Art does not make sin beautiful

Homo erectus

'Homo-Erectus', Funny name is it not? This is because of what the word 'homo' has come to mean in our times, especially nowadays, years after it was coined as a Latin phrase to represent a precursor to modern man in the evolutionary development, meaning the erect human or a hominid who stood up straight. (The theory goes something like this: Supposedly our ancestors lost the curvature of their spine through painstakingly slow incremental physiological changes, that took thousands or millions of years , when one sunny morning a baby hominid came about who would not gallop the hillside and would not skip trees in the tundra anymore but stood erect on his(her) two feet!?) Fast forward to old Canaan land in Bible times. Can you imagine poor Mr. Lot, who was living in the ancient party town of Sodom, as some 'Homo-Erectus' men came and wanted to forcibly have sexual relations with a couple his guests? Ok, this is not that much of a funny joke! Especially to God, because according to the bible, that kind of attitude resulted in the whole town being overthrown due to his fierce anger.

Evolution and sexual taboos

One of the influences of evolutionary theory on modern life may have been that it has made certain sexually taboo activities to be more acceptable as it has filtered down into the beliefs of so many of today's people both young and old. One man with such a disposition, when engaged in a religious debate, said the following. "Even 30 percent (I forget the actual number) of animals including elephants engage in homosexual activity". He added that, he thought he himself was an accident of nature. His defense of his life style and actions was based on science droppings and evolutionary dogma. We replied, "Not only was he not an accident but that he is a veritable miracle". We also wanted to add, that all the earth was in a fallen state and as such does not always act in line with the highest purposes intended for it.

Another individual angrily shouted that being gay was what he chose to be and do, when pressed by people he felt had misunderstood him. The politically correct term a 'lifestyle choice' resulted from terminology designed to protect his rights under the constitution. However, some other men claim that if they could help it, they would rather be heterosexual, implying that they act and live in such a manner because that's who they are and that's what they must do. For yet others it seems to be an experiment in an experience, which is to be prolonged or aborted, based on how one enjoys the initial and/or subsequent experiences. "Of course" they say, "You should try everything at least once". In a generation where 'Survivor' and 'Fear Factor' and other reality based shows have come to be popular, this seems to be the approach people take towards a lot of things including sexual encounters with individuals of the same sex.

Nature, nurture or spirit?

This leads to the question, how exactly is homosexuality to be understood and how does it arise? Some people will say, "Its all in the genes. You can't fault someone if they were born with that disposition". Hence we have the term 'sexual orientation', which is believed to be an outcome of one's genetic and/or psychological, make up! This leaves all of us to overlook our apparent gender identity and wonder if we don't have a bio-genetic makeup that disposes us to certain sexual pulls and attractions. It also puts a shadow on what we all should be able to take for granted. I.E. that our original gender bestowed upon us at our inception is what determines how we are to behave socially and sexually after we grow up.

Here we will introduce yet another possibility. Namely, that such pulls and a disposition toward such activity might lie in the spiritual aspect of our make-up rather than the biological or the psyche. In the book of Romans Chapters 1 & 2 Paul says that denying the evidences of God's created work (evolution?) , banishing Him out of one's thoughts and failing to acknowledge and worship him as such will lead to being given over to a reprobate mind and what he calls unlawful and unnatural desires. This might explain why people who have been seeking a remedy in the psychology department have not been able to be successful.

Robbing the glory off of the children, Unholy entertainment
"From their children have you taken away my glory forever" Micah 2:9

On a wider context, if we enlarge our subject to include all of our youth, we find that alarming trends are happening with respect to their sexual behavior. The effects of conditioning happening through lewd images that inundate the print media, the entertainment industry and new technologies like the internet is incalculable. Porn is readily available over the internet, coming right into the rooms of most young people today, who have the internet savvy to get around any and all protection that parents might install on their computers. Its an understatement to say that they are being corrupted and being initiated into all kinds of debauchery and lewd acts or what the bible collectively calls as 'sexual immorality'. Fewer and fewer children have the opportunity to grow up with their innocence intact and without being exposed to violent or sexually charged images or lyrical gyrations of lewdness. A large part of the responsibility goes to those who are profiting from the production, publication and dissemination of this kind of smut. You can go to some college campuses today and see a form of ancient Caligula-like pleasure romps happening with youngsters as onlookers and participants(Sometimes with authority figures as advocates)!

