Though it’s worth noting that the threshold for self-deception isn’t quite as low as you suggest. There exist pastors (and non-pastors) who engage in same-sex sex acts but maintain a heterosexual self-image, or who engage in opposite-sex sex acts but maintain an ascetic self-image. One easy way to do this, for example, is to ascribe all the agency to their sex partners (“I’m straight/celibate, but that tempter/temptress seduced me”), or the situation (”...but I’d had a few drinks too many”), or to more complicated ontological entities (e.g., Satan). That way they get to reframe themselves as helpless-and-blameless.
(nods) Agreed in principle.
Though it’s worth noting that the threshold for self-deception isn’t quite as low as you suggest. There exist pastors (and non-pastors) who engage in same-sex sex acts but maintain a heterosexual self-image, or who engage in opposite-sex sex acts but maintain an ascetic self-image. One easy way to do this, for example, is to ascribe all the agency to their sex partners (“I’m straight/celibate, but that tempter/temptress seduced me”), or the situation (”...but I’d had a few drinks too many”), or to more complicated ontological entities (e.g., Satan). That way they get to reframe themselves as helpless-and-blameless.