God’s Original Design for Man-Part 2
By Wil Chausser
As seen earlier in Gen. 1:27, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” There is something to this that we often miss. Both the man and the woman were created in God’s image, not just the man! In God we find all that characterizes masculinity: courage, strength, power, readiness to defend and protect, etc. But in Him we also find all things feminine: gentleness, mercy, compassion, patience, understanding, care, etc. If the Bible reveals the Lord as the Lion of Judah and the Rock of Ages, it also reveals Him as the Comforter and the Sweet Rose of Sharon.
Upon creating Adam and Eve, the masculine and the feminine, God brought them together that they may be “one.” This was the institution of marriage as we know it, and it was wrought of God. What’s the significance? The two individual halves were brought together to form a whole. It’s this wholeness that best depicts the image of God in which we were created. In their intimacy, in their faithfulness to each other and in their respective strengths, the husband and wife together reflect the image of their Creator. This was God’s plan for man from the beginning and it’s meant to bring us a sense of wholeness and fulfillment. The union between a man and a woman brings forth life. The union between two members of the same sex does not.
So if God never intended for a young man to find his fulfillment in the arms of another man, where does homosexuality come from? First off, we are not born gay. God does not create something that He condemns and the Word of God clearly condemns homosexual activity (Lev. 18:22; Rom. 1:27; 1 Cor. 6:9-10). Though there may be preconditions that facilitate homosexuality in the life of a boy, it is safe to say that homosexuality is developed. It is not innate.
In his work with hundreds of men struggling with unwanted homosexual desires, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, PhD and president of NARTH (National Association for Research and Treatment of Homosexuals), coined the term “the reparative drive.” He says, “Due to incomplete development of aspects of his masculine identity, the homosexual seeks to “repair” his deficits through erotic contact with an idealized other.” Whether he realizes it or not, the reparative drive that Dr. Nicolosi is referring to comes from the knowledge of good and evil that is resident in us. With good and evil cohabitating in our human spirit, the flesh attempts to meet our bona fide human needs through carnal means.
All boys in their formative years need affirmation, acceptance and affection from other males in order to establish a solid male identity. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. These needs are real; bonding with one’s own sex is not optional. It is critical for the sound development of one’s male identity and eventual heterosexuality. It is actually these unmet needs that are at the root of same-sex attractions. In his book bringing up Boys, Dr. James Dobson states: “Homosexuality is not primarily about sex. It is about everything else, including loneliness, rejection, affirmation, intimacy, identity, relationships, parenting, self-hatred, gender identity confusion and a search for belonging.”‘
This is the stage on which the reparative drive makes its appearance. In the midst of these internal struggles and generally at the onset of adolescence, things become eroticized. Dr. Nicolosi states, “It is this internal sense of incompleteness in the homosexual’s own maleness which is the essential foundation for homoerotic attraction.”2 It is subconscious and spontaneous, therefore giving the impression that one was born gay. But homosexuality is not a cause, it is a result. Homosexuality is an effort to repair an integral part of one’s nature by seeking something outside one’s self that is missing within.
A lonely misunderstood boy, needing to bond with other males, longing for peer acceptance and already feeling very uncertain about his own male identity, often begins to find solace through fantasy and masturbation. The exhilarating feelings of pleasure offer momentary comfort, propping up the need for same-sex affirmation by something imagined. For some young men it will never go any further than that. They will plow their way through the issues, will pursue heterosexual relationships and may even marry and have a family. (Often, however, the struggle continues within.) For the rest of these young men, imaginary affirmation from other guys does not cut it and they will eventually fall into physical sexual involvement with other males. Each sexual encounter brings momentary feelings of pleasure, affection, affirmation, etc. but this quickly dissipates, creating the need for another encounter.
Why can’t two men bring each other continued, uninterrupted fulfillment and wholeness? Because God did not create us that way! Convinced that they just haven’t yet found “Mr. Right,” many active gay men continue the search, going from one partner to another. They seek these relationships because they feel deficient in their own manliness and therefore hope to fill that void by getting affirmation from another man. However, the homosexual man with whom they engage has the same unfilled void.
Two guys can’t bring each other completeness in relationship because two halves of the same kind cannot produce a whole. Two left hands do not produce a pair of hands. Because the lasting fulfillment remains unmet, the promiscuity continues. In the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study for which nearly five thousand homosexual men were recruited, it was reported that a significant majority of these men, between 69-83%, had had 50 or more lifetime sexual partners.
When God created the human race and instituted marriage, He purposed one man for one woman, that each could find completeness and fulfillment in the other. No, God does not require us to marry in order to be whole and fulfilled, but in intimate human relationships, heterosexual monogamy is the biblical norm. It’s God’s design for man.
Can it work any other way? One of the most carefully researched studies of the most stable homosexual pairs, The Male Couple, was researched and written by two authors who are themselves a homosexual couple, a psychiatrist and a psychologist. Its investigators found that of the 156 couples studied, only seven had maintained sexual fidelity; of the hundred couples that had been together for more than five years, none had been able to maintain sexual fidelity. The authors noted that “The expectation for outside sexual activity was the rule for male couples and the exception for heterosexuals.”4 This is a pretty clear indicator that homosexual partnership synonymous with heterosexual ones.
Ever since the beginning when man fell into sin, the world has become a pretty dysfunctional place, filled with misunderstanding, hurt and bondage. Left to themselves, people are powerless to overcome the obstacles they face in life. Literally thousands of men and women with unwanted same-sex attractions have found wholeness and fulfillment through a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. The change begins with repentance. Washed of our sins in the waters of baptism in Jesus Name, the Lord fills us with His Spirit and the transformation ensues. Acts 2:38-39
Wil Chausser, a pen name, is an ordained minister of the United Pentecostal Church, Int’l. Saved out of homosexual involvement as a teenager, he remains an over-comer and has been in
active ministry for more than 25 years.
From, “The Beacon”/ Volume 1, Issue 4, by Wil Chausser
This material is copyrighted and my be used for study & research purposes only.
