I have concluded that my own ambivilence on the issue is the product of my love of my gay brothers and sisters in Christ and my failed attempts to reconcile that with the tradition of the Church and certain passages in the scriptures. The discussion itself is fraught with hypocrissy. We would all do well to mind the logs in our own eye before worrying about the splinter in our brother’s or sistser’s eye.

Sexual preference is inborn; as is left-handedness and a multitude of hormonal disturbances in both genders. Science has found genetic differences and developmental differences in people with these various maladies.

An overproduction of testosterone which can result in rage does not excuse the damage that is done when that rage is given unrestrained expression and hurts people. I guess in my background, that abundance of testosterone might be called “an occasion of sin”.

This brings me back, then, to the question of what the Original Sin is, and did God create that as well. That puzzles me deeply, why God who loves and creates in God’s own image, would also create sin… unless that too is in the nature of the divine? Only I think that this is heretical in some way.

I should add that I am not nor have ever been an evangelical, so I may be speaking a different dialect.

Like Juanita, I do not understand what Rev Zahl means when he says that the gay position undermines the anthropology of the Bible, which is his premise for the subsequent arguments against same sex relationships.

I don’t see how your explanation can be complete — or perhaps I just don’t understand your explanation. You say, “The Bible teaches that our sexuality is fallen. The gay hermeneutic says that God creates some people gay. That is not fallen.” But surely God creates some people heterosexual — and is *that* not fallen? If *all* our sexuality is fallen, how can there be a difference between hetero- and homo-sexuality? Both are equally fallen, as Zahl himeslef says: “human being …being intrinsically and inherently fallen in all cases.”

Thanks for any further explanation.

I am a simple thinker, certainly not on par with many of the theologically minded posters here. I do not understand what Rev Zahl means when he says that the gay position undermines the anthropology of the Bible, which is his premise for the subsequent arguments against same sex relationships. Did not God create humankind in God’s image and call it good?

I thought I wanted to post some thoughts on Original Sin, but am now very confused and need to spend more time thinking about free will, disobedience, hubris, stupidity, gullibility and whether God created mankind to be sinful and why would He do that? This is not where I expected to land and it hurts my head to think about it.

Enlightenment appreciated.