In the recent days I have been on a blog hibernation and was not about to post anything new until August 15, 2012. However, in the recent days a report has come from the homosexual community accusing the author of Green Like God and The Faith Factor, Jonathan Merritt, of being a homosexual. When this story broke on Monday, it was picked up by our own Peter Lumpkins on Tuesday. I added to Peter’s comment stream that I saw Jonathan at the NOLA convention at the Cafe Du Monde on a Tuesday enjoying time with a female that appeared to be his girlfriend. After the story on Peter’s blog, Ken Silva, at Apprising Ministries revealed in an article that he contacted Azariah Southworth and reported his conversation.
Today Ed Stetzer, President of LifeWay Research, released an interview with Jonathan Merritt where he affirms that Azariah Southworth claims are somewhat valid. Jonathan affirms;
We corresponded several times by email and text for a couple of weeks, some of them inappropriate…we had physical contact that went beyond the bounds of friendship. I was overcome with guilt, knowing I had put myself in an unwise situation. We never saw each other again and we ceased contact after a period of time.
I would like to address, not the reality of this statement nor do I want to address innocuous statements concerning Merritt’s confession. I honestly do not know the details and am only responding to what is in the public and what is part of this interview. George Washington had rules he lived by for maintaining “Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation”. One such rule is;
“Be not hasty to believe flying reports to the disparagement of any.”
Thus, I am not being hasty, but I am going to point to a few facts that need to be addressed.
