Is "born that way" an excuse?

Question

A married heterosexual cannot use that excuse to justify adultery. Folks are born with a lot of immoral desires--conjures up the concept of "original sin", doesn't it?

Answer 1

Being who I am is not a sin.... and no, it's not an excuse.... were you born heterosexual? Or is that just an excuse?

Answer 2

Yeah, I think "born that way" is a valid excuse in this case (though maybe not for some other things). I mean if you want to say that adultery and original sin are immoral desires, then this might be an interesting point to note:

A lot of "immoral desires" can be put off or ignored without doing much more than leaving the person with a bit of unsatiated curiosity. In the long run, it might be beneficial for that person to not cheat on his partner or whatever the "immoral act" was going to be - if he takes no action there, he might in turn keep a happy relationship with his wife (or divorce her and end the deception that that couple has a happy relationship so that both of them have the opportunity to pursue more meaningful relationships), then the two of them can go merrily along with their lives, possibly producing offspring who will take care of them once they start to get old.

In the case of homosexuality though, if gay person ignores their need to be with a member of their own sex, they are forsaking true happiness for the rest of their lives. The most that can come of that is that they end up in a heterosexual relationship they don't want to be in, surrounded by other happy heterosexual couples that make them feel miserable about their feelings toward their own relationship. There's a high likelihood of divorce from the misery. Even if that person chooses to go single for the rest of their lives (and never act on a homosexual desire), they would suffer from the lack of companionship. Any offspring from either a divorce or a single adoptive parent would be put under the additional stress of having a single parent (seeing less of a parent, because one parent would have to do the work of two parents to support the offspring or the offspring would be passed between two homes).

But there's a lot of good produced in acting on the desire to have a homosexual partnership that isn't present in other immoral desires I can think of. Aside from the ridicule, which I believe we should all work to get past, homosexual partnerships are hardly at all different from heterosexual partnerings. Two people can offer each other companionship, have a successful relationship, support and share the responsibility of child-rearing, then enjoy life as senior citizens together. What's wrong with that?

Answer 3

Only in the sense that original sin is conceived of by most literalists as being related to sex.

Regardless, your allegory is not a genuine allegory, which makes your entire argument false on the face.The correct allegory would be a married heterosexual saying "I was born heterosexual," not "I was born needing to commit adultery." Oddly, that would be a true statement, the heterosexual was born heterosexual.

As for original sin -- original sin was an attempt by a primitive bronze age culture to figure out why people did bad things to the community (remember, when dealing with the old testament, the only people considered members of the community were Jews -- and specifically Jewish males -- women and children and slaves were property, and foreigners -- well, consider the word -- and that's what they were referred to as... It speaks for itself.) In any event, not having the knowledge of the human psyche to recognize, for example -- id, ego, superego and their struggle, and not understanding imprinting or personality development or insanity -- the priests came up with a reasonable (according to what they knew) explanation of why people died, why they harmed each other, and why some of them acted inhuman and inhumane (insanity became demons). Much was taken from preexisting myths (Sumerian and Egyptian primarily) and changed to match a monotheistic, rather than polytheistic theological view. Other parts were developed from whole cloth by the Jewish priests.

Years after this evolution of faith, the oral traditions were taken, and an attempt was made to write them, from this we got the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament). From the arguments and writings of the rabbis, and from their use of midrash -- we got the haf-torahs (the rest of the Old Testament in Christian terms). Later on, those were made part of the canonical "received texts" after the Council of Carthage -- so late 300s.

It's all very fascinating -- and not a bad job -- we've dissected similar myth making in other cultures -- where the myth making had less direct effect on us; but it has little to do with faith and nothing at all to do with who is born how I'm afraid. Original sin, while a clever construct to explain why people would hurt the community, and why labor hurt women and so forth -- was really just a creation myth that, while convenient -- is as I said, just a myth.

Sorry.

Regards,

Reynolds Jones
http://www.rebuff.org
[e-mail]

Answer 4

No, it's not an excuse. Frankly, I see it as a red herring. Whether it's biological (genetics aren't the only biological influence on people) or environmental (if it WERE completely environmental, that still doesn't mean it's a choice) is completely irrelevant. I can say that from my personal experience, the behavior is a choice. Just like straight people have the choice to not date and remain single. But the orientation is not, and I am incapable of changing it. And, that's ok, because there's no reason to change it; even if it were a choice.
What IS important is that I am honest and faithful to my partner when I have one, and that I'm not hurting anyone. The latter part makes it none of your business who I'm with. The former part means I'm as capable of having a healthy relationship as any straight man. Fact is, there's no non-religious argument that would hold up to deny equal rights to GLBT individuals or couples.

Answer 5

Well, no a married heterosexual can;t use that as an excuse for adultery, They can however give that as a reason they are getting dovorced. Cheating's never good. But if they are gay, and maried the opposite sex as a cover, hopefully they can come to terms with who they are and leave their spouse respectfully rather than being unfaithful.

Answer 6

I do not need an excuse for having a built in desire to love and be loved by a person of the same gender.

Adultery is wrong because people vow to NOT partake in that behavior, then do.

The cause of homosexuality is irrelevant. It doesn't matter. If mom was overprotective and dad didn't pay enough attention... or some trauma overrides heterosexual tendencies... or two sets of DNA merge in just the right way to make us gay... or if some hormonal fluctuation at just the right time to make us this way... none of it matters. We don't need any more excuse for being homosexual than you need for being heterosexual.

IF YOU BELIEVE HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVIOR IS WRONG... DON'T ENGAGE IN HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVIOR.

Leave the rest of us alone.

Answer 7

Not really. I don't know if it is or is not an "excuse", however it is the only framework I know of that explains my experiances. I've always been me, as long as I've been alive, and when I got older, it became glaringly apparent that bisexual was the word for people like me. Thats really it. That is the grand great story of how I became gay. I have no idea if I was really born that way, but since I never learned it and I never choose it, that seems like the best description as any.

And for those of us who are not Christian, original sin is moot. If you want to believe that your invistable sky friend made us all crappy to begin with, thats your business man.

Answer 8

My ex-husband is very gay, but for years he tried to make everyone, including himself, think that he was heterosexual. Our marriage started to get a little rocky, and he had an affair. It was with a man. I never thought that his affair was an excuse to justify adultery. No excuse, in my opinion, can justify adultery.

Answer 9

Yes, just like being born Heterosexual is a lie, we all know they are born gay and "turn" through the molestation of women.

Um, Yeah, I saw a baby licking a womans breast the other day, talk about SICK! That woman and baby should be arrested for IMMORAL DESIRES, you IDIOT! Born with immoral desires....jfc...when has a baby fornicated?????

Answer 10

Its not an immoral desire, its who we are. Its like saying a blind person can't use the excuse "I was born that way" and should have to go without visual aid, because they don't have a legitimate excuse.