Born This Way?

One of my kids printed out the lyrics for Weird Al's song "Perform this way", a spoof of "Born this Way" by Lady Gaga. Having never heard the original, I googled the lyrics and was struck by a few thoughts.

First, I would argue the initial point, that someone is born an exhibitionist. Someone may be born with a natural inclination towards acting/performing, but to appeal to "birth" as an excuse for crude exhibition is erroneous.

Second, even if someone was born with a tendency for such behavior, it still is not is valid excuse. This reminds me of Flip Wilson, back in the 70's with, "The devil made me do it." A lame excuse to avoid responsibility. I have heard of some races with a genetic predisposition towards alcoholism. Fair enough, but this does not excuse drunkenness. With the knowledge of an alcoholic tendency, one would need to be that much more careful, that much more guarded towards alcohol. We live in community for that very reason (among other things as well).  Would we excuse someone from homicidal tendencies simply because they claim to be born that way? Of course not. Claiming genetic predisposition is an easy, unverifiable excuse.

We need to learn to look to the church for our definitions and take responsibility for our actions.