The Torrey Memorial Bible Confrence at Biola University has been running for 73 years and is notorious for focusing on sex and sex related issues such as dating, homosexuality, the philosophical background of relationships and more. One of the great issues of our time, as Californians consider voting and defining their moral stance, is gay and lesbian rights and the prevalence of homosexuality in American culture.
One of the questions of our day is deciding whether to vote yes or no on Prop 8 in order to save the rights of the sacred marriage between a male and female, and eliminate the possibility for homosexual marriage. It seems to me that one of the greatest problems on our shoulders for this decision is the idea that many people do not know what to think of gay marriage. Many have questioned the idea that homosexuality is a “gene” that people are born with and cannot control. This provokes the thought that there is nothing anybody can do about preventing gay love, and should therefore give them thae rights for marriage.
Mike Haley a former homosexual who lectured on Friday night shared his story with students saying that when he wanted to seek help in his struggle with homosexuality, a woman told him that what he was going though was natural, a "gay gene." She informed him that he shouldn’t worry about getting rid of it because that is the way he was created. This led Haley down a tainted road, which he blindly followed. Finally, through the grace of God and the encouragement of people that cared about him, Mike conducted his own Internet research, and discovered that what that woman had told him so many years prior was not actually true. Rather, there was no scientific proof that being gay was due to a natural genetic variant. Being a bit skeptical with the idea that science has not proven this, I would also like to research that theory through the Internet and define the results.
Randy Thomas, the founder of Exodus International, and also a former homosexual, explains in worldnetdaily.com that much research has been conducted on gays including that done by Stanton L. Jones and Mark A. Yarhouse. Over the course of three years, these two men were capable of proving the individuals’ wrong who said that sexual orientation was impossible to change. Their research was conducted “through religiously mediated programs” says Thomas, “[which] does not cause psychological harm to the patient.” What my question is, if this is a gene, how can it be changed without the use of modern technology?
NewYorkTimes.com writer Natalie Angier found, in interviewing a scientist who was researching the gay chromosome, that “the evidence for a genetic basis for homosexuality remains slender and incomplete.” The scientist, Mr. Hamer, says that the specific “gay gene” hasn’t been found. In my opinion, finding this gene seems impossible. If there is such a thing as naturalistic homosexuality, why don’t men also withhold other obscene genes, such as animalistic and barbaric inclinations? For if and when a man does act upon primitive measures, his behavior is blamed on the manner in which he was nurtured, not his nature.
In another New York Times Online article, Steven Pinker reports, “Some gay groups condemn [gay gene] research because it could stigmatize gay people as defective and lead to a day in which parents could selectively abort children with "gay genes." Others welcome the research because it shows that people don't "choose" to be gay and hence can't be criticized for it, nor could homosexuals convert the children in their classrooms or Scout troops even if they wanted to.”
Obviously, research is still heavy on the nature of homosexuality, but it seems that there is currently more research showing that there is no “gay gene.” I believe, that if Mike Haley, Randy Thomas, and many other men can find faith and change their sexual orientation, then the idea of a homosexual chromosome is a theory made up to justify the faults of man’s sin nature.
YouTube Video- a politician's stance on homosexuality, gay rights, and the "gene."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB8bW4vDaOk
YouTube Video- a politician's stance on homosexuality, gay rights, and the "gene."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB8bW4vDaOk
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58240
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E0DB123DF935A25753C1A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/17/opinion/17pinker.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=The%20Gay%20Gene&st=cse&oref=slogin
