I still don't see why I should see temptation as a sin. Are you honestly telling me that every time you see a beautiful woman, you're not even tempted for one second to have an impure thought? Or that you don't feel any attraction ever to a woman you know God wouldn't want you to be with (even if you then put the thought out of your mind?).
I absolutely believe I am not accountable for the fact that I am attracted to men. I am accountable for what I do with that attraction. When I run across a guy I find attractive, the devil instantly tries to tempt me to lust. That is not sin! If I then actually do lust, it is.
I think one of the issues here is you are judging someone when you have no idea what it's like to be them. When you say "which is normal by the way" about your attraction for women, you fail to understand that "normal" for me, ever since I was a first grader who enjoyed going to the mall so I could look at teen guys and having no idea why I enjoyed it, is attraction to guys. It's not God's perfect will, and it would never happen in a world that wasn't fallen, but for some reason it's a form of suffering God has allowed me to have; I have faith in Him He's allowed it for a reason.
You act like this is something I can just turn off -- it's not. You act like if I desire to obey God enough it will go away -- that has never been the case. To be free of these attractions would require a miracle from God, one He hasn't granted, at least not yet.
Believe me, if I could just switch these feelings off, I would have done so a long time ago. You have any idea how horrifying it is to be in high school, have a wet dream about one of your male friends with his shirt off, and wake up and realize there's something really wrong with you? You think I wouldn't have switched this off then if I could??? (and I was already a born-again Christian then, one of the main reasons I was so horrified, besides the fact that it wasn't exactly cool to be gay back then).
I'm not arguing homosexuality and lust aren't sins, the Bible clearly says they are. But to say that just having an unwanted attraction to men is a sin goes way too far and puts a burden on someone they were never meant to bear.
It's like saying a married man should never find any other woman attractive ever. Based on the Bible, he wouldn't be accountable for seeing a woman and realizing she's attractive -- but he would be accountable for what he did after that.
Paul says we should expect the flesh to be at war with our Spirit. As long as we're on this earth, the flesh is going to tempt us with what it wants to do. The goal is for the Spirit inside us to win more and more as life goes on, but He will never completely win until we enter eternity. Then I know my temptation to lust after men will be gone, but before then it may not happen.
I think you just misunderstand Mitspa, hes not your enemy
I also worry about claiming that you are attracted to the same sex, too. Because it is a mindset, and I really want you to change your mindset. And yeah, youll still be tempted, but we dont mean never be tempted, we mean just change how you think about it. You are claiming to be attracted to the same sex, Christ tells us that if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. We dont /really/ want you to pluck out your eyes
We just want you to consider this in a different way
When that idea comes into you, dont look at it as "well Im attracted to this, I cant help it", think about it more like "ugh, what a horrible idea, I want nothing to do with it", I know that seems really too simple, but it really is the best way to do it that I have found
God is watching your heart, and He knows your every thought. I also worry, like Mitspa, that you telling yourself that you like this, is a big part of your problem. It can be helped, not the being tempted, but what you think of it yourself. And the bible says that the flesh is Gods enemy, definitely. But we are also told that we do NOT wrestle against the flesh, but with the powers of the dark earth, and evil in the spiritual realm. I often think about this with my own struggles, the world is ALWAYS telling us that EVERYTHING we do (and I literally do mean everything, from over eating to being rebellious and defiant) is all due to our genes. The genes in our brain make us do everything. we are not responsible for anything we do, its all our genes. I think this is the wrestling with the powers of the earth part
The flesh can be used to lead you away from God, but it is not your flesh that is forcing you to sin. We fall away to seductive spirits and demonic doctrines. I can promise you that there is a spiritual influence in your own battle now. And one thing I like to do when struggling is consider it just that, and reach out to God for help.
But yeah, I do believe there is a difference between being tempted, and believing that you are in fact attracted to something you arent, and I think a change of your way of thinking would really help you :3
