evil is the unclean spirit of homosexuality – the spirit of sexual perversion.

 

GodSaidManSaid has published numerous features on the subject of homosexuality, and this three-part series will bring you up to date with some of the latest conclusions concerning the “born that way, stay that way” mantra being peddled by the mainstream.  These features will also address the dark spiritual root of this sexual bondage, and demonstrate a surprising spiritual solution.

 

Several foundational excerpts follow from the GodSaidManSaid feature, “Sexual Perversion: An Unclean Spirit:”

 

A colossal, global field study has been going on since the beginning of time.  A vast store of data has been amassed; when viewed through the lens of analytics, the analytics show carnaldom flaunting its disobedience in the face of God while expecting to escape the consequence.  Unfortunately for carnal man, this is to no avail.  Galatians 6:7:

 

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

 

God calls homosexuality an abomination—a sin in the Scriptures so grievous it is punishable by death—a punishment also reserved for deeds such as adultery, bestiality, witchcraft, murder, man-stealing, and several more.  But be it known that God condemns this action but also extends forgiveness, deliverance, and the power to live a holy life to all who will repent and turn.  God’s love is extended today for all who are bound by the unclean spirit of sexual perversion.

 

A gay-rights proponent was being interviewed and when confronted with the Old Testament’s severe judgment against homosexuality, responded that he preferred the New Testament.  The interviewer didn’t mention the following New Testament passages:

 

Jude 1:7:

 

Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

 

Romans 1:24-32:

 

24  Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

 

25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

 

26  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

 

27  And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.

 

28  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

 

29  Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

 

30  Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

 

31  Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

 

32  Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

 

Until 1973, homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association.  Until struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003, homosexuality was a crime in some American states.  Until 2013, transgenderism was listed as a mental disorder, again by the American Psychiatric Association.  In 2015, homosexual marriage was adjudicated and certified legal and acceptable by the U.S. Supreme Court.  The spirit of evil gradualism prevails among men, but be certain that God’s commandments do not change.  Those who flaunt their rebellion in His face must, by necessity, suffer the consequences, and these horrific consequences will last forever.  Choices are being made.

 

Are homosexuals “born that way,” and if so, must they stay that way?  Does science show a smoking genetic gun?  What is the underlying force behind it?  Two researchers from Johns Hopkins University published their findings on “born that way” in the fall of 2016 and it has caused quite an uproar.  Before we get there, consider the following information from the GodSaidManSaid feature, “Homosexuality Updated:”

 

In regard to the “born that way” defense, it must be noted that we were all born spiritually dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).  We did not choose to be born that way, but it is our choice if we stay that way.  For more information on the subject of homosexuality, click onto the following GodSaidManSaid features:

 

G.P. -- Incest and Homosexuality

 

Gay Marriage

 

QandA, Homosexuality, Family Dining, Modern Prophets, GSMS

 

Homosexuality Part II

 

QandA, Homosexuality

 

Homosexuality and a Way of Escape

 

The Fruits of Homosexuality

 

Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday (Update XXII: Gay Marriage and Two Weddings)

 

[End of quote]

 

Numerous psychological research findings have been cited on GodSaidManSaid.  Several follow:

 

An article in Scientific American, November 1995, was titled, “Gay Genes Revisited: Doubts Arise over Research on the Biology of Homosexuality.”

 

In the Archives of Genetic Psychiatry, there’s an article titled, “Human Sexual Orientation: The Biologic Theories Reappraised.”  In this article, Dr. William Byne, a psychiatrist with a doctorate in biology, and Mr. Dave Parsons carefully analyzed all the major biological studies of homosexuality.  They found none that definitively supported a biological theory of causation.

 

Author and sociologist Steven Goldberg, Ph.D., wrote:

 

Virtually all of the evidence argues against there being a determinative physiological causal factor and I know of no researcher who believes that such a determinative factor exists.  Such factors play a predisposing, not a determinative role.  I know of no one in the field who argues that homosexuality can be explained without reference to environmental factors.  [End of quote]

 

Goldberg continued:

 

Gay criticism has not addressed the classic family configuration; it has merely asserted away the considerable evidence for the existence of family factors.  Studies which attempt to disprove the existence of the classic family pattern in homosexuality are convincing only to those with a need to believe.  [End of quote]

 

Headline, AFA Journal, January 2017: “Science Doesn’t Support ‘Born that Way.’”  The subhead, a quote from researcher Dr. P.R. McHugh reads, “The claim that [the science] is settled now—issues such as ‘born that way,’ or ‘you are fixed, or immutable,’—there is no evidence from the science that those things are correct.”  The short report from AFA Journal follows:

 

Two researchers, Paul McHugh and Lawrence Mayer, at Johns Hopkins University published a study in the fall 2016 issue of The New Atlantis finding insufficient evidence for the claim that homosexuals are “born that way.”

