Dear Mr. President:

My name is Ken Weliever and I am writing because you mentioned me in a speech last Thursday at the LGBT reception at the White House. You don’t remember? I am the one who “still hold(s) fast to worn arguments and old attitudes” regarding homosexuality. I am among those people you called “good and decent people in this country who don’t yet fully embrace their gay brothers and sisters.” Yes, I am the one who has “traditionally resisted these changes.” Yes, I am the one whose “heart” and “attitude” you mentioned more than once, that you are trying to change “step by step, law by law, mind by changing mind.”

Since you are concerned about my heart, my “old attitude” and my “worn arguments” I thought you should know a little about me.

I am a 61-year-old preacher of the gospel for the North Boulevard church of Christ in Tampa, Florida. I grew up in Indiana in a traditional family–I had a mother, a father and a brother. We attended church every Sunday. I was taught the responsibility of work, the necessity of honesty, and the virtue of sexual purity. My wife, Norma, and I have been faithfully married to each other for 41 years. We have a biological son, Kenny, and a daughter, Rachel we adopted in 1978. Thank God, her birth mother did not choose abortion! I have been a preacher of the gospel for over 40 years.

I was taught by my parents and Bible Class teachers, as well as through my own personal study of the Bible that fornication, adultery, and homosexuality are sins (1 Cor. 6:9-11). Although society has changed in the past 50 years the Bible has not. In fact, the apostle Paul in Romans 1:18-32 severely condemned lesbian and homosexual acts. Please, Mr. President, take a minute to read this passage. The depravity of this sin is emphasized by the words that God uses to describe it: “unclean” “dishonor,” “vile passions,” “shameful,” “debased,” and “not fitting.”

Are these the “worn arguments “and “old attitudes” to which you were referring? If so, Mr. President, I plead guilty!

Sunday morning I preached a sermon on the question raised in Psalm 11:3, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” The foundations in American are crumbling. I am not speaking of the educational or economic foundations, but the spiritual ones. The four I mentioned were: (1) respect for the sanctity of life, (2) the traditional family, (3) old fashioned work ethic, and (4) being a God honoring society. I call upon you, Mr. President, to lead us back to these time honored, Biblical foundations on which our great country was founded and flourished.

Mr. President, I understand you are searching for a new “church home.” Some reports suggest that you are considering Evergreen Chapel at Camp David where the Southern Baptist preacher Carey Cash is the minister. I thought you would like to know the official Southern Baptist position on marriage and homosexuality. Their web site states the following:

Mr. President, I agree with that position, as do millions of Americans regardless of their denominational affiliation, or lack of one. I think rather than trying to change “old attitudes and worn arguments” we need to restore the ancient attitudes regarding morality and return to the God honoring arguments that affirm and support the traditional family unit.

In closing let me thank you for taking the time to read my letter and consider my concerns. I assure you that I believe all people should be treated with respect and accorded the dignity as human beings created in the image of God. Hateful speech is unbecoming of a Christian. Malicious acts that would harm others are wrong, as you mentioned in your remarks. However, to accept and celebrate homosexuality as an appropriate lifestyle is also wrong. It is sinful. It ought not to be legalized by our government, sanctioned by society, or promoted by our President.

My attitude remains unchanged! And my arguments shall continue to be as worn as God’s Word. Many of us are praying for you, Mr. President, that God can use you as a force for good and that your own heart and attitude could be changed to return to the values our country once held dear.

Sincerely,

Ken Weliever

–From Biblical Insights, September 19, 2009