Cheryl Schatz

In Jesse Morrell’s article here are some of the areas that he has gotten wrong. Under II. Why homosexuals say that they are born that way:

A. If the fault is their nature, and not their choice, they cannot be blamed.

This is faulty reasoning. The fact is that the Bible teaches that sin is our choice and we are not blameless because we have a nature that craves sin. Even the unregenerate showed that they had a choice to sin or not to sin and the “fleshly lusts” of our old man is no excuse for sin.

B. If the fault is their will, and not their nature, they are to be blamed.

Here is a false dichotomy. Just because the ultimate fault is their free will and not their nature, does not disprove that they do not have a “fleshly man” that lusts after sin.

(1.) You are not responsible or accountable for the condition of your nature at birth.

While we are not responsible for the “fleshly man’s nature” that we have inherited, there is nothing in the Bible that indicates that this nature forces us to sin. We are ultimately still accountable for our free-will choice even if our nature tempts us to sin. Morrell’s listing of excuses for not being accountable for sin in no way refutes the biblical teaching of the “old man” nature.

(2.) Men do not deserve hell for the flesh, blood, bones, skin they involuntarily and unavoidably inherit.

This is a straw man argument because men do not receive hell for flesh, blood, bones, skin that they inherit. Men receive hell for their free will choice to reject God and their practice of sin.

(4.) Since God punishes sinners, including homosexuals, this proves that it is their own fault that they
are sinners. And if it is their own fault, it must be their own free choice.

This is true, but it doesn’t disprove the “natural fleshly man” that we all have at birth. The fact is that we all have “natural lusts” but we have the will to chose to turn away from the lusts.

2. They logically know that if they were created that way, it is God’s fault.

This is no more logical than Adam’s blaming God and Eve for his sin. Neither God nor Eve made Adam sin and neither can be blamed for his sin.

Charles Finney said, “To represent the constitution as sinful, is to present God, who is the author of the constitution, as the author of sin.”

I know that many say that Charles Finney was a heretic. I know almost nothing about Charles Finney but I do know that the statement above is not true. God is not the author of the nature of Adam after the fall that became the nature of the “old man”. This nature is connected to the nature of the devil, not to the nature of the original creation.

3 A. If a person is born a sinner, instead of being a sinner by choice, they cannot be responsible to stop being a
sinner or be accountable for their failure to do so. Moral obligation and moral accountability is limited
by natural justice to moral ability.

This is a false representation of the doctrine of the “old man”. People are not “born a sinner”. People are born with the nature of the “old man” and from there they make choices of their own to sin. Moral accountability is not from the “natural man” who is the “old man” nature because if so then babies would be condemned to hell. Rather moral accountability is at the point where a person comes to a knowledge of their sin and makes a conscious choice to walk away from their conscience.

5. They intuitively know that punishment is limited to voluntary disobedience

This is true. Punishment is indeed limited to voluntary disobedience, however this does not disprove the Biblical doctrine of the nature of “old man”.

Under III. Homosexuality is not in accordance with human nature. – What Morrell does here is say that homosexuality is against “nature” and therefore is not “natural”. Again this is a false dichotomy since the “nature” that is spoken of in Romans 1:26 is the natural creation of our bodies. Homosexuality is certainly against “nature” but it is not in opposition to the nature of the “old man” who craves and lusts after sin. Morrell has again failed to disprove the nature of the “old man” which is our fleshly lusts that must be renewed by God to the “new man” with the new nature that seeks after God

1. A. Our metaphysical nature is fallen (physical depravity) but not sinful (moral depravity)..

Again this presents a misunderstanding of the doctrine of our common creation as the “old man”. We are not born as sinners but born with the cravings of the “old man”. God did not create this “old man” in us as this is our inheritance back to Adam, but if we turn to God in faith and in repentance He will create in us the “new man” which is absolutely from God.

More to come….