Internet porn star kid exposes his dark underworld on Oprah:
http://www2.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200602/tows_past_20060215.jhtml
Sex makes the grade in college:
www.cbn.com/cbnnews/news/050315a.asp

Criminal behavior

Coming back to the issue at hand, if it were true that there was some other hidden biological determinant, this on its own, in one stroke, would undo all old world taboos and superstitions having to do with ancient moral codes, permitting one to engage in activities considered very sinful and even abominable by society and especially by religious faiths, their adherents and institutions. THIS WILL LEAD TO A LOT OF IRRESPONSIBLE AND DANGEROUS BEHAVIOR, opening the flood gate to ungodliness and immorality, an abyss for which there is no bottom! This kind of thinking is behind the various amoral social groupings seen on the rise today where its ok to do anything and everything that would otherwise be considered morally repugnant. May God give us the grace to repent and open our eyes to see! For some, science has become a fig leaf with which to hide one's nakedness by passing responsibility for one's selfish behavior to individual genes or one's biological makeup. (Granted certain ailments and disorders have bio-genetic roots, all behavior may not be so rooted. Notice how certain criminal defenses are mounted today to evade responsibility! With respect to our discussion our Lord places the sources of such sins squarely within our evil hearts, Mark 7:21) We can only hope(said sarcastically) that scientist will soon find the individual sins (..er genes) that have to do with murder, rape and violence so that we can either quarantine and/or neuter people before they actually commit their first crime.

As a man thinks of himself so is he!

We become who we believe ourselves to be! As the old but true wisdom adage goes, "As a man thinks in his heart , so is he" and so he will do and act. The Issue then becomes whether we are doing the things we are doing because we are helpless victims of our nature or whether we are allowing ourselves to be overcome by our lower, baser selves? The answer maybe somewhere in the middle where our flesh and spirit constantly strive against one another. Although our biological makeup has a lot to do with our inclinations and behavior we have also been given a conscience and a will that we ought to exercise in making the right decisions. Further, being informed of our creator's intentions for our life can aid us in making the right decisions concerning how we are to keep and utilize our bodies so we can progress from the realm of sensations to the higher and fuller life that God intended for us to have. Yes, we are spiritual beings who live in a physical body with dual natures and created with the higher purposes of worship and communion(and definitely not for a one night stand hookup down at Orieilly's for some sexual gratification).

On the other hand, if we think of ourselves as animals we will act as animals! In fancy scientific terms, if we think that we are some half baked by product of evolution that inherited genes with a confused gender roll, we will act and live that way. (The argument will go something like this: After all bio-genetic information is being recycled and passed in a continuous cycle of conception, birth and dying. Surely, there is bound to be an error where certain of the files with ones bio-genetic information got lost or confused with certain other files: This argument assumes a universe without an all powerful creator and sustainer of life). It is this latter view that we consider false and seek to challenge here. It is a fatal error to assume man to be just a biological without a soul, genetically pre-programmed to act in a certain way without recourse or choice. The real truth may be that there are both biological and spiritual aspects to our nature that are susceptible to various kinds of temptations. It might be closer to the truth to say that there are spirits (entities that beguile, tempt and even possess us) behind these and other types of human behavior, that can take over and control our lives in the absence of Godly influence and resistance on our part(Ephesians 2:2-3).

