It's the homosexual and progressive mantra that causes many Christians to cringe, tense up, and implode with indignation and frustration. How dare they say that God created them that way! We know from Scripture that homosexuality is an affront to God's created design for sexuality between a man and a woman. Paul clearly relates that homosexual, "Women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men" (Rom. 1:26-27). How dare they claim that their lifestyle and sin is a natural out-flowing of the way God made them! But wait...
Yes, the meaning behind this mantra may be that there is nothing wrong or sinful about being homosexual because it's ingrained in them from birth. With that said, Christians should not be so hasty to combat this slogan as completely in error and devoid of any truth whatsoever. In fact, there is a diamond in the rough contained within those three words that are true not only for homosexuals but for all mankind. I'll even go so far as to say that homosexuals are exactly right in saying I was born this way, but they couldn't be more wrong by excusing their sinfulness with this universal truth.
No human being has ever been born as God created them to be. God created men and women as perfectly obedient beings in a perfectly sinless world. However, under the federal headship of Adam, all of mankind was cursed by his sinful disobedience to the Word of God. Instead of being born in righteousness, all mankind was born under sin. As David expresses it, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 51:5). Rather than being born as the image-bearing creatures God designed us to, since the Fall, men and women have been born as the fallen, imperfect image-bearing creatures that God did not design us to be.
We are essentially unlike God's design when we are born. We still bear the image of God, but we resent that image, we wish to be free from it, we wish to worship the creature rather than the creator, and from our first breath we begin the process of dying due to our sinful curse in the first Adam while cursing God with every breath He gives us. Born this way is not to say created this way. We are born as sinful men and women in need of a Savior. We are born into corruption, a fallen world, and are filled with a hardened heart of stone that holds nothing but enmity towards God and our neighbor. We are born this way, but we were not created this way. God created us to love Him, demonstrate that love by glorifying Him, obeying Him, enjoying Him completely, relying upon His grace for all good things, and sharing all of that with our neighbors that bear His image. Instead, we are born in sin, corruption, suffering, love of self, hate of others, divisiveness, rebellion, and contempt for God and His creatures. We were created as children of God, but because of Adam's sin, we are being born as children of Satan; sons of perdition.
I was born this way.
What would Jesus say to Lady Gaga and how would He have reacted to homosexuals and others who tried to excuse their sinful lifestyle by proclaiming that they cannot change who they are because they were born that way?
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)
Thirteen verses later, you have the most often memorized and quoted verse of Scripture, but perhaps it is time to branch out from John 3:16 when evangelizing to the lost. Perhaps it is time to use the whole counsel of God for evangelism. A good place for all of us to start is by reading and studying the rest of John 3, especially as it pertains to a modern culture that would excuse its sinfulness due to the way they were born. In John 3, Jesus tells us that:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8 ESV)
Indeed, we are born this way. But that is nothing to pride ourselves with, and it most certainly will not reward us a stamp of approval by God. God created us much differently than the men and women we are born as. Born this way is not an excuse, but rather, it should serve as a steadfast reminder that unless we are born again, born of the Spirit, we are still lost in our sins and trespasses, guilty and unholy before our holy God, and deserve eternal damnation for our corruption of what God created as pure and undefiled. Except for the amazing grace of God, all men and women would die just as they were born: in darkness, hating the truth, hating each other, and loving the creature more than the creator.
Therefore, the next time you hear someone excuse their sinfulness with I was born this way, do not shrivel up in anger towards them for affronting God. No, they speak the truth more than we want to admit. We truly are born as sons of perdition, but:
“God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." (John 3:16-18 ESV)
And lest any of us resting in Christ should look down our noses upon our neighbors yet lost in sin, yet excusing themselves and pointing at God as the author of their sin, let us not forget Paul and Peter's words in the Holy Scriptures:
"And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV)
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV)
"Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for
'All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord remains forever.'
And this word is the good news that was preached to you." (1 Peter 1:22-25 ESV)
"How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."(Romans 10:14-17 ESV)
Born this way is a slogan that can be used by the Lord to reveal what Scripture has to say about the way in which we are born and the way in which Christ came to save all men who are born into sin. We are Born this way but Christ came, bore our sins and transgressions upon the cross, died our deaths, and raises us up with Him in His resurrection. We can truly, truly be Reborn this way. So, perhaps the next time you hear someone excuse their sinfulness by saying I was born this way, maybe instead of cringing you'll run over and say, "That's exactly right! We are born into sin, and let me tell you what Scripture says about our rebirth into the Spirit of God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ!"
What would Jesus say to Lady Gaga and how would He have reacted to homosexuals and others who tried to excuse their sinful lifestyle by proclaiming that they cannot change who they are because they were born that way?
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)
Thirteen verses later, you have the most often memorized and quoted verse of Scripture, but perhaps it is time to branch out from John 3:16 when evangelizing to the lost. Perhaps it is time to use the whole counsel of God for evangelism. A good place for all of us to start is by reading and studying the rest of John 3, especially as it pertains to a modern culture that would excuse its sinfulness due to the way they were born. In John 3, Jesus tells us that:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8 ESV)
Indeed, we are born this way. But that is nothing to pride ourselves with, and it most certainly will not reward us a stamp of approval by God. God created us much differently than the men and women we are born as. Born this way is not an excuse, but rather, it should serve as a steadfast reminder that unless we are born again, born of the Spirit, we are still lost in our sins and trespasses, guilty and unholy before our holy God, and deserve eternal damnation for our corruption of what God created as pure and undefiled. Except for the amazing grace of God, all men and women would die just as they were born: in darkness, hating the truth, hating each other, and loving the creature more than the creator.
Therefore, the next time you hear someone excuse their sinfulness with I was born this way, do not shrivel up in anger towards them for affronting God. No, they speak the truth more than we want to admit. We truly are born as sons of perdition, but:
“God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." (John 3:16-18 ESV)
And lest any of us resting in Christ should look down our noses upon our neighbors yet lost in sin, yet excusing themselves and pointing at God as the author of their sin, let us not forget Paul and Peter's words in the Holy Scriptures:
"And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV)
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV)
"Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for
'All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord remains forever.'
And this word is the good news that was preached to you." (1 Peter 1:22-25 ESV)
"How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."(Romans 10:14-17 ESV)
Born this way is a slogan that can be used by the Lord to reveal what Scripture has to say about the way in which we are born and the way in which Christ came to save all men who are born into sin. We are Born this way but Christ came, bore our sins and transgressions upon the cross, died our deaths, and raises us up with Him in His resurrection. We can truly, truly be Reborn this way. So, perhaps the next time you hear someone excuse their sinfulness by saying I was born this way, maybe instead of cringing you'll run over and say, "That's exactly right! We are born into sin, and let me tell you what Scripture says about our rebirth into the Spirit of God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ!"
