Are homosexuals born that way? The March 15 Watchtower seems to say so. (page 5)

krejames

Don't get me started on that Your Youth book chapter. If there's one thing I don't think I could ever forgive the WTS for it's that book. I think I was about 8 when I went through that chapter with my Mum. that chapter explicitly stated that homosexuals aren't born that way (consider that a WT two-fingered salute, Gaga) but that they learn the behaviour. I spent the next 20 years feeling nothing but guilt and shame over how evil I was and waiting to grow out what must surely be a phase...

matt2414

People born now are 6,000 years away from Adamic "perfection". Therefore we have people with a predisposition towards homosexuality and those who are susceptible to alcoholism.

This teaching of the Watchtower is nothing but a steaming pile of hooey. It is so flawed, I don't even know where to begin.

If God is perfect, and his creation of man and all life was "very good," how did homosexuality and all the other so called flaws enter the human race so quickly? Humans have made things that have lasted centuries, if not thousands of years, (think of the pyramids of Egypt) without any radical changes and flaws. So why did human life degrade so quickly, in just a few generations? Adam may have sinned but there's no evidence he tampered with human genetics. Even if God did remove his holy spirit from Adam, things shouldn't just fall apart, especially so quickly.
The idea that we have become more damaged or we've changed because we are 6,000 years away from Adam's perfection is really an admission that we have evolved! Humans have evolved to the point that we now have same-sex relationships that can be happy and wholesome, while not adding unnecesarily to out-of-control population growth. Isn't the Governing Body's argument about being 6,000 years away from Adam really admitting that evolution does exist?
Comparing homosexuality to alcoholism is also flawed. There is no scriptural basis for believing that God created in humans a desire for alcohol or alcohol dependency. However, the Bible does indicate that the human desire for love, companionship and even sex are God-given. Why would he give homosexuals these strong, innate desires and then expect them not to fulfill them, especially when 95%+ of the humans around them ARE satisfying them? What kind of loving God would do something so hateful?

The Witnesses like to boast that they survived the atrocities of Hitler. They often forget to mention that homosexuals were also in Hitler's concentration camps, alongside the Jews. During World War II, the Nazi Party tried to purge homosexuals and homosexuality from Germany. As we now know, he failed. So why do the Witnesses continue with Hitler's crusade by trying eradicate homosexuals from their organization? Would a loving God, especially one who is concerned about his name, even want to be associated with such an organization?

By their myriad reprehensible actions, the Governing Body and those who goose step with them demonstrate that they are deserving of Hitler's fate. Perhaps one day, they will merely be a footnote in history.

Fed-up

Matt2414:

Even better to me are these comparisons:

"A youth who desires to please God must therefore conform to His moral standards and shun immoral behavior, though doing so may be agonizingly difficult. True, some individuals may very well be prone to homosexuality, just as some individuals are, according to the Bible, “prone to wrath.” (Titus 1:7) But the Bible still condemns displays of unrighteous anger. (Ephesians 4:31) Similarly, a Christian cannot excuse immoral behavior by saying he was ‘born that way.’ Child molesters invoke the same pathetic excuse when they say their craving for children is “innate.” But can anyone deny that their sexual appetite is perverted? So is the desire for someone of the same sex." Awake 95, 2/8 page 17

"Prone to Wrath" like one may be "prone" to homosexuality, yet conceds some anger is unrighteous, implying other anger is righteous? Does the same apply to homosexuality? And the ICING ON THE CAKE...Saying you're "born that way" is called a pathetic excuse and compares it to child molesters. And the desire for the same sex is "perverted". So there.

Wrath and child molestation...? That's the best you can do? Is it any wonder JW's are completely confused about this issue?

Bella15

Sorry guys, I meant that's the Watchtower way ...

Fed-up

@Splash: Thanks, I'd forgotten this one..." In fact, masturbation can lead into homosexuality. In such instances the person, not satisfied with his lonely sexual activity, seeks a partner for mutual sex play."

Who talks like that? MUTUAL SEX PLAY? The Youth Book. Perhaps the only book that really needs to be banned. Then burned.

Tiktaalik

Ok, thanks for the clarification Bella.

Open mind

First off, lest I be misunderstood like Bella15 was earlier, I'm as gay-friendly as you can get without actually being gay.

*Donning my WT-apologist hat, since they don't seem to last very long around here*

matt2414: "If God is perfect, and his creation of man and all life was "very good," how did homosexuality and all the other so called flaws enter the human race so quickly?"

Because God actively took away Adam & Eve's ability to live forever. He also supposedly "cursed the ground" for good measure, only lifting that curse after the global flood. So, it's not a design flaw, it's a curse of imperfection which was imposed on humans after the original sin.

matt2414: "The idea that we have become more damaged or we've changed because we are 6,000 years away from Adam's perfection is really an admission that we have evolved!"

Humans changed from perfect to imperfect with one Divine fell swoop in the Garden of Eden. The only "Biblical evidence" (pardon me while I hurl

matt2414: "There is no scriptural basis for believing that God created in humans a desire for alcohol or alcohol dependency."

God made booze and sex for humans to enjoy, per the Bible.

"Let her breasts intoxicate you."

"Wine that makes the heart of mortal man rejoice."

Homosexuals and alcoholics, at least in part due to their inherited imperfection, take those basic God-given desires and twist them so that they are no longer acceptable to God.

*Removing WT apologist hat*

om

steve2

The most compelling "proof" that homosexuality is not "caused"by environmental factors is the fact that heterosexuals remain the predominant producers of homosexuals (i.e., most homosexuals were born to a father and a mother who are heterosexual).

If the environment were that damn critical, I should have "picked"up heterosexuality, and definitely not any other orientation from my strictly JW Mom and Dad and their JW parents before them.

Yet, like so many others before me and since, I "knew" even as a preschooler that I was interested in my male peers. I did not have a name for it, nor did I ponder or reflect on what the presence of my orientation "meant". However, sensitive cookie that I was, I knew very, very early that I did not fit it and would most likely face severe shaming and disapproval or "concern" if others - including my parents - ever found out.

Emery

I am perplexed as to how they actually track down and grab someone to get such quotes? We should all know by now that these quotes are fake and scripted to fit their anti-gay agenda.

mP

There are hundreds of animal species w/ homosexual members. Humans are animals as well, everybody is different. Stop taking advice from ancient idiots (aka the bible authors) who believed their race the jews were better than everybody else, and they also ebleived that demons caused illness and so on.

Are homosexuals born that way? The March 15 Watchtower seems to say so.

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