NOT Born That Way

TRANSCRIPT

Back in the 1990s, the Human Genome Project was in all the headlines. Scientists were at last able to unravel the DNA structure of us humans and look at every single microscopic truth of our existence. Much buzz surrounded the issue of the so-called "gay gene," that missing piece in the gay lobby's much-vaunted PR machine that would at last prove that homosexuality was hard-wired into some human beings — that they were, in short, "born that way."

The problem is no such gene was ever discovered, because no such gene exists, because no one actually is born that way.

The cultural belief that homosexuality is just an equal yet alternative sexuality is a lie. It is an alternative, but rather broken sexuality. There is only one sexuality; nature has ordained that. But there are various ways in which that single sexuality can be broken, twisted, misapplied and so forth. So-called homosexuality is just one of those ways.

In the case of all these manifestations of a broken, damaged, not properly ordered sexuality, something went wrong in the past. And quite often, what went wrong goes back to beyond the person's memory, things that happened or didn't happen at such a young age that the afflicted person truthfully has no conscious memory of anything. So to them, it does appear in their conscious minds that they were born that way because as far back as they can remember, this is how they were.  

But that's the very point: as far back as they can remember — the problem being they can't remember back far enough. They have no memory of any other self-perception.

How many of us have any substantive recall — in anything we would now consider substantive — of our lives before, say, five years old? Sure, we have some fleeting memory of various events here and there, but no real recall of life on a day-to-day basis like we do as adults. Those first few years are hugely important in the development of a child; they set the foundation, and as the saying goes, as the sapling is bent, so grows the tree.  

Somewhere, way back then, psychologists point to as a major period in our psychosexual formation — how we relate to Dad, Mom, etc. All kinds of things, messages, stimuli, etc. are being received into our tiny little minds and being processed, and that processing forms our self-understanding.

We are, of course, unaware of all this going on, just as we are consciously unaware that our bodies are undergoing massive changes preparing us for adolescence and adulthood. At one point we are "done" — meaning emerging into the world of daily consciousness, with memory and self-perception and all that which makes us able to function in day-to-day life. But what happened way back then, what processed in the quiet unseen world of our minds, is absolutely important and foundational and carries forward.

Does anyone really think or want to suggest that early childhood doesn't really count for very much? To discount all that and simply say, "I was born that way" is a massively ignorant and uninformed statement and conclusion. But it is helpful in creating an excuse to not deal with the pain of dismantling all that which was improperly formed. No one wants to do that. Of course we don't.

No one wants to admit that their entire self-perception around which they have built and fashioned their lives, thoughts, opinions, worldview, etc. has been a big lie. But that doesn't alter the objective fact that it is a lie. Conceiving of oneself in terms of being a homosexual isn't the only damage that can emerge from a pained childhood. Pain and its avoidance can manifest in all kinds of ways, not just this one. But this one is proving to be extremely injurious to individuals in and out of the Church, including among clergy as well as laity.

It would even be easy to make the argument that on the list of things afflicting the Church and blunting Her mission today, among the top three would be this issue of a broken sexuality, manifesting under a self-perception of homosexulity. And this doesn't necessarily even have to be being acted on. That's in the extreme.  

An ordained man of God who in the quiet of his own mind, whether he accepts it or not, detects in himself a strain of homosexuality can be injurious to souls. This is why the acceptance of accommodation of this or the lack of willingness to confront it among Church leaders is so dangerous to the faithful. The message is not being sufficiently preached that no one is created by God as a homosexual.  

The reasons it's not being preached are varied, of course, including fear of reprisal from the big gay hate machine, or the psychological inability among some to deal with the issue in themselves, or fear of losing money from a very poorly catechized laity — those reasons and probably others.

But whatever the reason, the sermons need to be preached that you are not born that way, but can be re-born this way, the way of the Catholic Church in Her sacraments and faithful adherence to Her sacred teachings.

God wills that all men come to the truth and be saved. There is a block to the truth when a person is living a lie and living that lie because they are afraid of resurfacing pain they are not responsible for. 

There is no pain in the world that Almighty God cannot pull you from. As He said, "Have courage, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).