Although you haven’t said so, I suspect your instructor was discussing those who claim to have inborn homosexual tendencies. Whereas I believe that some people are born with this tendency to sin, your instructor apparently does not. Neither of us has a truly unassailable doctrinal or scientific foundation for that belief.

Though your instructor may be right or wrong with regard to people being born with certain tendencies, I think he is right when he says that people have a choice. That is, they have a choice about what to do with their temptations–unless their agency has been severely eroded by some factor. Does having an inborn tendency to sin erode agency? I suppose it depends on the nature and strength of the tendency.

(See, there’s another bad quality of mine that may or may not be inborn.)

In a previous thread, some said they were praying for a revelation that states homosexual acts are no longer sinful. My question is: Is anyone planning to pray for other favorite sins to be taken off the list? Should we pray for a revelation that says stealing is no longer wrong, so the Church can stop persecuting kleptomaniacs? Should we pray for a revelation that adultery is no longer sinful so that those who want to indulge their natural desires can stop feeling so guilty?

Hope this isn’t too far off topic. If so, just ignore me.

:-)

MRKH

There are those who acquire that predisposition later. I don’t think it matters who falls into what category. The bottom line is that, like you said, we are to overcome the natural man.

Sin is sin is sin is sin. If you know what I mean.

Quirks and Quarks: Searching for a “Gay Gene”

What Members of the church who try to justify the sin because it is natural need to remember, as Kim pointed out, the church considers “natural man” an enemy to God.

Then again heterosexuality seems pretty natural to me. It just occurred to me, I better not say that too loudly.

But seriously though, homosexuality to me doesn’t seem like a real sin (as compared to adultery, murder, theft, etc) since it doesn’t usually hurt anybody. But we obviously can’t just go around basing sins on that criteria now … can we?