A professor from the Moody Bible Institute, who formerly identified himself as a homosexual, warned that same-sex desires--acted upon or not--are sinful.
The Christian Post reported that Dr. Christopher Yuan was a guest in the March 1 episode of the "Challenging Conversations" of Jason Jimenez, who is a best-selling author of a similar-titled book.
The episode was particularly entitled, "A Biblical Perspective of Sexuality And Same-Sex Attraction," where Jimenez and Yuan discussed God's divine design of human sexuality. The episode aimed to provide clarity on the issue of sexual orientation and gender identity as a means to equip Christians on how to address it with love and truth.
In the episode, Yuan rebuked the belief that same-sex attraction only becomes a sin when acted upon. He pointed out that "all same-sex desires are sexual and romantic desires are sinful." He explained that believing it is a sin when acted upon "denies what Jesus is saying in the Sermon on the Mount (in Matthew 5:27-29) where He says: 'If a man looks lustfully after a woman, he's committed adultery.'"
Yuan, who enshrined his former life as a homosexual in his best-selling book, "Out Of A Far Country: A Gay Son's Journey To God, A Broken Mother's Search For Hope," shared that for many years he previously believed "just the behavior is sin" but this changed after he read the Bible more.
"I had thought that a desire turns into lust, so as long as you don't lust, then that's OK. But then I realized that, actually, wrongly ordered desire is lust. It is sin. It's not just sexual, it is also romantic. So sometimes when people limit sin to be just sexual in the act, well then, they're not talking about the desires in their heart," Yuan said.
Yuan expressed disappointment that many have such a belief. He called it unfortunate since they believe just having the desire is okay because it is not acted upon. In the same vein, there are those who say that engaging in same-sex marriage is okay as long as the partners do not have sex. This then gives people an edge to promote that two men living together in a covenanted relationship minus the sexual act is okay.
Contrary to this belief, Yuan stressed the need to call such a same-sex relationship for what it is other than a friendship. He said friendship was not devised to become a replacement for marriage. He cited people calling those in a same-sex relationship as something else such as friendship or as covenanted life-long spiritual friendship. He said people don't call the relationship other than what it truly is, allegedly a "marriage without sex, which is still sin." He underscored that Biblical sexuality is black and white.
Yuan then cited Song of Solomon 8:4, which states, "Don't awaken love until it's time." He said the writer of the verse pertained to having romantic desires, which entailed the physical and sexual and which should not be awakened until the right time. He emphasized that people should be careful about their thoughts and desires for someone who is not their spouse.
He stressed that the Bible is very clear on the difference of romantic, platonic, and sexual desires. He said that the Bible also clearly reveals what God wants us to do when it comes to these matters.
In addition, Yuan said that Christians must seek to become full of grace by sinning less and less over time. He also raised that the Church responds to homosexuality in truth though not with grace. He underscored the need to love by pointing people to Christ after recognizing them as sinners.
