Q. I am a homosexual and a former drug addict. I have not been sexually active in over 11 years. I have, however, gone backwards a little on my drug addiction but not as bad as I was. I hate myself. Knowing what's inside of me has robbed me of all joy. What can I do?
(Submitted by: R. T.)
A. My heart goes out to you. You are definitely doing the right thing. However, hating yourself for the same thing every human being goes through is not too wise. The sin might be a different nature, but all of us are in the process of overcoming our sins if we want to follow God.
The Apostle Paul said in Romans 7:15-25 that he found himself doing what he shouldn't even though he didn't want to do it. But he also recognized that it wasn't him who was doing wrong but sin that dwelled in him. This is what Paul wrote:
" For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
"Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
"But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." (Romans 7:15-25)
