Summary
Since all of us struggle with different areas of sin, it does not seem to me to pose any theological problems to hypothesize that it is possible that temptation in the matter of homosexuality is ultimately something outside the control of human free will. However, that does not excuse giving into the temptation in the least—any more than it is ever OK to give into sexual temptations of the heterosexual variety. Moreover, due to our culture’s and media’s idolization of sexual deviance, it seems quite likely to me that the supposed numbers here are artificially inflated via so-called “copycat effects”.
Content
Introduction: distinguishing between temptation and sin
We need to be careful and precise when discussing this topic. What do I mean by that? Well:
- Thought, word, and deed are always choices under the purview of human free will. So choosing to actually involve oneself sexually with someone of the same sex (or nurse lust for them in one’s mind, etc.) is entirely a free will decision. Full stop. One can always choose to resist temptation rather that giving into it.
- But what about the desires/temptations themselves? Can people just “think themselves out of” improper attraction?
Perils in interpretation
It might be tempting to say that it doesn’t matter whether or not homosexual temptation is under the control of human will. After all, it wouldn’t change a single thing about what is allowable or not. That is, the sinful things are sinful regardless of where the temptation to do these sinful things comes from, and to what degree such temptation is under our control.
The problem with just leaving things at that is that a certain legalistic attitude tends to predominate among those that think that “it’s all just some sort of curable mental disorder.” As in, they think all people who claim to struggle with homosexual attraction against their will must just be lying or making it all up, just failing to admit their own blatant sinfulness, or something like that. This sort of thinking is quite presumptuous. For the Bible never makes such a point explicitly, and therefore we have no ground to stand on to make this a matter of black and white certainty.
Now, to be fair, the Bible never says the opposite either (that is, that it is definitely the case that some people are tested in this area completely aside from any free will choices of their own).
Different people struggle with different areas of sin
With that being said, it is rather obvious from scripture and everyday experience that different people have different strengths and weaknesses. The sin that might so easily trip you up (cf. Hebrews 12:1) might be no big deal for me… but perhaps what so easily trips me up is likewise no big deal for you! This does not make either of us better or worse than the other, just different.
And so if some people tend to struggle with anger more, and some pride, and some lust of the heterosexual variety, well, why would a temptation towards lust of the homosexual variety be categorically different in this regard? Does it not seem more likely that it too is merely another burden of the flesh that someone might have to deal with on the long road to Zion? Just like the burdens of the flesh we all must struggle against on our own journeys?
And even more to the point, honest people possessing heterosexual attraction will freely acknowledge that one cannot make attraction go away just because it is not proper. You might be sexually attracted to your married friend’s wife, for example, even if you would much rather it didn’t hit you like a truck every time you saw her. If you make absolutely every effort to nip those thoughts in the bud whenever they arise, it is possible to navigate the situation without sin, but the point is that the attraction is there regardless. Are such heterosexual people just lying too in saying they can’t help the attraction? Is it all just in their heads as well?
At the very least, we need to be consistent in discussing the matter, and not have glaring double standards when it comes to judging sexual sin specifically of the homosexual variety.
But the waters get muddied by “copycat effects”
On the other hand, I think it would be blatantly irresponsible not to also point out that there is a large potential for “copycat effects” coming through culture and the media (cf. copycat crimes and copycat suicides).
People in the LGBTQ+ (or whatever the acronym is nowadays) community commonly state that more people are “coming out” now in modern times because society is being more accepting of these behaviors (i.e., they assert that X percentage of population “has always been such,” but we are only now getting a more accurate count of the true proportions). While this idea of closeted people “finally being true to themselves” (their words) due to our new cultural climate may be statistically true to a degree (it makes logical sense, from a behavioral point of view = of course people in the past tried to avoid stigma and negative consequences by hiding that which would get them in hot water socially), I also find it very likely that the immense amount of positive media portrayal of depraved sexual behavior in the present has made it inherently more common and fashionable for impressionable young people to convince themselves that they “are” XYZ.
This would seem to muddy the waters to me, as it would suggest that the number of people who identify as homosexual may include people for whom the same-sex attraction is more learned cultural impulse than raw biology. Or at least that seems to be a distinct possibility that cannot be ruled out in any sort of deterministic fashion, since you cannot inherently separate people from their culture, making literally the entire statistical sample biased.
Conclusions, unsatisfying as they may be
So… maybe it is not controllable in some cases, and maybe our current culture’s idolization of sexual deviance artificially creates it where it otherwise wouldn’t be naturally (cf. advertising stirring up materialistic desire in consumers that wouldn’t otherwise be there)? Can we really say for sure about all the specifics?
Leaving things here in this discussion may be somewhat unsatisfying in that no hard position is being put forward, per se. However, what I can say with certainty is that:
- We must accept those who confess Christ and repent of sinful behaviors—those who both acknowledge such behaviors as wrong and also acknowledge their need for forgiveness for any lapses. We are all sinners in need of grace, after all (Romans 3:23; James 3:2).
- But we must never accept those who claim to be Christian and yet refuse to acknowledge that homosexuality is wrong and sinful. That would put us in direct opposition to 1 Corinthians 5:9-13. (And Romans 1:32, in our immediate context—since we would essentially be approving of evil).