Certainly this is part of a much larger debate. How do we hate the sin and love the sinner? That is one of the profound questions that all of us must answer as Christians. Anyway, I too found Roose’s book interesting. I think the questions he poses are helpful to any of us, who have struggled with how we can better live out our faith.

Interesting take on Roose’s book. I have not had the opportunity to read it yet, so my comment will be on your definition you have given concerning the author’s explanation of intolerance.

By “intolerance” he means that we refuse to accept homosexuality as a viable alternative and we insist on calling it sinful.

How does one accept homosexuality as a viable alternative lifestyle when the Bible clearly calls it sin? I am not debating whether it is nature or nurture here, I am speaking about the homosexual acts, which the Bible defines as sin. However, by your explanation of one’s skin pigmentation you appear to take the position that one is born with a homosexual gene that makes one unable to control their homosexual gratification. By doing this you present the discriminatory injustice done to those with dark pigmented skin as the same behavior of Christians that lovingly express that homosexual behavior is sin. It seems that homosexuals in your explanation of the author’s view of intolerance, should be told that they cannot help themselves and this is the only tolerant view that we can take. That being said, when Miss California was asked by a gay judge: Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not? was she being intolerant, according to Roose’s view, when she responded that personally she belived marriage was between a man and a woman? While she clearly defined marriage she was denied the crown because of her personal views. Would you argue that according to what the gay judge said on the Today Show below, is the knife of intolerance cutting in one direction? Here is what the Gay Miss USA Judge told Matt Lauer: “She’s a Christian, but I don’t want her talking about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, because that’s offensive to all of the Jewish Americans, all the Muslim Americans, to all the atheist Americans.

So, maybe you can help me understand how honestly stating one’s belief, without any animosity toward homosexuals, can be construed any other way but intolerant by those like Roose. If that is the case we as Christians have just given over the public arena for fear that we are going to be perceived as intolerant.

Blessings,
Tim

It could be that there is such a thing as a genetic predisposition toward homosexuality. In any case, it is certainly true that all people have a predisposition toward sin generally as a result of the “Adamic Curse”. Therefore, I don’t think arguing about whether or not homosexuality has a genetic basis really makes much difference.

I believe that all of us have an inherent sin-nature. This is consistent with what the Bible says. It could be for some that the genetic penchant towards homosexuality is more pronounced than for others. Also, it could be that homosexuality is a result of environmental factors during childhood. I’m a software engineer not a psychologist. I don’t know, even in principle, what type of experiment could be proposed, that would confirm or refute the proposition that homosexuality is only environmental — without any genetic basis.

Based upon my limited knowledge of people living a homosexual lifestyle my “layman’s opinion” is that homosexuality is some complex mixture of both genetics and the environment.

To me it doesn’t make any difference. I don’t think God gives us a pass on sin just because we are created as sinners. This applies to homosexuality as well as every other sin. I don’t think homosexuality deserves “special status” as a protected sin. Also, I don’t think homosexuality is any “worse” than any other sin.

We are all in this sin-boat together. We could argue all day long about who has the “worse sin”. Fortunately, this is an academic argument in that each of us can be a recipient of God’s free gift which removes the eternal penalty for our sins even if it does not blot out the consequences of these sins during the remainder of our life here on earth.