That brings us to one of the challenges of having a rational debate on these topics, because the response to any argument by analogy is not reasoned rebuttal but, almost invariably, the throwing of an apoplectic fit at the comparison. But the core question of every moral argument remains, whether it upsets you to ask it or not: does, or can, Christianity reasonably ask human beings to meet a higher standard of conduct than simply doing what we desire or are naturally inclined to do? The pedophile example, like analogies to Hitler in philosophical debates about war and politics, is designed to test the limits of this line of reasoning precisely because it is so extreme that almost nobody defends acting on pedophilic tendencies.

As will be discussed in Part III below, the issue of treating sexual orientation as an identity, and denying any distinction between identity and behavior, is a recurring theme in the divide between the LGBT and Christian worldviews. But as a matter of Christian theology, while biology certainly informs our understanding of the world, it does not eliminate the idea of moral limits on human behavior. To be a Christian is to recognize that human beings are called to be more than the sum of our biological impulses. To demand that those impulses be given the central place in our identity is to deem Christianity a dead letter, and set in place the human body itself as our idol.