5^th August 2015

“Born This Way, Making sense of science, the Bible and same-sex attraction.” Steve Morrison, Matthias Media 2015.

This is an important readable book for Christians who respect the Biblical text and who face public pressure to compromise their view on this sensitive issue. It is also helpful for those struggling to understand their sexuality. What God says is more important and always best practise when placed alongside our inclinations, or prevailing culture.

Current Culture

The opening chapters explain the cultural context of our day. Over a short period there has been an extreme social reversal from a social control that mistreated people and suppressed homosexual practise to a main-stream endorsement of all aspects of homosexuality. Today public opinion marginalises those who oppose free sexual expression.

Where churches have been pastorally slow to explain this dramatic change and full-circle turn around to their congregations, Morrison begins by pointing out that today our culture recognises no objective truth as its guide. He explains how a subtle evolution has taken place when it comes to the changing meaning of words like ‘tolerance’ and ‘homophobia’.

The author makes no bones about the Christian mistreatment of homosexuals. This is something that must be openly confessed and fully recognised at the beginning of any meaningful discussion. At this point in reviewing Morrison’s description I personally note a tendency for the church in some places to correct the past by moving towards the other extreme of becoming champions of a kind of ‘inclusiveness’, that excludes those who hold a Biblical view that is different from that of today’s main-stream public opinion.

                Looking at best Science

After considering the important cultural context Morrison moves on to what science says. He stresses that we should seek scientific truth with great care and humility rather than an arrogance that assumes it has all the answers. The topic of same-sex attraction is a very emotional issue. The American Psychological Association defines sexuality as attraction in three stages, desire, excitement and orgasm. This makes an important distinction between attraction and action. By being precise the author goes on to examine these stages. The tricky thing about science is that often evidence is embellished or ignored. Again Morrison is honest and transparent about these difficulties. (a) Science is about observation, not moral decisions, (b) People are never purely objective. The topic of climate change is an example of this.

Early studies about a so-called “gay-gene” were deeply flawed but the idea a person is born gay is the most influential claim driving “gay rights.” This asserts that homosexuality is good and normal. Morrison looks at various theories for biological and genetic sources including epigenetic studies that space prevents us from detailing here. “So is homosexuality biologically determined at birth? To date science’s best answer is that someone who experiences same-sex attraction may well have some biological or hereditary factors that play a role in causing this attraction --but to a much smaller extent than is often claimed.” Unlike unchangeable things like skin or eye colour that are 100% determined from birth the hereditary component of same-sex attraction is like a person’s desire to eat, smoke or watch TV. This is so low that there must be many other factors involved as well. Most would agree “there are times that some desires (whether they arise because of genetic predisposition or not) that should be resisted.” Society and the media are outspoken about the need to resist tendencies to over-eat, drink or smoke but it points to genetics to justify the morality of same-sex attraction. In short genetics don’t determine ethics.

The problem of Bisexuality.

The current public same-sex attraction and redefinition of marriage debate is likely to move on to cross-gender and bisexuality issues so what Morrison says here is of vital importance. He points out that the assumption that people are born either gay or straight is strongly challenged by bisexuality. Morrison notes that for every male with a same sex-attraction there are three who experience bisexual attraction. For every same-sex attracted female there are sixteen who are bisexually attracted. This means our way of thinking needs to change from the model of thinking that people are either gay or straight to a new bipolar model. We need to start thinking of a scale with varied degrees. “One helpful way of understanding sexual attraction is to think of it as a spectrum upon which every person appears. And when it comes to same - sex attraction, the genetic influence upon a person’s position on that spectrum is minor, at best. Put simply, if we use the terminology in the way in which it is normally used, a person is not born gay”.

A person may be born with a same sex-attraction but a person may choose not to act on that minor tendency or any other unwanted attractions. This is true of any sexual attraction. A person may not have control over their tendency but they can change their homosexual behaviour. Society condemns, rape, child abuse because any sexual activity is a decision of the individual.

How to read the Bible

Only at this point does Morrison introduce the Bible. God is pro-sex. God made a humanity gendered with two complimentary sexes. Morrison outlines the purpose of sex and says for Christians sexual sin creates conflict between our selfish desires and the new identity we have in Christ. Morrison uses 1 Cor.6: 9-20 to show that our sexual nature is somehow connected to our bodies that are members of Christ. While Jesus does not specifically draw attention to homosexuality Jesus quotes Genesis 1 and 2 and affirms God’s purpose for sex. He uses “pornia” that refers to the perversions of Leviticus 20.

Feelings and Temptation.

God and science compliment each other but experience tells us that people feel like they were made “being gay.” It is my opinion that that every Christian should read this part of Morrisons book about subtle sub-conscious temptation. Lack of self control, desires of the flesh and desires from the world are a problem. A Christian will recognise a same-sex temptation in order to avoid sin, the world recognises it in order to justify sin. Some people are prone to the temptation of violence, while others are prone to homosexual activity. Morrison touches the real world when he shares the powerful story of a Christian leader who struggles with same-sex temptation. The Christian life is a work in progress and transformation and we all face the reality of various temptations.

The book concludes by addressing three different types of people. “You don’t yet follow Jesus.” “You do follow Jesus and are tempted by homosexuality in some way.” “You follow Jesus and are not currently tempted by homosexuality.”

Reviewed by Rev EA (Ted) Curnow.  July 2015