Western society is in the
throes of debate over identity and personhood. Our nation denies personal
rights to the unborn, allowing babies at an early stage of development in the
womb to be killed, dissected, and discarded. At the same time we allow men with
male sexual organs to “self-identify” as women and to join natural-born, biological
females in gender-specific restrooms, changing rooms, and showers. If it were
not simultaneously terrifying and deeply troubling, this juxtaposition between
such contradictory notions of personhood would be truly fascinating. We might
think a person insane who cannot distinguish a person’s gender based on
unmistakable body-parts but who is absolutely certain a developing fetus in
utero is not a human person entitled to legal rights and
protections, but in this case it is not an isolated individual but a
significant segment of western society, including many in the halls of
government, who have fallen into such disordered thinking.
If you are tempted to shake
your head sadly and pity the wicked confusion of all those lost people in the
world, let me discomfit you with the assurance a similarly disordered mindset
is rapidly making headway in the evangelical community. There is a significant
debate over how to think about and identify Christians who have same-sex
attractions but choose a celibate lifestyle in obedience to Christ. This seems
a simple question with a straightforward, biblical answer. Every believer
struggles with the temptations of a lingering sinful nature. I do not refer to
myself by those temptations or struggles, nor do I embrace those temptations as
if they constitute an orientation that, in part, defines my personhood. But an
increasing number of otherwise conservative evangelicals are favoring defining
an entire category as same-sex attracted or gay Christians. These
brethren affirm that such believers must abstain from the practice of homosexual
behavior, but they concede that such attraction is an aspect of personal
identity and may even be otherwise morally neutral.
Do not misunderstand the
issue. There certainly are believers who truly trust in Christ who are
attracted to persons of their same sex. But this temptation is disordered, not
creational (Rom. 1:24-28). It is sinful, not fundamental (1Cor. 6:9-11). And not
only the behavior but the desire itself must be mortified, daily
(Luke 9:23; Col. 3:5-8). Being a Christian does not mean never again feeling
the temptation of lusts which are contrary to the will of God and the teaching
of Christ, but it does mean a fundamental rejection of those desires as good,
wholesome, or defining in terms of our personal identity. We are not defined by
our sins or our temptations; we are defined by the image of God bestowed upon
us at creation, the image which is created anew in Jesus Christ (Gen. 1:26-27;
Rom. 8:29; Col. 3:9-11). We are defined by grace, not the sinful and disordered
temptations which the world tries to re-categorize as neutral orientations fundamental
to individual identity. Homosexual attraction is disordered, whether a person
ever acts upon it or not. We are to repent of and mortify it, not make peace
with it in ourselves.
Make no mistake. Once
Christians embrace deviant sexual desire as a category for defining personhood,
the practice of corresponding sexual behavior will not be far behind. You
cannot consistently maintain the position that same-sex attraction is central
to your personal identity and permanently suppress or reject the expression of
that personal attribute. A Christian may struggle with same-sex attraction his
or her entire life. It may always be a temptation, and it may make heterosexual
relationships impossible or unattractive. But our sinful desires are not
who we are in Christ. A Christian is not defined by disordered attraction.
Our identity is in Christ, with whom our life is hidden in God as we await
glory. –JME