Hope for a remedy, washed and changed

It seems that one of the illusions of being under the sway of gender-bending spirits is to believe this to be one's permanent biological state or condition or one's inborn nature! For those who seek hope or remedy, we dare suggest, that if it be a spiritual problem it has a spiritual solution. And even if it were a physical or biological ailment, God is the God of all flesh, its maker sustainer and healer! Having full faith in the maker's love for mankind, we dare suggest that one can have full deliverance and recovery if one were to come to Christ seeking it! Our hearts are full with faith to say, its possible in God for one to have restored the natural desire that one should have for a spouse of the opposite sex and lead a natural fruitful life!
"....some of you used to be homosexuals and used to make yourselves into women..., such things can leave one out of God's kingdom, but now you are washed and changed, sanctified and justified in the name of our lord Jesus and by his spirit"(Paraphrase I Corinthians 6:9-11)

Writer's note: Having spent the last decade as a celibate Christian man, I have had little or no direct personal dealing with this particular sin or temptation. I have had struggles with other temptations where slowly but surly I have been able to gain ground simultaneous with my maturing as a Christian. Those of you who seek help in this area can check out the links bellow for some solid, godly help and advice.
Changed to live the higher life! Homosexuals who changed!
http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/ex-gay.html
Reinforcements:
http://www.exodus-international.org/


Conflicting paradigms and the arts

However, there will always be powers that will want to maintain the status quo and who do not want change(spiritually speaking) and would rather battle to keep things as they are. One can always circumvent biblical morality by creating ones own religion or infiltrating the religious institutions with ones prophets and messiahs. Proponents of the gay rights movement have taken the battle to all fronts of society all the way from the streets, to the media, to the courts and into the church. The struggle would also have to include using the arts to propagate one's message by putting it in movies, music, the theater, sitcoms, talk shows and all the mainstream venues and media outlets.


For better or for worse, we saw all these things take place just within the last few years, as homosexual people fought to have their lifestyle acknowledged as a viable and healthy way of living worthy of acceptance of all. However, art cannot make sin beautiful any more than adding a realistic touch to Monet's paintings (by having some dog-pie appear on the left frame of his water lilies or flower beds) will make his work look better!

This has left people of faith sometimes reeling and seeking to strike a balance on how to resist this mounting assault while simultaneously showing love to people within their families and communities by providing the right spiritual guidance and support on such issues. It has not helped that in recent years, some mainline churches have lost the moral high ground to speak down on such debauchery because of scandals that took place in their parishes that have reverberated in the media, making it hard for everyone to decide on whom to trust on such issues. In a recent publicized story one formerly abused man accused a priest that allegedly abused him of "making him into a homosexual!"

Pro love, not anti-gay

This is not an ant-gay diatribe! It's a pro-righteousness treatment of this issue with the hopes of winning hearts to the truth or truths set forth in the bible and mainly of the deep love that God has for his miss-stepping creation. Hatred of anyone within the reach of God's grace (and who isn't) although they engage in sexually divergent sins (and who hasn't) is wrong. It's the sin to be hated and not the sinner himself, because most of us whether we like to admit it publicly or not, have done things that have made us ashamed. Some of us have done even worse things while hiding behind a religious cloak and should be pointing a finger at ourselves not others.

The Theology of sin and redemption

The simple truth is that God loves all men (and women) and wants to save them when bent on things that will eventually destroy them and further, He wants to make them His own by saving them to the uttermost. And why does He hate sin in man? This is because sin is like a flaw or a blemish in an otherwise beautiful and beloved image of Himself. Because it subverts the creators intentions and hopes for the one created so much so that it frustrates and grieves and saddens Him. Therefore He hates it much like a father grieved by a wayward son who is doing drugs, carousing or involved in criminal activities. He is also forced to approach man in two ways I.E. Through the whip or through the loving Word calling him to repentance.

