The archetypical image of the forbidden fruit in Genesis is the apple. Neither a Delicious nor a Gala nor a Fuji―just a plain apple. East Indians see the forbidden fruit as a banana.

What actually hangs from The Tree of Life is the temptation to partake of delicious pleasure without its consequence. This is Eve’s endless curse. It isn’t sex per se that’s evil, but our biased behavior to avoid love’s burden in caring and providing for our spouse and any children born to us.

It may seem smart to outwit Mother Nature, but in the end she whacks us hard. Safe-sex contraceptives allow mankind to enjoy narrow, selfish, fleeting pleasure without the pain of human reproduction that perpetuates our species. Such ego-centered partiality corrupts the soul.

The married who use contraceptives to prevent birth are guilty, as are pro-choice advocates and abortionists who kill the unborn. Even the use of a Natural Family Planning method is morally unlawful if the couple has selfish intentions. Homosexuals may have a genetic inclination for same-sex relations, as occasionally seen in animals, but the end result is failure to pass their DNA to the next generation.

It all comes down to practicing chastity with self-restraint, whether in holy orders or holy matrimony. Whether lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or heterosexual, we all have plucked and consumed the forbidden fruit, with the second death as its consequence. Few of us have mustered the grace to persevere in compliance with God’s will.