The pro-LGBTQ faction of the UMC advances the \u201cGod made me this way\u201d (GMMTW) argument as support. As Robert Gagnon wrote in an email of September 8, 2011 (see his website):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe argument that \u201cGod made me this way\u201d is a bad one.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The essence of the GMMTW argument is that because a person is a God-created human and he or she has homosexual desires, it is acceptable to God to engage in homosexual practice. The GMMTW argument contains fundamental flaws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, it is important to consider God\u2019s creation of mankind. Genesis 1:26\u201328, 31 (ESV) reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n26<\/sup> Then God said, \u201cLet us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.\u201d 27<\/sup> So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28<\/sup> And God blessed them. And God said to them, \u201cBe fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.\u201d \u2026 31<\/sup> And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Who God described as \u201cvery good\u201d was pre-fall Adam and Eve. Because of Adam\u2019s rebellion (see Genesis 3:6-7), sin entered into the world and has been passed down to all of humanity through Adam (see Romans 5:12-14). This means that the \u201cvery good\u201d of creation is not the present day world. As stated in an article entitled \u201cHomosexuality in God\u2019s Created Order\u201d on the Focus on the Family website (italics in the original):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nEver since that time, the world has existed in an abnormal<\/em> state.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
In God\u2019s plan of creation, He created Adam and Eve to \u201cbe fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.\u201d To carry out this command, their sexual desire had to have been for each other, i.e., heterosexual. It would have run contrary to God\u2019s purposes if Adam or Eve had homosexual desires. It was God\u2019s plan that Adam and Eve be the basis of a nuclear family (see Genesis 2:24) which includes reproduction (see Genesis 1:28). In Matthew 19:5-6; Mark 10:8; Jesus confirmed what was said in Genesis 2:24:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nMatthew 19:5\u20136 (ESV) – 5<\/sup> and said, \u2018Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh\u2019? 6<\/sup> So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\nMark 10:8 (ESV) – 8<\/sup> and the two shall become one flesh.\u2019 So they are no longer two but one flesh.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Please note that Genesis 2:24 is referenced in 1 Corinthians 6:16 and Ephesians 5:31:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n1 Corinthians 6:16 (ESV) – 16<\/sup> Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, \u201cThe two will become one flesh.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\nEphesians 5:31 (ESV) – 31<\/sup> \u201cTherefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
A same-sex \u201cfamily\u201d comprising a \u201chusband\u201d and \u201cwife\u201d of the same gender does not possess reproductive capability through homosexual sex. They are not a nuclear family in the biblical context of God creating Adam and Eve. The creation account does not support the GMMTW argument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throughout Scripture, homosexual practice is condemned with a plain and simple reading of the text. Old Testament passages include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nLeviticus 18:22 (ESV) – 22<\/sup> You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\nLeviticus 20:13 (ESV) – 13<\/sup> If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\nRomans 1:24, 26-27 (ESV) – 24<\/sup> Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, \u2026 26<\/sup> For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27<\/sup> and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\n1 Corinthians 6:9 (ESV) 9<\/sup> Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\n1 Timothy 1:9\u201310 (ESV) 9<\/sup> understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10<\/sup> the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Nothing in Scripture places homosexual practice in a favorable light. It runs counter to God\u2019s nature to argue that God created any person so he or she has homosexual desires. To the extent a person has homosexual desires, those desires are the result of sin entering into the world and being passed down to all of mankind. Dr. Gagno writes, \u201cChristians do believe that sin has entered into the world and mucked things up, including innate desires.\u201d Those innate desires are not <\/u><\/strong>attributable to God, but to sin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The argument that \u201cGod made me this way\u201d would elevate innate desires to do what God expressly forbids to be acceptable. In the sexual arena, as Robert Gagnon write in the above-referenced email, \u201cMost men have a polysexual orientation; that is, their sexual urges are not limited to one person lifetime. Should we conclude that therefore men are supposed to be this way and that we should not interfere with God\u2019s \u2018design?\u201d Of course Christians should not condone these innate urges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One should also consider whether God would make anyone in such a fashion so that he or she would be condemned to hell per 1 Corinthians 6:9? God would not do such a thing! Along this same line, would God ever \u201cmake\u201d someone such that they fall into the classifications of \u201cthe lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane,\u201d of 1 Timothy 1:9? God would not do such a thing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In conclusion, God did not make anyone in such a way that to engage in homosexual practice is acceptable in His eyes. This argument reflects the attitude of Israel as described in Judges 17:6 (ESV):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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