Isaiah 42:21-22
The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake;
He will exalt the law and make it honorable.
22 But this is a people robbed and plundered;
All of them are snared in holes,
And they are hidden in prison houses;
They are for prey, and no one delivers;
For plunder, and no one says, “Restore!”
The following twelve concluding propositions are taken from the final chapter of the book “Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth” by Jeffrey Satinover, M.D.. There is a way out!
“As we have seen, the subject of homosexuality is enormously complex, touching on many aspects of human existence: biological, psychological and spiritual. Nonetheless, we can present our conclusions in the form of twelve propositions, These are:
1. The general condition “homosexuality” is a loosely defined aspect of the overall polymorphism of human sexuality.
2. Given the present state of human nature, sexual polymorphism is natural.
3. Each individual’s homosexuality is the likely result of a complex mixture of genetic, intrauterine, and extrauterine biological factors combined with familial and social factors as well as repeatedly reinforced choices. These create a particular blend of impulses. The role of genetic influence is small, and in any event means very little in terms of compelling an individual to become homosexual.
4. The godly standard of moral behavior is much more narrowly defined than the great variety and natural polymorphism of human sexuality. Sexuality in the state of nature is therefore commonly sinful. Sanctified, it is one of God’s greatest gifts.
5. Homosexual behavior is difficult to modify because, like other forms of compulsive behavior, it involves innate impulses and reinforced choices by which sinful activities become embedded in the brain (“engraved on the heart”).
6. Ethical demands require homosexuals, like all people, to resist their natural sinful impulses.
7. Homosexuality is not a true illness, though it may be thought an illness in the spiritual sense of “soul sickness,” innate to fallen human nature. Its treatment thus opens directly into the domain of the “cure of souls.”
8. Because deeply engraved behaviors are so difficult to modify, homosexuals, like all people, have two choices: to capitulate to the behavior and its consequences or to depend on others, and on God, for help.
9. Secular programs that modify homosexual behavior are more numerous and more effective than popular opinion is led to believe.
10. Spiritual programs that lead people into dependency on God, and support them there, are even more effective. The best of these integrate into their spiritual approach the best that is offered by the secular approaches as well.
11. A pastoral understanding of the “cure” of the soul, which unfolds progressively, over a lifetime, is more than alleviation of particular symptoms; it consists of growing ever more closely toward the divinely ordained configuration that God intended for us from the beginning – and which is largely “unnatural,” not only in the area of sexuality. This process is without question a reality; it is a reality that occurs in secular settings as well as religious ones. It is a reality no less pertinent – and lifegiving – to every person, whatever his particular brokenness, than to struggling with homosexuality.
12. The modern change in opinion concerning homosexuality, though presented as scientific advance, is contradicted rather than supported by science. It is a transformation in public morals consistent with widespread abandonment of the Judeo-Christian ethic upon which our civilization is based. Though hailed as “progress,” it is really a reversion to ancient pagan practices supported by a modern restatement of gnostic moral relativism.”
(Satinover, M.D., Jeffrey, Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth, pp 245-246 Chpt. 16 “The Pagan Revolution”, Baker Books, 1996)
Recommended Resources
Jeffrey Satinover, Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth, Baker, 1996
Andrew Comiskey, Pursuing Sexual Wholeness
Leanne Payne, The Broken Image
http://www.amazon.com/The-Broken-Image-Restoring-Wholeness/dp/080105334X