Predisposition of Humanity Regarding Sin
(Part 2)
Allan McNabb

In the first article of this series, we began investigating genetic predisposition toward sinful behavior, in which people justify their sins.

In the case of homosexuality, some people assert that a person’s sexual orientation is a result of the way God made him, genetically.  Since God is responsible for the person’s sexual orientation (according to their theory), homosexual behavior cannot be sinful.

Summary of Part I
In the first article, we learned:

• Homosexuality is a sin.
• God is not a respecter of persons.  He does not make one man sin, and another man not sin.
• God is love.  He does not require us to do something that He’s made impossible, through genetic predisposition.
• God is just.  If God genetically predisposed certain men to sexual immorality, He can’t require abstinence from such conduct, because He is a just God.
• Sin results from lust, not genetic predisposition to sin.  We are not born with a sinful sexual orientation, or any other type of sinful orientation.  Rather, we adopt   sinful   orientations  after  we  lust after sinful things, and give into our sinful desires.
• God wants everyone to be saved; therefore, He doesn’t make us sin through genetic disposition.

Man is Predisposed to Seek God, Not to Sin
Scripture reveals that God predisposes mankind to seek and glorify Him.  He doesn’t genetically predispose man to sin.

Paul, preaching to the Athenians, tells us that God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation” (Act 17:26).

The reason that God made us from one man and predetermined our times and boundaries is so we “would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27).

God created the human race in such a fashion that we would naturally be predisposed to seek Him.  He does not genetically predispose us to sinful behaviors that would push us away from Him, rather than help us seek Him.

Creation of the Earth Predisposes us to Seek and Glorify God
First century Gnostics didn’t have a knowledge of genetics, but they believed in fate, a similar doctrine to genetic disposition toward sin.  They believed we are born with our fate sealed — it can’t be changed.  In defense of the gospel, Paul deals with the predisposition of humanity against the Gnostic doctrine of fate.

Paul, concerning man’s condition prior to the gospel of Christ, writes:

• All men know (gnosis) the wrath of God, although they may chose not to acknowledge Him (Rom. 1:19).
• Therefore, all men are without excuse (Rom. 1:20).
• Through creation, all men know (gnosis) God.  People who do not glorify God are given over to uncleanness — the lusts of their heart to dishonor their bodies, e.g. homosexuality (Rom. 1:21, 24-27).
• Gentiles who sinned did not retain God in their knowledge (epignosis).  They buried their knowledge of God (Rom. 1:28).

Men sin, knowing (epignosis) the righteous judgements of God — the penalty in this life is disease,  and  the  penalty  in  the  next life is damnation (Rom. 1:32).

In summary, Paul tells us that no one has an excuse for sin.  Each individual knows God, and is predisposed to glorify Him with thankfulness.  Clearly, no one is genetically predisposed toward sinful behaviors, which push us away from Him, rather than help us seek Him.

Become as Little Children, Genetic Predisposition is a False Theory
Jesus says, “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3).

The fact that we must be converted and become as we were at birth, clearly indicates that we are not genetically predisposed to sin.  If we were, Jesus’ teaching would be meaningless, nonsensical, and errant.

Become as Little Children By Putting On The New Man
As Christians, we are to put off the old man and put on the new man (Eph. 4:22-23).  This is the way we become as little children.

God commands us to “be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Eph. 4:23).  The key word concerning the predisposition of humanity is renew, which means to make new, renovate.

Of necessity, then, each individual is born with a moral spirit predisposed to seek and glorify God (Rom. 1:18ff).  If not, becoming as a little child would result in eternal damnation.

Men Walk in Sin Because of Their Hard Hearts, Not Genetic Predisposition
In Ephesians, Paul traces the qualities that result in a sinful life (Eph. 4:17-19):

• A person’s thinking is futile, because his understanding is darkened.
• His understanding is darkened, because he is excluded from the life of God (eternal life).
• He is excluded from the life of God, because of his ignorance.
• He is ignorant, because of the hardness of his heart.
• He is hard hearted, because he has given himself over to licentiousness to work all uncleanness with greed.

A person walks in sin because of the hardness of his heart, not because God genetically predisposed him to sin.

Conclusion
Scriptures teach us that God predisposes man to seek and glorify Him. He does not genetically predisposition us to sinful behaviors.

Our choice is to either believe God and His word, or believe the philosophies of men.

What has God done? He created a wonderful world whereby all men know Him and are hence predisposed to seek and glorify Him. Furthermore, He created an environment whereby we cannot be tempted beyond what we are able to bear (1 Cor. 10:13).

People who affirm that God genetically predisposes some people to sinful behavior and therefore to hell, paint a picture of a cruel, hateful, and unloving God who desires men to be lost. But our God is good, loving, kind, merciful, and gracious. He desires all men to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4); He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9).