Yet another incident involving homosexuality found its way into The Dallas Morning News; the author of this article sought to blame Christians for the deaths of two lesbian friends. Apparently, they were being robbed, and when the thief realized they were homosexuals, he killed them. In his grief, the writer attempted to fix the blame for this action upon those who preach that homosexuality is a sin. The fact that such people do not advocate violence against homosexuals (admitted by him) was not sufficient; he blamed the death of his two friends on Christian teaching.
One marvels at the irony of blaming murder (which the Bible denounces) on Christian teaching when the man was already engaged in stealing (which also violates Christian doctrine). It should be obvious that this man was not under the influence of Christianity at all. Nevertheless, we (who follow God’s Word and could not sanction either action) get accused of being the problem. Following is the response I wrote to the editor of the newspaper (which they decided not to publish).
If Mel White (see “Intolerance of Gays Creates Climate for Murder,” January 7th, 1996, on page 6j) is looking for someone to blame for the murder of his two lesbian friends, he should take a long look at the face in his mirror. Despite the thesis of his book, there is no such thing as a practicing homosexual Christian, any more than there are Christian thieves, Christian adulterers, or Christian extortioners. Homosexuality is a sin a person must repent of in order to become a Christian (1 Cor.6:9-11).
It apparently never occurred to him that perhaps all of his support and encouragement for homosexuality might be the cause of his friends’ deaths. Instead of assuring everybody that the practice is all right (and even twisting the Scriptures in a vain attempt to prove it — 2 Peter 3:16), he would have served them better to explain that it is a sin that they needed to repent of. Had he and they followed such a scenario, their murderer might have let them live.
He didn’t need the 700 Club to determine that their behavior was “sick”; since homosexuality is “against nature” (Rom. 1:26), most people can figure that out even without the Bible. [Their murderer’s response to their sin is not authorized in the New Testament; by killing them, they will never have the opportunity to repent.]
Mr. White is either naive or ignorant to present homosexuals as those who are persecuted merely out of prejudice or fear. Many actively recruit young people (NAMBLA) and have been known to pursue “straights” who are married. It may be that when he gave up the Biblical doctrine of moral purity, he threw out honesty as well.
Since he is so intent on defending the sin of homosexuality, perhaps he would enjoy the opportunity to do so in a public debate. If so, he will not lack a respondent.