The Good news concerning overwhelming sin

Therefore, God must punish sin but instead of making us know the full burnt of His wrath, He let His son Jesus Christ carry that wrath fulfilling His own requirement for justice. Through the substitution of Jesus (He was made sin for us!) in our stead, our sins have already been bourn by our savior and therefore we can have forgiveness and reconciliation when we trust in Him. Here is the good news concerning this or any other sin. This is simply that, you can be forgiven and also be totally and completely cleansed from it! Through The Blood of Jesus applied to your life when you believe, you are able to be purified and stand before your loving father with a pure conscience through the work of His grace, and subsequent sanctification. Jesus said that all sins that men do shall be forgiven them except one(and homosexuality is not that one). The Bible counsels us to flee "sexual immorality" and to keep our eyes and mind on things good, wholesome and spiritual.

Related links:


Swedish pastor convicted for preaching against homosexuality
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/nov/05111504.html
The text of his sermon that got him in trouble with the law
http://www.akegreen.com/sermon_transcript.htm
Next: The spiritual roots of homosexuality

Why is it worth the fight?

The Social consequences:

So what? Why does all this matter? What is worth the fight?

The ruthless assassin Vincent played by Tom Cruise in the disturbing movie 'Collateral', says as he goes about his killing, "..Improvise, adapt to the environment, Darwin, ---- happens..whatever, roll with it". He says again, "Millions of galaxies of hundreds of millions of stars..each a speck on one in a blink..thats us lost in space" . This is part of his rationalization for the terrible things he is doing! Its not an accident that both evolution and the idea of a godless universe are used by the writers when they created this amoral fictional character. He believes he is alone in the universe and has no moral qualms about killing people to get what he wants. The question then, that should be asked is, How do these 'celebrated' scientific theories filter down into our psyche and affect the moral choices we make everyday?

Man, a law unto himself, Secularism

Evolutionary theory along with the big bang theory have set aside or altogether replaced the creator God making man seemingly unanswerable to Him, His moral laws or judgments! This has been and still is a huge split with monotheistic religions whose tenets include that there is a day of reckoning, a day of Judgment and accountability serving as a strong moral deterrent (when conscience goes awry*)! These scientific theories, at times overly presumptuous in their claims of having cornered the truth have garnered a faithful following. Together with anti-religion and atheistic philosophies, these theories form a wedge between genuine faith and honest science that seeks to ascertain the truth. Religious faith is being usurped its effectiveness as a moral & spiritual agent in a needy world. Some such philosophies have gone as far as to state religion to be a sinister plot by certain men to keep certain other groups of men under subjugation, making a "prison for their minds"!** This is seriously doubtful since the progenitors of these faiths were themselves poor or belonged to lower economic and social strata and getting ahead was never their motivation in preaching and establishing their message, "The Lord Your God is one"!

The Anti God age

Under the sway of the 'Evo-bang' theories and philosophies that permeate our world, man is left to make his own moral boundaries and decisions, making them up and changing them as he wills to fit his own selfish motives. Traditional social norms have been eroded and replaced by irreverent cultural mores leading to what one might call an amoral/immoral society and a type of a biblical Sodom that would unashamedly say, "Bring out the men so we can know them".

Therefore, "Thou shall not lie, steal, commit murder or covet your neighbors property" and other divine laws and tenets that were given to be honored and have served societies well in the past have been weakened or have a convenience clause added to them or are denied altogether! (Think of the divorce rate and the crime rate in western societies). Science has also been wrongly used to furnish some of the justifications(By painting a godless universe and by sometimes blurring the lines between right and wrong) for which certain moral and spiritual principles are to be abrogated for 'better' ethics and man made laws plunging us straight into an Anti God age (Anti-Christian if you will, to invoke Nietzsche) where we find ourselves today and where we have been for a while now! This might spell our demise! Unknowingly, we are cutting away at the pillars and limbs that support the very fiber of our society, its laws, education, its government and most of all the family structure! As it is said of the Anti-Christ, "He will change times and laws" . May God help us if we cast away and forget these eternal words and principles by which we were created that have upheld us up to now. Perhaps indeed the end is near!


Argument from design:
http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/design.htm

Is the Genesis story myth or fact?

