Born This Way?

Homosexuality, Science, and the Scriptures

J. Alan Branch

Born This Way? Homosexuality, Science, and the Scriptures

© 2016 by J. Alan Branch

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

LexhamPress.com

First edition by Weaver Book Company.

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from the New American Standard Bible®. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

www.Lockman.org.

Print ISBN 9781683591863

Digital ISBN 9781683591870

Cover: Frank Gutbrod

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. Sigmund Freud and Homosexuality

2. Alfred Kinsey and Homosexuality

3. The American Psychiatric Association and Homosexuality

4. Brain Plasticity and Homosexuality

5. Homosexuality and Prenatal Hormones

6. Heterosexual and Homosexual Brain Differences

7. Homosexuality and Twin Studies

8. Homosexuality and DNA Research

9. Homosexuality and Other Factors

10. “I Can’t Change, Even If I Wanted To”

11. Born-This-Way Arguments and Christian Ethics

Bibliography

General Index

Scripture Index

Acknowledgements

This work could not have been completed without the many words of insight, correction, and encouragement from many colleagues. I would like to thank Chris Cornine, Larry Cornine, Barrett Duke, Andy Holder, Jan Hudzicki, Thor Madsen, Robert Matz, Harry Michael, Alan Tomlinson, and Rustin Umstadtt for their patient help and willingness to answer my many questions. I am especially grateful to Steve Thompson for his invaluable help in editing and friendly encouragement. I am also very thankful for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s wonderful reference librarian Mrs. Judy Howie, who patiently helped me acquire an untold number of articles not normally held in a seminary library. The final conclusions are my own, and none of these friends and colleagues should be criticized for weaknesses or flaws in the presentation.

J. Alan Branch (John 10:10)

Kansas City, Missouri

October 27, 2015

Introduction

In 2011, pop music sensation Lady Gaga (Stefani Angelina Germanotta) released the song “Born This Way,” a tune that has become the anthem for the homosexual community. The song’s lyrics articulate a crude sort of biological-genetic justification for various forms of behavior, and in many ways reflects the shared values and practices of a society infatuated with a sexually libertine ethic. Lady Gaga asserts, “No matter gay, straight or bi/Lesbian, transgendered life/I’m on the right track, baby I was born to survive.” She then parallels sexual practices to ethnicity, celebrating people who are “black, white, or beige, Chola or orient made.” Her moral reflection reaches a crescendo when she says everyone is beautiful because “God makes no mistakes” ...