What brought it mind was your comment and understanding of the "born this way" mentality as simply coming out of someone mouth.
It's the very same opinion I have of Catholic leadership. I find it unusual that someone with eyes and understanding of scripture can then
so easily make the jump to
the catholic catechism as a reflection of Gods intent.
Not all of Scripture is speaking to the same audience. At least not directly anyway. The epistles are to the people of the time they were written. The morals and commands in them are timeless, but then there are things that demand a broader view:
The people of those times had religions. If you were Jewish, you followed either the Old Law or a pagan diety which, as you will find in Jewish paganism, is anything but benevolent. If you were Roman, you paid tribute to the Roman gods. They had one for everything- you couldn't even buy food without doing so. The penalty in most cases for not obeying religions was death, and if you had no faith in Christ, you would have no reason to follow any of his commands.
The apostles speak out to them: what faith do you have if you have no works, and what are works without faith? The answer is found here-
you cannot serve two masters. If you have faith, you will serve only one, and if you have only works, your works are in vain by the tribute you pay to paganism.
An atheist was put to death right beside Christianity and anything that wasn't a belief in a certain god or pantheon. The only difference in martyrdom is that one would be protesting, while the believer would be sending a message of the gospel. These are the believers who were called saints.
Sainthood is those who are called greater in Heaven. They find favor in God, and we ask them to speak on our behalf through their passion. Those who are not saints are called lesser in Heaven, but are saved nonetheless. Their lacking suffering on Earth is put forth in Purgatory, because as th eBible tells, you must suffer with Christ to be buried with him.
When you look from the Catholic perspective, you start to see the dots connecting in Scripture with the Church. A lot of these things are put away by other grand designs, like Luther's OSAS or Calvin's TULIP. But in my opinion, the church is the one that has it right. It's ancient tradition. Other concepts have come and gone, and it was only a matter of time before one became successfully launched, and that is what I feel Protestantism is.
Jews will say the same thing about Christianity though. They will say that it was only a matter of time before a heresy did just the same. I feel that it is an unsolvable issue until Christ returns and becomes our Savior once again.