Homosexuality: Legally Permissible or Spiritually Misguided?1

Lockard, HomosexualityHowever, Valenstein (1998:126-128) argues that experiences or behaviourscan indeed modify the brain:A person’s mental state and experience can alter the brain. . . .Various experiences can cause structural and functioningchanges in the brain. . . . Genes are responsible for establishingscaffolding of the brain, but a large amount of neuronal growththat leads to the establishment of connections has been shownto be influenced by experience.Thus, we learn that it is through the biological model for homosexuality thatthe issue causes intense debate and concern for Christians. If one espousesthis model, one is in agreement that homosexuality is an illness for which theperson is helpless to control. Thus, society and the church must fully accepthomosexuals into complete fellowship.Environmental theorists, such as Matheson (2007), posit that socialexperiences such as an unhealthy parent-child interaction and or sexual abusecontribute to same sex behaviour and, therefore, the behaviour is primarilylearned.Abbott (1995), however, brings another compelling component into the debatewhen he proposes that an interactional model for homosexuality, whichaddresses biological, environmental and psychological issues, fails to considerthe aspect of freedom of choice in shaping sexual orientation and behaviour.As in all human behaviour, there is the element of personal choice which is astrong component in shaping behaviour. Following is a careful analysis of thefree agency aspect of persons when discussing contributory causal factors ofhomosexuality.3.2. Free moral agency of human beingsIt is imperative to assess the individual’s own active participation (choice) insexual preference, that is, a person’s freedom to choose a homosexuallifestyle. Diamond (1998) addresses this salient issue when he contends thatwhile biology may bias a person’s sexual orientation, individual behaviour isflexible when responding to environmental influences, and therefore free145