Same Sex Attraction: Attraction versus Lust (pt. 2)

This blog post continues where Pastor Phil Johnson left off.  Johnson is trying to help his readers think through the implications of same sex attraction as these have been issues of compromise within certain Southern Baptist and PCA congregations lately.  

"Regarding the previous post, let me underscore my answer to an objection that keeps coming up. One of my critics on Twitter stated it as succinctly as anyone. He wrote, "Attraction and lust aren't the same thing. [Therefore] your proposition collapses entirely."

I'm aware, of course, that the words attraction and lust have different shades of meaning. Not every attraction entails lust. Attraction is the action or capacity of eliciting interest, affection, sympathy, fascination, or some similar eager response. It's possible—even desirable—to be attracted to things that are altogether holy and good, or even morally neutral, without being guilty of lust.

Lust is a sensuous appetite or desire that is inherently sinful—or one that leads to sin. To explain the idea of lust in the sense Scripture uses the word, it is any desire or affinity for something that God has forbidden. "All that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world" (1 John 2:16).

In short, you cannot define lust without the idea of attraction. What distinguishes a neutral attraction from a sinful one is both the object of desire and the source of your inclination. To desire what God forbids is a sin, full stop. And such desires are "not from the Father." This is never treated as an ambiguous or murky concept in Scripture."

Pastor Phil Johnson is one of John MacArthur's closest friends and is an Ast. Pastor at Grace Community Church.  His main work takes place at Grace to You.

Same Sex Attraction: Orientation Versus Desires and Temptations

Richard D. Phillips posted a article recently over at Reformation 21 that highlights subtle accommodations related to homosexuality and same sex attraction within the Evangelical church. Every Christian should develop biblical convictions related to this multi-layer issue. These issues are not going away and need to be addressed in a Christ-honoring way.

"These days, it seems that almost every week social media uncovers another eruption along the Presbyterian Church in America's (PCA) volcanic fault line between social accommodation/compassion and biblical obedience. This week, a conference promoting strategies to address same sex attraction (SSA) has raised heads and provoked comment. This particular event seems to be a laudable attempt to balance the tension: while calling for a compassionate acceptance of SSA Christians it also makes clear statements in support of biblical marriage and takes a position against homosexual behavior that most people in our society would consider fundamentalist. Conservatives should therefore refrain from drawing the worst possible implications from what seems to be a thoughtful and responsible attempt to address this major cultural touchstone.

While avoiding hysterical division, we can at the same time note that a major question mark hangs over the normalization of SSA as a Christian category. It seems that there is a growing consensus in the PCA that we can and must distinguish between one's sexual orientation and sinful desires. The alternative would seem to be that we tell men and women struggling with homosexuality that what they consider a part of who they are is sinful and (as some would have it) subject them to tortuous rehabilitation techniques that probably include electric shock. The bridge, therefore, between compassion and biblical fidelity is to embrace "gay in Christ" as a normal and wholesome category and then help our LGBTQ brothers and sisters live celibately with these desires.

One problem with this love-motivated strategy is that it collapses under the weight of Scripture. The biblical argument in favor of SSA acceptance goes like this: we always distinguish between desire and temptation. A heterosexual may sinlessly experience an attraction to a member of the opposite sex without giving in to lust. The same must therefore be the case for a homosexual. The orientation is not necessarily sinful, while the desire represents a temptation to be avoided. The key issue is behavior: does the person (heterosexual or homosexual) give in to temptation and commit the sin?

Real World Scenarios: How Would You Respond If ____________

Photo Credit: getallgist.com

What would you do?

Scenario 1: Two women ask to meet with you. They are legally married residents of your state. They want to meet with you because they would like to start coming to church regularly.  They have been recently listening to your sermons online and like them a lot.  They have two children, one in Grade 3 and one in Grade 8.  They each say that they believe that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior.  They wanted to meet to see if it would be OK for them to start coming to church regularly, along with their children.  They want their kids to be involved in the children and youth ministries. 

What do you do next? Why?

Same Sex Attraction: Is It a Sin?

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I had not heard of the phrase "same sex attractions" (SSA) until I attended a Together For the Gospel conference a few years ago.  During one of the Q&A sessions a pastor addressed the subject is God anti-gay and other questions about homosexuality, the Bible and SSA (I believe Sam Allberry was a guest during one panel discussion). Allberry says that these SSA "are part of what I feel but are not who I am in a fundamental sense.  I am far more than my sexuality."

These questions have been raised again at the Gospel Coalition.  A recent article by Matt Moore titled, How I Discovered True Masculinity set the internet ablaze.

Pastor Phil Johnson of Grace to You responded to this article on Twitter and Facebook with these comments, "Yet another hazy, misleading sophism from TGC. Lusting for something sinful is not “obedien[ce] to God”

In one of the threads, someone wrote back: “Desires are neutral until they are used sinfully.” 

To which Phil Johnson provided the following reply.  "This idea is apparently gaining popularity among evangelicals, but it is dead wrong and subversive to genuine holiness.  What is (impure) lust but sinful desire? What does the tenth commandment forbid if not all kinds of desires for things that cannot be righteously ours?