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Let me be clear about this --- character is who you are when no one is watching -- I believe this. You SIN when you ACT on your lust regardless of whether people know it or not.

You are still confusing sin with temptation.

Remember the words of Jesus:

Matthew 5:28
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Therefore, sin is not just the action, but the sinful desire of the heart. It is the LUST that defines the sin, not just the looking(or physical action) at another person because of the LUST.

This is what MHGinTN has been trying to communicate to you.

Christ came to not just forgive men/women of their sins, but to give them power over their sins.

Furthermore, the last thing a regenerated sinner, be it a Homosexual or serial adulterer or anyone suffering from any other type of sin is going to do, is refer to themselves as a Homosexual, Serial Adulterer, or whatever the sin is. Because each of those labels imply an active condition which goes counter to the message of the Gospel of being free from your sin.

For as the Apostle Paul stated:

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Temptation is from the outside, not the inside.

Jesus said "Be ye holy as I am holy"

He did not say "Try to be holy". He did not say "You will not be holy until you pass over in death".

He commanded "Be ye holy as I am holy". A positive immediate command with no sub-clauses.

You are still confusing sin with temptation.

I don't think I am. I am perfectly aware of Jesus' teaching about inner lust and how it is considered adultery in one's heart.

What I am doing is WONDERING how a church or a denomination can JUDGE a person's heart without the person actually committing the act.

How are you for instance, as a pastoral committee member going to decide whether a person is qualified to be pastor or bishop or not based on what is in his heart ?

Are you going to EXPLICITLY ask the question --- HAVE YOU EVER COMMITTED ADULTERY IN YOUR HEART ? or HAVE YOU EVER HAD HOMOSEXUAL DESIRES IN YOUR HEART ? or HAVE YOU EVER LUSTED AFTER MATERIAL THINGS IN YOUR HEART ?

Are these questions standard questions in your church or in your committee ?

I can tell you honestly that if you asked me this question as an applicant, I will honestly answer YES to the first and third question above. Would that sin-in-my-heart then disqualify me from being pastor ? ( assuming I was educationally qualified and applied for such a position ).

Would it be better for me to lie and say NO in order to get a better chance of being ordained than be honest ?

Furthermore, the last thing a regenerated sinner, be it a Homosexual or serial adulterer or anyone suffering from any other type of sin is going to do, is refer to themselves as a Homosexual, Serial Adulterer, or whatever the sin is. Because each of those labels imply an active condition which goes counter to the message of the Gospel of being free from your sin.

If it were an ACTIVE CONDITION, the person would be LIVING IT OUT either openly or secretly (e.g., Ted Haggard) and if he did, I would have NO OBJECTIONS to having him DEFROCKED.

However, it is not right to defrock a person from being a clergyman simply for his confession that he as lusted in his heart. This sin-in-your-heart affects EVERYONE ( even St. Paul admits to it in Romans 7 ) and if you disqualified everyone on that basis, you will have no clergy to serve at all.