Can sexual immorality be excused by blaming it on your DNA? Are adulterers, sexual child predators, fornicators, and homosexuals, innocent of their sins due to a genetic malfunction? There is a lot of messages these days going on about sexual immorality. One of this is that sexual immorality runs in the genetic makeup of the individual. One particular pastor insisted that the reason why David committed adultery with Bathsheba was because David’s bloodline was infested with the spirit of adultery and fornication. He went down memory lane by exposing how Judah, David’s ancestor committed incest by sleeping with his daughter-in-law who later became pregnant and bore Perez and Zerah. The pastor also went ahead to postulate that the bloodline was further loaded with adultery and fornication when Rahab the prostitute was married into the family of Judah. In conclusion the pastor said that this adultery/fornication infested blood line of David was why he couldn’t help himself against Bathsheba. This too was also responsible for the failure of Solomon and other descendants of David. Those who hold to the view that sexual immorality is a genetically transmitted “disease” buttress their point by pointing to some communities that are noted for such. In their submission, they claim that no matter what you do to a person with this bloodline, that he cannot be totally free from the dominion of illicit sex. How true is this conclusion?
The truth is that virtue and value in a family is dependent on the ability of the family leaders to exhibit a high level of morality which of course is transmitted to the younger ones and generations yet unborn by sheer instinct and experiential observation. As a mother or father keeps his ability to exercise emotional control under lose and wanton living, her descendants too will acquire a zeal to do what is awry and warped. There is this saying among the Igbos of West Africa that says, “When an obscene habit is sustained for a year it becomes the people’s culture. A national character is an aggregation of habits, values or character which is in the individuals that make it up. Even if sexual immorality runs in the bloodline, just as sin runs in the blood of everyman, (For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Romans 3:23 NLT), God’s grace has been made available to us to flee from sexual immorality. Titus 2:11-14 (NLT) says, “For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.” Every normal human has sexual instinct or drive in him. It is not restricted to a particular family or lineage. When we come to Christ, we are made to understand and live in the realization that He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin including sexual immorality. If sexual immorality is in the bloodline, the Holy Spirit would not have bothered to give these instructions from the Bible “The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer. “-James 1:14-15 (The Message Bible).