Psalms 139:14 I am fearfully and wonderfully made

Q. What does the Genesis account have going for it that is superior to evolution and fitting to the observable phenomenon of life around us?

1. It mentions that our human species was created male and female. Where as in a random happenstance kind of origins theory, it is not clear why all or most species in the animal kingdom ended up with just the two sexes instead of 0,1, 3, 4, 5 etc.

2. It mentions that the female of our species came from the male. Men have x & y chromosomes while females only have two x chromosomes so the chromosomes to make a female were readily available in the male, making the Adam's rib story plausible. For one to go in the reverse direction(male from female) would have required creating a y chromosome from the female x chromosome. Granted both scenarios would not be impossible to the original creator one appears to be simpler! (we are not being chauvinistic!)

Symbolically, G(x,y) --> x,x would be a lot easier than G(x,x) --> x,y

3. It mentions the seed as a way of propagation in plants which is true in both animals and plants!

Psalms 139:14 "I am fearfully and wonderfully made!"

4. The genesis account mentions that the creator God fashioned man implying a deliberate shaping or formation similar to how a sculptor would create a magnificent piece of sculpture. A random happenstance type of theory does not explain why our face and in fact our whole body is symmetrical and seems to have esthetic qualities of beauty and structure which in turn are appreciable by the organ of vision which is our eye. Why isn’t our nose (which is necessary for one's survival as an opening for assimilating air molecules) malformed on the left side of our face, if survival was the driving motivation of nature as suggested by evolutionary theory? But all of creation seems to exhibit esthetic qualities beyond what would be needed for survival implying it was fashioned by someone well aware of beauty and meaning to imprint it all around us!People are known to have fallen in love because of how someone’s nose, chin, face etc looked. This double purpose in creation i.e. That of esthetic beauty beyond biological necessity implies a deliberate fashioning by someone rather than a random evolutionary occurrence over time.

5. It establishes that a certain compatibility was intended between certain living beings. For example: a. Between man and woman, answering the question why men are attracted to women biologically and emotionally b. Between man and his natural food source i.e. "fruit trees that are good for eating" which appear to have been made for no other reason than that very purpose(excepting for a sliding fall caused by a banana peel)! It is not so easily clear in an evolutionary model why living beings that supposedly evolved separately would be very compatible except that they were intentionally made to be so as the creation model signifies. Simply put, it answers the questions as to why men are naturally attracted to women and why we derive pleasureout of eating our fruit. Its inconceivable how an evolutionary theory can come up with a non convoluted explanation as to why these things are so(apart from claiming them to be coincidental in which case you can estimate the probabilities of that happening to be next to zero) except to get into minute biological details of how and why they seem to work in a way that is reminiscent of an 8th grade Biology class.

6. It mentions the elements within the planet earth to be the raw materials from which both man and animal were made. a. Having been made so they dissipate naturally into the ground after being deceased.

In conclusion, For a story that is supposed to be a 'myth' and 'outdated' the model of origins described in Genesis fits almost too well some of the observable phenomenon of life around us and therefore should not be dismissed so easily. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find a scientific fact that negates what it says, if one were to leave aside its moral and spiritual elements for a separate study. Therefor, it should be considered as a possible explanation to the question of how life started here on earth and should be given an equal opportunity to be developed in our schools and other places where such discussions arise. This is merited even if for no other reason than for the sake of freedom of speech and expression of ideas! So ask yourself, what are the evolutionists afraid of in such an endeavor? Could it be precisely because they are afraid it might supplant what they believe to be the right theory concerning origins?

Its also merited for reasons of morality. What we in general and our youth in particular believe about origins will determine the moral choices they will make in the future(Read following blog). Hence, we should not be hasty to eliminate the claims of these ancient texts as simply archaic and without use for our modern world. If we allow ourselves to be open we might indeed gain a lot knowledge and wisdom from them because that was the very intent with which they were written. I.E. "..To make the simple wise!"

http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/design.htm