Dear Editor,
I felt Charles Raven’s account of the so-called sexual civil war in GAFCON really misconstrued the underlying Biblical issues. I saw no evidence of misunderstanding between the American and Nigerian brothers; I think the Nigerians understand all too well.
It has become common to try to accommodate Christians with sinful sexual desires by defining a category called ‘attraction’ which separates a desire to commit a sinful act from the act itself. Effectively the Nigerians have pointed out that this is not a Biblical category, and its adoption has led to a watering down of our understanding of sin. The desire and the act may not be the same thing (to quote Charles Raven), but Scripture makes it clear (Matt. 5: 21-22; 27-28; James 1:14; etc.) that the desire or lust is also sinful. To deny this is one of the roots of Pelagianism.
