“I mean come on, that chick is smokin! How could I not be attracted to her?”, I tell my wife again as she slaps me on the shoulder.
“What’s the problem? God made me to be attracted to women!”
The above is a fictional conversation. It doesn’t take much for the reader to realize this would be a violation of the Seventh Commandment, for Jesus was very clear when he taught…
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
—Matthew 5:27-28
When I am attracted to women who are not my wife (and hey, it happens because I’m a sinner), I am to recognize it as sin (or at the very least, a temptation to sin) and mortify it. Pretty basic right?
Well not in this day and age. Now we have all of this talk about same-sex attraction being fine as long as people do not act on said attraction. I’m old enough to have watched the dialog shift in this direction since my childhood in the 70s and 80s. We used to speak clearly to the fact that homosexual desires are sinful but somewhere along the way we have lost our clarity.
This may seem like a small concession, but the implications are massive and this change in thought is a major victory for the kingdom of darkness. What we have done in trying to please the world on this point is downplay the seriousness of this sin. By saying this sinful desire is not a sin at all, we have invited Satan up onto a toehold of our own making.
Should we then excommunicate church members and defrock ministers who confess same sex attractions? This is what the mind-sapped, media-brainwashed, evangellyfish are already thinking that I am saying. To those types, it doesn’t matter what I say, you will distort my meaning into things I am not saying no matter what I say. Just look at the comments section on this post.
No, we should begin in the same place we began—with my lust for women who are not my wife. That is, confess it as sin and pray for grace that such sins be mortified every time they raise their ugly heads. Someone who struggles with the sin of same sex attraction CAN BE a Christian and such men CAN EVEN be ministers, but I fail to see how it is consistent with Christianity to say these desires are not sinful and do not require mortification. They are no longer who we are!
Finally, I must deal with the objection that a temptation itself is not a sin, for even Jesus experienced temptation and was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). The question is, when does a “desire” become sin? This is a valid question. For the sake of brevity, I will provide a short answer to this question as it relates to the matter at hand.
When someone is so given to their same sex-attractions that they identify as “same-sex attracted”, they have so crossed the line as to have left it several states back. My friend, if that is how you identify yourself, you need to repent of such thinking and speaking. If you are in Christ, you are now a new creation.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a newcreature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
—2 Corinthians 5:17
Could you imagine if I identified myself as a man who desires women who aren’t my wife? Yes, I may struggle with that sin, but it is not to define who I am in Christ and I should never make that a defining point of who I am. Again, I should mortify it.
To the Christian suffering under the homosexual delusion, your sinful, “same-sex attractions” are no longer that which define you any more then my sinful “different-sex attractions” for other women who are not my wife to define me.
For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
—Romans 7:15-17
Totally agree with you, Robert.
As you’ve pointed out, the “same-sex attraction is not inherently sinful” argument is bogus. Illicit desires ARE sinful, whether they’re heterosexual or homosexual or whatever. Desire for sin IS sin — so taught Christ and the apostles (Matthew 5:28, 15:18-20; James 1:14-15).
As you also pointed out, Christians are commanded not to tolerate sinful desires, but rather to “put to death . . . uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5)
If we allow any legitimacy to the notion that “same-sex attraction is not inherently sinful,” what’s next, “The desire to kill your neighbor isn’t sin, as long as you don’t act on it?” The latter idea is no less insane and dangerous than the former.
“Same-sex attraction is not inherently sinful” is the exact thinking that the liberal mainline churches began imbibing forty or so years ago, which set them up for the wholesale capitulation to the homosexual movement we’re seeing today. As Jesus warned, “a little leaven leavens the whole lump.”
There is no sense in mincing words. In fact, mincing words has been the problem, because it has led to the loss of clarity Christians need on this subject to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. The idea that “same-sex attraction is not inherently sinful” is a disastrous deception. The enemy of our souls has been promoting it in the American church for a generation, for one huge reason: to make accommodation for homosexual perversion in the church. We must not be deceived.
Aren’t you mixing “attraction” with “lust”? Do we lust every time we feel attracted to a person? For example, if I see a beautiful woman, I can feel attraction but not cross the line of lust. Lust is when we linger on our attractions and let them drive us and our passions instead of our faithfulness to Christ.
Of course, this attraction should not define us, as belonging to Christ is what defines us. I agree with that. But being aware of specific bents of our sinfulness (in some cases, a bent towards being attracted toward same sex) can actually help us know ourselves better and thus fight temptation better.
For example, if I am aware of my being attracted to women (as a man), when I meet a beautiful woman I can acknowledge both her beauty and the fact that I feel attracted to her, but then interpret both in light of God’s Word and therefore avoid lusting after her.
Does it make sense?
Mibi,
Finding someone to be attractive is not a sin but consider this statement from your question however…
“when I meet a beautiful woman I can acknowledge both her beauty and the fact that I feel attracted to her”
“Acknowledging her beauty” is one thing. Sin begins with “feeling attracted to her” as this is the very essence of lust.
If she is not your wife, there is simply no minimal level of “feeling sexually attracted to her” that is not sin. Such feelings should be mortified.