August 30, 2001
Ms. Karen Weldin
Director of Operations
Soulforce
Dear Karen:
First of all, please forgive me for not having responded to your letter before now. When I received your letter, I was out of town and then was gone the entire month of July and part of August out of the country and on vacation. I just got back into town and this is why I am now answering your letter.
Karen, with all due respect, let me get straight to the point. I have read your letter very carefully and am going to say some things in direct response to some of your assertions and statements.
First of all, you talk about being more "inclusive" in your beliefs and you said in your second letter "Jesus never advocated exclusivity." Nothing could be further from the truth. When Jesus said in John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father unless he comes through me" that is probably the most exclusive statement ever made in the history of mankind.
Furthermore, He said in Luke 13:5, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." In other words, it doesn’t matter what else you do or how well you do it; it doesn’t matter how sincere you are in what you believe; it doesn’t matter how religious or tolerant you are; if you do not repent, you will perish and spend eternity separated from God. I would call that extremely exclusive.
Concerning your psychologist at OBU, I virulently disagree with him that "all persons have homosexual tendencies and that given the right time and place they would surface." Quite frankly that is a statement without any foundation whatsoever and is pure speculation with no evidence to back it up whatsoever.
I must admit to you that I do write this with a broken heart. First of all, I write it with a broken heart for your mother. Your godly mother has told you the absolute truth and it is my prayer that you would listen to her and all the godly counsel that she is trying to provide for you.
You say that you "daily seek God’s will in your life." I have found in my own life that God’s will 99% of the time has already been revealed in His word. Karen, the cold hard fact is that no matter what you say, what psychologists say, or what others say, the Bible is unequivocally clear – homosexuality is a sin just as much as fornication, adultery, incest, or bestiality. There are lots of other sinners in the world who have "come to the point of reconciliation with their sin." That does not make it right.
I do believe that Jesus is weeping – weeping over the fact that you have rejected His word, turned away from the clear truth of the Bible, and are now engaged in a sinful lifestyle. I want you to know that I say this in love but I say it with all the conviction in my heart.
Therefore, in short, there is no need for us to meet. I can assure you that nothing you will say is going to change my mind and I am sure the same would be true in reverse. Obviously, you and Soulforce and others are welcome to come to St. Louis and I hope you will find that, as in New Orleans, our messengers will treat you with kindness and with love. Nevertheless, there will be no meeting between us but a prayer on my part that God will bring you to a place of repentance and that you will turn back to His will for your life.
Sincerely,
James Merritt
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