Can a smoker choose to be a smoker? One would think this would be an easy question, and in my eyes, it is. A smoker cannot choose to be addicted to smoking or not, but they have all ability to not smoke. Every cigarette is a personal decision that must be made by the smoker, and so therefore, smokers are choosing to be smokers.
But there are a number of people in the world who claim that an unchangeable desire naturally means acting upon those desires is not a choice. According to LGBT advocates, homosexuality is not a choice because gay people don't get to decide who they are attracted to. But while that may be so, no one gets to choose who they are attracted to, just as a smoker can choose to either have a cigarette or go smoke free, so also can a gay person decide whether or not to pursue romance with a member of the same sex.
It should be noted that there are a number of times when even the most hard hearted LGBT advocate would agree that attraction does not equate to the right to act on it. For example, just as gay people cannot choose to be attracted to people of the opposite sex, pedophiles cannot choose to be attracted only to consenting adults. And yet, unless you're Peter Tatchell, you're probably going to agree that any sexual activity involving children is always wrong.
It is at this point that most LGBT activists freak out. How dare I say homosexuality is as bad as pedophilia? But I didn't say that, did I? So let's disarm that particular straw man now. What I said is that just as pedophiles don't get to choose their attractions, but do get to choose how they act on it, so also do gay people get to choose how they act on their attractions.
But as I know the emotional response will still be there regardless of how strongly I clarify, let us drag it a little closer to home. It is to be noted that homosexuality is not the only sexual sin condemned in the Bible. Straight people are not off the hook either.
A straight man may not be able to choose whether or not he is attracted to his neighbor's wife, yet no sane person would suggest he should be allowed to be romantic with her. That same straight married woman might be attracted to her single male friend, but most would oppose her right to pursue him. Even in the case of two single people, attraction must be mutual before any sane person would agree it should go any further.
The Bible is actually more directly harsh against heterosexuality. In Matthew 5:28-30, we read "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."
This is not often talked about in the LGBT debate. Advocates are so focused on the fact that Christianity teaches that homosexuals will not go to Heaven (1 Corinthians 6:9-10), they don't seem to realise that it says the same about every straight man who has ever so much as "window shopped". So, what does that say about porn addicts? These are not just people who look lustfully at women, but actively seek out imagery to fuel these fantasies. And just like smoking, this, too, can be addictive. I've even been told, though I have no sources to back this up, that porn is just as addictive as cocaine. Nevertheless, it takes conscious action to consume most* forms of porn. Therefore, although porn addiction is not a choice, seeking porn is.
We see, then, that although attraction is not a choice, action is. No one has to smoke, no one has to look at porn, no one has to force themselves on someone who isn't interested, no one has to ruin a marriage for someone who is interested, no one has to violate a child, and so the obvious conclusion is that no one has to do anything romantic with someone of the same sex.
Unfortunately, as human beings, we don't tend to care. This is because although no one is born gay, we are all born sinners. Every single one of us, whether our sexual desires are natural, unnatural, or even non-existent, we've all rebelled against God in some way, and we will continue to do so for the rest of our lives (1 John 1:8). But God, in His infinite mercy, has provided a way out. Because Jesus came to the earth and lived a perfect life, free of all sin, and He died on the cross, and He rose from the dead. Through faith in His death and resurrection, we can stand before God, after our inevitable deaths, completely sin free, completely forgiven for every time we have ever made the wrong choice. And because Jesus is not homophobic, this is not an offer from which gay people are excluded. Everyone is supposed to repent and be saved. You can consider this article your invitation to do so.
*Obviously, I'm not saying you might accidentally Google a porn site, but there are, unfortunately, many ways in which a porn saturated culture such as ours may thrust porn in front of an unwilling observer.