Responding to recent comments here in opposition to same-sex unions, one gracEmail subscriber writes: "To say that homosexuality is the result of 'nature' means that God is condemning something he has made. It is plain and simple perversion and abomination. And it is repeatedly spoken of as deserving death (Romans 1)."

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I did not say that homosexual orientation is caused by nature -- I said that I do not know its origin. You also apparently missed my statement about the "fallen" world in which we live. Since Eden, we can speak of Nature only in terms of its fallenness -- until the "Regeneration," the "restoration of all things" when God will "make all things new (Rom. 8:19-22; Acts 3:21: Rev. 21:5). In fallen Nature, rivers are contaminated, the air is filled with poisonous fumes, babies die, innocent people suffer, wrongs go unrequited and justice often fails. What we see now is not the original, innocent world. Nor does it represent the final picture.

Possessing a homosexual orientation does not constitute personal sin -- any more than possessing by (fallen) Nature an inordinate heterosexual appetite, or having a spirit which is inclined to be harsh and judgmental. Sin comes when one acts to fulfill one's inclinations in violation of God's will -- not before (Gen. 3:5-6; James 1:14-16). Predisposition toward evil is a consequence of Adam's original sin -- in that sense we all are "sinners." However, having a fallen nature inclined toward evil does not itself constitute personal sin for which one is responsible.

As for the death penalty, the same text you mention also says that greed, gossip, arrogance, and unmercifulness deserve death -- right alongside homosexual conduct. Indeed, "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). Remember that God does not rationalize our sins the way we do, or regard others as worse sinners than we are. When her accusers brought a woman caught in sexual sin to Jesus for judgment, the Master replied: "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone" (John 8:7). I certainly am not in that position. Are you?

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