 

The study further examines the higher-than-average rates of mental health problems among transgenders, as well as of other problems such as substance abuse and abusive relationships.  It contends that the prevailing “scientific” explanation of social stressors does not account for the entire disparity.

 

The Human Rights Campaign issued a warning that Johns Hopkins Hospital’s score on the HRC’s Healthcare Quality Index could be dramatically reduced unless the medical research facility distanced itself from the study.

 

Johns Hopkins circulated a letter reminding employees that it supports a local Baltimore gay pride event and has policies to welcome and support LGBT people.  However, it also maintained that as a research facility, “academic freedom is among our fundamental principles.”

 

Linda Harvey of Mission America noted: “They need to do some hard thinking about this and reevaluate (as does every hospital and health care institution) their support—their blind support—of these lifestyles and behaviors.”  [End of quote]

 

Concerning Dr. McHugh, Decision magazine reports in the January 2017 issue:

 

That reality, Heyer [former transgender] says, is the reason some 41 percent of the transgender population attempts suicide, a figure cited by multiple sources, including Dr. Paul McHugh, former chief of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical Center, which pioneered so-called sex reassignment procedures.  McHugh now strongly opposes such treatments as psychologically harmful and has written extensively on that subject.  [End of quote]

 

The New Atlantis, mentioned above, published Mayer and McHugh’s extensive 94-page review on the subject of homosexuality.  Numerous excerpts from that review follow:

 

Similarly, Brandon Ambrosino wrote in The New Republic in 2014 that “It’s time for the LGBT community to stop fearing the word ‘choice,’ and to reclaim the dignity of sexual autonomy.”

 

By contrast, proponents of the “born that way” hypothesis — expressed for instance in Lady Gaga’s 2011 song “Born This Way” — posit that there is a causal biological basis for sexual orientation and often try to bolster their claims with scientific findings.  Citing three scientific studies and an article from Science magazine, Mark Joseph Stern, writing for Slate in 2014, claims that “homosexuality, at least in men, is clearly, undoubtedly, inarguably an inborn trait.”  However, as neuroscientist Simon LeVay, whose work in 1991 showed brain differences in homosexual men compared to heterosexual men, explained some years after his study, “It’s important to stress what I didn’t find.  I did not prove that homosexuality is genetic, or find a genetic cause for being gay.  I didn’t show that gay men are ‘born that way,’ the most common mistake people make in interpreting my work.  Nor did I locate a gay center in the brain.”

 

As we argue in this part of the report, however, there is little scientific evidence to support the claim that sexual attraction is simply fixed by innate and deterministic factors such as genes.  Popular understandings of scientific findings often presume deterministic causality when the findings do not warrant that presumption.

 

The most commonly accepted view in popular discourse we mentioned above — the “born that way” notion that homosexuality and heterosexuality are biologically innate or the product of very early developmental factors — has led many non-specialists to think that homosexuality or heterosexuality is in any given person unchangeable and determined entirely apart from choices, behaviors, life experiences, and social contexts.  However, as the following discussion of the relevant scientific literature shows, this is not a view that is well-supported by research.

 

The growing field of epigenetics, for example, demonstrates that even for relatively simple traits, gene expression itself can be influenced by innumerable other external factors that can shape the functioning of genes.  This is even more relevant when it comes to the relationship between genes and complex traits like sexual attraction, drives, and behaviors.

 

The weight of evidence to date strongly suggests that the contribution of genetic factors is modest.  We can say with confidence that genes are not the sole, essential cause of sexual orientation; there is evidence that genes play a modest role in contributing to the development of sexual attractions and behaviors but little evidence to support a simplistic “born that way” narrative concerning the nature of sexual orientation.

