“The Bible does not condemn “same-sex attractions” as sin.”
If Christ said that to lust after a woman is to commit adultery with her in your heart was a sin, is there a point that a “same sex attraction” also becomes sin, even if the “act” never occurs? Is a simple opposite sex attraction also a sin, or at what point does that attraction become pure lust(and therefore sin)?
What you describe in that sentence is indeed sin. But that is not the same as opposite-sex attraction. Attraction is not the problem, opposite or same. It is what the individual does with that attraction.
I would say that merely being sexually attracted to members of the same sex is a temptation, not a sin. It leads to sin when one acts on the temptation through lust and/or physical acts.
Yes, there is the point that you are going down the wrong path, and yes, IYRC, at communion you join in the prayer to confess that your thoughts and desires have been sinful. At least in the Catholic & Episcopalian Communion prayers, anyways.
Lusting and attraction aren’t the same thing. If I find a woman in the office attractive, but I take that thought captive to the obedience of Christ I haven’t sinned.
If I dwell on that attraction, if I take opportunities to watch her walk by, if I review her body in my mind at night then I have lusted for her.
The Greek word for lust in Matthew 5 is epithumeo and means to covet, desire, to long for.
I’ve had a lot of personal experience with lust. It is indeed a sin and it corrupts the heart.