Science and the challenge of homosexuality

Some years ago at ChristianWeek, where I was editor, we gave a lot of attention to the United Church of Canada as it embraced practicing gays and lesbians, and opened to them all orders of ministry. High on the list of reasons given by church leaders was the argument that if this was how people were born, it should be accepted as good (God-blessed) and right. Science, they said, was leading the way to new perspectives on homosexuality.

This is the argument Wheaton College provost and professor of psychology Stanton L. Jones and Regent University professor of psychology Mark A.Yarhouse tackle in their important book, Homosexuality: The Use of Scientific Research in the Church’s Moral Debate (InterVarsity Press, 2000).

Homosexual practice has gained wide acceptance within our culture, as has the assumption that science has taught us gay, lesbian, or bisexual behaviours are simply other “human variants,” no better or worse than heterosexual behaviour. Many in the church have come to believe this too. But we must think carefully about what our culture is doing to us as we face a situation very different than the one we faced even a decade ago.

Two of the most common responses, say Jones and Yarhouse, are to argue that the Bible is simply wrong or too vague to help us and that we must find our direction from “contemporary understandings.” If we are to find a direction in the Bible we should base it on its “general themes of love and justice.”

Traditionally, the church has held to a view of sexuality that says, in the authors’ words, “God created us as embodied, physical beings, male and female. . . . God created these aspects of our humanity intentionally and called them ‘very good.’ Two of the most important purposes of sexual intercourse are . . . procreation and union where the two become one flesh. Other purposes . . . include pleasure and the satisfaction of . . . normal human desire.”

Put in its simplest terms, a biblical sexual ethic would say that God requires faithfulness within marriage and chastity outside of marriage. The New Testament even goes further to challenge lust. It’s a rigorous standard, but one most Christians would recognize as firmly rooted in the Scriptures.

What if?

But what if science shows us that some people are indeed born gay – that “homosexual” really defines who they claim to be? Or, is someone gay by choice or upbringing?

Jones and Yarhouse carefully review a wide range of studies and arguments pertaining to questions such as these. Their intention is to heighten awareness that “the actual findings on homosexuality are more complex and puzzling than is usually acknowledged” and to thereby “discourage . . . selective or simplistic reporting of such findings.” They also offer “a re-articulation of the traditional Christian ethic” and “an example of how findings from science – accurately understood – can inform our moral reasoning.”

At the outset they helpfully discuss the prevalence of homosexuality, making it clear there is no evidence for the 10 percent or greater prevalence often claimed, which originated with Alfred Kinsey. It is much nearer to 2 percent for males and .9 percent for females.

They also review the nature–nurture debate: what turns someone to a gay or lesbian life? Is there a “gay gene” or does the role of an emotionally distant parent, childhood abuse, early homosexual experiences, or culture figure more importantly? Their analysis demonstrates how complex these factors may be. In the end, the authors incline to what they term “a weighted interactionist hypothesis,” that is, a range of factors interacting.

But they will not adopt the position taken by John McNeill in his chapter in a book promoting dialogue within the church (Homosexuality in the Church, Jeffrey Siker, ed.), when he writes, “Only a sadistic God would create hundreds of thousands of humans to be inherently homosexual and then deny them the right to sexual intimacy.”

Predisposition towards certain behaviours does not release us from responsibility to act as the Bible teaches will honour God, say Jones and Yarhouse. Indeed, they argue that the notion of sexual intimacy “as a right” is foreign to the Bible. “Scriptures would seem to paint sexual chastity as an obligation for those who, for whatever reason, do not find themselves married. . . . Homosexual persons have the same capacities for all other sorts of intimacy other than erotic sexual intimacy that serve to sustain and nourish us.”

Change

The question of change is one of the most difficult issues with which the authors wrestle. Some writers say homosexuality is unchangeable, comparing it to eye colour or race. But even one case to the contrary would prove such a claim to be false. In fact, some do change. Jones and Yarhouse refer to 14 studies of treatment programs for homosexuals in which positive outcomes ranged from 23 to 82 percent.

On the other hand, Christians who make sweeping claims of change also raise problems. And, ask the authors, “if a person leaves the ‘gay lifestyle’ and becomes a well-adjusted celibate single person,” can they not also claim to be “healed”? They review several of the major Christian groups who support persons wanting change and healing in their sexual struggle. And, although major associations of psychiatrists and psychologists are on record as discouraging reorientation therapies, the book reports on a survey of 1,200 psychoanalysts who identified 200 homosexual persons who “experienced change of sexual orientation.”

While Jones and Yarhouse are cautious about claims of change in orientation, they strongly insist “it is consistent with the character of God as revealed in the Christian Scriptures to understand that his desire for us is costly discipleship that frees us from being driven by our longings for happiness and personal gratification of our ‘sexual’ needs.”

They end by proposing a biblically rooted understanding of human sexuality that takes into account creation, our sinful condition, and the possibility of redemption in Christ – an understanding which will act out of a rich ethical framework that loves and obeys Jesus and has the elevation and preservation of marriage at its heart.

Christians who take seriously the authority of the Scriptures to direct all of life will find Jones and Yarhouse very helpful and challenging. Mark Yarhouse has also written, in collaboration with Lori Burkett, a handbook to assist those “experiencing dissatisfaction with their sexual identities,” entitled Sexual Identity, A Guide to Living in the Time Between the Times (University Press of America, 2003).

Harold Jantz chairs the advisory committee for New Direction for Life Ministries of Winnipeg, a ministry directed to persons struggling with same-sex issues, and also serves on the national board of New Directions for Life.