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I am a husband, a father, and a pastor. And for as long as I can remember, I have experienced same-sex attractions (SSA). Although I have always been physically and romantically attracted to women, I also have never been without deep emotional and sexual attractions to men. Many in our culture would like to label people like me “bisexual,” but I believe Jesus has spoken a better word. “I Feel, Therefore . . . ” The overarching sexual ethic of our day is “I feel, therefore I am.” We see this clearly in the ongoing conversations around “gender identity.” Proponents of nonbinary “gender categories” suggest that if someone feels contrary to their biological sex, they belong in the category that correlates best with their feelings. In the same way, many in our culture would have people like me think that if you feel homosexual desires, then you are homosexual. We commonly hear statements like, “You can’t choose whom you love; just be true to yourself.” Or, “Stop hiding you

Question: Is experiencing same-sex attraction itself sinful ? Do  Christians who experience same-sex attraction need to repent of their orientation, or only of homosexual action and lust ? First, this is not a question limited to issues of sexuality in general, or sexual acts and sexual orientation in particular. This question relates to the larger theological question of temptation and behavior. Every child growing into maturity recognizes the distinction between the temptation and the act.  Every criminal law system also understands the difference between the temptation and the act. Rather than imprisoning people for every criminal temptation, the law distinguishes between the temptation of a criminal act and the performance of a criminal act. Every parent understands that same distinction when raising children and when they look in the mirror. Therefore, Christians must distinguish between temptation and the performance of sin. Still, there is indeed something sin

Authors Name Changed . Anytime I write about the ever-controversial topic of homosexuality, I anticipate and mentally prepare for some push back. Everybody seems to have a strong opinion on this issue, and many are not shy about expressing those opinions (as long as they can do so behind a computer screen). Most of the time, the arrows of criticism are launched from the bows of gay-affirming unbelievers or theologically liberal “ Christians ” who believe God blesses same-sex relationships. However, there are exceptions. Earlier this year, after one of my pieces was republished on the The Gospel Coalition’s website , most of the critical responses were composed by Bible -believing Christians who, like me, believe homosexual behavior is sinful. But, unlike me, they also believe merely experiencing same-sex attraction is a willful act of sin. A number of readers commended me for turning away from same-sex behaviors, but they also insisted that my ongoing struggle with same-sex attrac

An ethics hearing is underway for an Oregon judge who refused to perform same-sex “marriage,” a probe his attorney says will test whether conservative judges are allowed to hold traditional beliefs on marriage. As Marion County Circuit Judge Vance Day fights the probe, now four days into a two-week hearing, his attorney says Day is a test subject for those who want him and others gone from the bench. “He’s the vehicle by which this issue is being litigated in Oregon,” said Ralph Spooner, according to Northwest News Network. “He’s the one they picked on. He’s got the target on his back." Day is being hit with numerous charges, including allegations that he treated same-sex couples unequally to heterosexual couples. A supporter of natural marriage, Day declined to perform same-sex ceremonies and subsequently decided to stop overseeing all such unions. While Oregon judges are not required to perform marriages , the Judicial Commission's attorney said that “when a judge in

Robert Oscar Lopez isn’t your typical social-conservative professor: he was raised by his mom and her lesbian partner, and he openly admits that he is bisexual. But he also opposes same-sex “marriage” and adoption, and even submitted a brief to the United States Supreme Court arguing against the redefinition of marriage . He bases his views in part on the trauma of his parents’ divorce when he was a toddler, and his subsequent experiences of being raised in a same-sex household. Now he says he's under attack for defending the rights of children to be raised by their natural parents. Specifically, he may lose tenure, and   even faces   suspension without pay, from   California State University-Northridge , the taxpayer-funded university that tenured him just two years ago. Lopez says that it all began when he gave his students the option to attend and present research, for credit, at a conference he organized on parenting and children's rights at the Ronald Reagan P

The simple answer is no, but, of course, there are a number of complex issues we must think about here. We can all understand just how excruciatingly difficult it will be for Christians to not attend or participate in the same-sex ceremonies of family and friends.  It is tempting to think that our presence at the ceremony can be understood merely as an act of identification with the two people involved without giving moral approval to their union. But no one attends a wedding with a suspended moral judgment . And this is precisely the problem.  Attending a wedding ceremony always signals moral approval. This is why The Book of Common Prayer (which has provided the traditional ceremonial language known to millions of people throughout the centuries) contains the phrase that asks if anyone knows any cause that should prevent the marriage-"speak now; or else forever hold your peace."  These words reveal the historic function of the wedding ceremony as a gatheri

To answer this question we go back to the  Reformation . One of the great affirmations about Scripture made by the Reformers is what is known as the perspicuity of Scripture , which is another way of talking about the clarity of Scripture . Scripture continually speaks in such a manner that clarifies issues, not obscures them. The reality in a sinful world is that our understanding is often unclear even where Scripture is clear. The Reformers pointed to the clarity of Scripture in order to affirm that any Christian who opened the Bible heard the word of God and faced the decision to obey or disobey. That was true when the church received the New Testament and when the Reformers asserted the principle, and it remains true now. If people who affirm the truthfulness of Scripture cannot come to a consensus on the issue of homosexual marriage , same sex unions, same love - the problem is not in Scripture-it is in a failure to rightly understand and obey it. Related articles Rar