Choose Wisely
A friend and I recently had a short discussion about whether a person is “born that way” or whether it is a choice that leads a person down a certain path. The person I was having the discussion with is gay. I have friends from different states, different countries, different religions, different views on politics, and different points of view on various things. I understand his worldly view on many things and I try to share why I believe it is a choice and not what is innate in every person’s DNA.
If it is an innate property found in our DNA why some people, even twins, turn out to be completely different creatures. One twin may be an evil homicidal maniac and the other a loving parent of children and law-abiding citizen. Is it in their DNA or is it because of the path they chose to walk? How can a loving parent one moment, quickly reverse their path and kill their children and spouse? How can the DNA driven act to kill be hidden for so long, then suddenly erupt?
How can the conversion of a person mired in the habit of alcohol or drugs occur? It has to be their choice to change their lives. They may still have the desires, but choose to make the changes necessary to be something better with their lives.
That is what missionaries and clergy of today should be presenting. The power of Jesus Christ has the power to change a person from a worldly path of destruction to a desire to follow the precepts of the Bible. The blood that Jesus shed on the cross at Calvary has the strength and ability to change the heart’s desire from the lowest, most base, most passionate desires to make the “leper clean.” It can remove the sickest desires and replace it with a yearning and craving. God’s loves the person who has sinned and yet hate the sin that they were once involved in. The transformation sometimes isn’t as dramatic as flipping a switch. It may take time to evolve, but the desire to choose sin will lessen and the desire to follow God’s Word will increase.
I feel that when a person says “I was born that way” shifts the person’s choice to sin and throws it back onto a loving God “who made them that way” and away from them making sinful choices. Choose wisely, one day we will be judged and we won’t be able to defend our choice not to seek salvation now.