Recently, scientists discovered what they are calling The Monogamy Gene. For those unfamiliar, it is a gene that is believed to influence monogamous behavior in men, meaning some men are genetically predisposed to cheat on their partners or to seek multiple sexual partners.
I know that the knee-jerk response of the Christian community is going to be “Well, now we’ve gone and tried to justify sin and take away personal responsibility.” This was my wife’s initial reaction.
But, let’s take a closer look. The church needs to look at this and other genetic discoveries with fresh eyes and an open mind.
In the not so distant past, Christians believed that people were not “basically good at heart.” They held to a belief that people were conceived and born sinful and were by their very nature drawn to do wrong. Many of us have lost that teaching, believing instead that people are basically good but sometimes make poor choices and do wrong.
Jesus calls humanity “evil.” Elsewhere in the Bible, we are called “children of wrath.” Paul laments that he does things he doesn’t even want to do and cries “Wretched man that I am, who can save me from this body of death?” It seems as though the fathers of our faith believed sin to be something more than an error occasionally made out of poor judgement.
The Biblical picture is much different. That picture is one of humanity as a doomed race, with hearts darkened and drawn to rebellion, wrong actions and wrong attitudes. It paints a picture of sin that is so debilitating that we can’t overcome it on our own. It calls sin our “master” and that master holds us so captive that God has to leave His throne to set us free from sin’s grip.
From what I read in the Bible, I would have to say that we are genetically predisposed to sin. There is something inside of us that we are born with that makes us more likely to struggle through life that we cannot fight off without supernatural help.
Does this mean we are not responsible for our sin? Not at all. But it helps us to have a more realistic view of sin and a more clear knowledge of our need for God. If we are compelled by a body of sin to do that which we know is wrong and we can’t stand it, but we can do little to fight it, that is a clear indication of our need for a savior. If we are in complete control of our sins, then we don’t need a savior and simply need to try harder.
A flawed view of a problem will bring about a flawed solution. If we think we can solve our sin problem because sin is just a choice we willingly make, then we believe the solution is to stop sinning and do good. What that leads to is self-righteousness. We do good for wrong motives and then lie to ourselves and to the rest of the world about the fact that we still have evil thoughts and still struggle with wrong thinking, lustful desires and cruel feelings.
The proper view of sin is that we cannot fix it on our own. The proper solution is that we need to run to the Savior who can fix it.
How does the discovery of the monogamy gene change our thinking of sin? It doesn’t. It gives scientific evidence to support what the Bible has said all along. We live in a fallen world with fallen bodies and broken genes. We are helpless slaves to sinful desires we are born with and cannot control. We are by nature children of wrath who need to be rescued by a loving and forgiving God who is in control when we are not. That’s classic Christianity, and it is in many ways the lost teaching of the church.