 

With this overview of studies on biological factors that might influence sexual attraction, preferences, or desires, we can understand the rather strong conclusion by social psychologist Letitia Anne Peplau and colleagues in a 1999 review article: “To recap, more than 50 years of research has failed to demonstrate that biological factors are a major influence in the development of women’s sexual orientation....  Contrary to popular belief, scientists have not convincingly demonstrated that biology determines women’s sexual orientation.”  In light of the studies we have summarized here, this statement could also be made for research on male sexual orientation, however this concept is defined.  [End of quote]

 

The homosexual leadership was recently up in arms over Christian ministries that claimed homosexuals could be delivered.  These ministries were rigorously pursued.  Basically, their claim was, “born that way, stay that way.”  Again, from Mayer and McHugh:

 

However sexual desires and interests develop, there is a related issue that scientists debate: whether sexual desires and attractions tend to remain fixed and unalterable across the lifespan of a person — or are fluid and subject to change over time but tend to become fixed after a certain age or developmental period.  Advocates of the “born that way” hypothesis, as mentioned earlier, sometimes argue that a person is not only born with a sexual orientation but that that orientation is immutable; it is fixed for life.

 

There is now considerable scientific evidence that sexual desires, attractions, behaviors, and even identities can, and sometimes do, change over time.

 

Moreover, other population-based surveys suggest that sexual desire may be fluid for a considerable number of individuals, especially among adolescents as they mature through the early stages of adult development.  In this regard, opposite-sex attraction and identity seem to be more stable than same-sex or bisexual attraction and identity.  This is suggested by data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (the “Add Health” study discussed earlier).  This prospective longitudinal study of a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents starting in grades 7–12 began during the 1994–1995 school year, and followed the cohort into young adulthood, with four follow-up interviews (referred to as Waves I, II, III, IV in the literature).  The most recent was in 2007–2008, when the sample was aged 24–32.

 

Same-sex or both-sex romantic attractions were quite prevalent in the study’s first wave, with rates of approximately 7% for the males and 5% for the females.  However, 80% of the adolescent males who had reported same-sex attractions at Wave I later identifed themselves as exclusively heterosexual as young adults at Wave IV.  Similarly, for adolescent males who, at Wave I, reported romantic attraction to both sexes, over 80% of them reported no same-sex romantic attraction at Wave III.  The data for the females surveyed were similar but less striking: for adolescent females who had both-sex attractions at Wave I, more than half reported exclusive attraction to males at Wave III.

 

Another prospective study by biostatistician Miles Ott and colleagues of 10,515 youth (3,980 males; 6,535 females) in 2013 showed findings on sexual orientation change in adolescents consistent with the findings of the Add Health data, again suggesting fluidity and plasticity of same-sex attractions among many adolescents.  [End of quote]

 

Born that way – stay that way?  Research says, “Not so fast!”

 

The root of sexual bondage is spiritual, and these chains can be broken by becoming what Jesus calls “born again,” and applying God’s Holy Word.  Each of us inherited the carnal, sinful, Adamic nature, but God sent Jesus Christ to break the chains and set our captive souls free.  Choices are being made.  Choose Christ Jesus, the Lord of Glory, and live!  Next week we’ll have the rest of the story, and there are real outside factors.  Jesus Christ is still the answer.

 

GOD SAID, I Corinthians 6:9-10:

           

9  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

 

10  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

 

GOD SAID, Leviticus 20:13:

 

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

 

GOD SAID, Exodus 20:5:

 

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

 

MAN SAID: Homosexuality is a genetic issue; and when you’re born that way, it is irreversible.  It’s nobody’s business – except yours – who you love.

 

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

 

 

References:

 

Authorized King James Version

 

“Science Doesn’t Support ‘Born that Way,’” AFA Journal, January 2017

 

Hubbard, S., “BPA Replacement Also Disrupts Reproduction,” NewsMaxHealth.com, February 1, 2016

 

Mandelbaum, R., “STDs Are on the Up,” Scientific American, January 2017

 

Mayer, L. S., and P. McHugh, “Sexuality and Gender: Findings from the Biological, Psychological, and Sociel Sciences,” The New Atlantis, Fall 2016

 

Pierce, J., “The War on ‘Male’ and ‘Female,’” Decision, January 2017

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