Jonathan Merritt on being "Outed"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" This post is written by Andrew Marin, President and Founder of The Marin Foundation. On Twitter this morning I saw a link to a story in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/loveisanorientation\/2014\/04\/jonathan-merritt-on-being-outed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jonathan Merritt on being "Outed"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" This post is written by Andrew Marin, President and Founder of The Marin Foundation. On Twitter this morning I saw a link to a story in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/loveisanorientation\/2014\/04\/jonathan-merritt-on-being-outed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Love is an Orientation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-03T10:27:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/loveisanorientation\/files\/2014\/04\/39030-300x170.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andrew Marin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andrew Marin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/loveisanorientation\/2014\/04\/jonathan-merritt-on-being-outed\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/loveisanorientation\/2014\/04\/jonathan-merritt-on-being-outed\/\",\"name\":\"Jonathan Merritt on being \\\"Outed\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/loveisanorientation\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-03T10:27:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-04-03T10:27:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/loveisanorientation\/#\/schema\/person\/f0ea2c5dcf314688ae571cb498de383f\"},\"description\":\" This post is written by Andrew Marin, President and Founder of The Marin Foundation. 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{"id":7374,"date":"2014-04-03T05:27:50","date_gmt":"2014-04-03T10:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/loveisanorientation\/?p=7374"},"modified":"2014-04-03T05:27:50","modified_gmt":"2014-04-03T10:27:50","slug":"jonathan-merritt-on-being-outed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/loveisanorientation\/2014\/04\/jonathan-merritt-on-being-outed\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Merritt on being “Outed”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

On Twitter this morning I saw a link to a story in Christianity Today where author and Religion News Service columnist Jonathan Merritt explained the backstory<\/a> to Azariah Southworth\u2019s very public outing of him as gay in 2012. The Christianity Today piece by Merritt is an excerpt from his new book, Jesus Is Better Than You Imagined<\/a><\/em> (which I have not read (yet)). After reading Merritt\u2019s excerpt a few things struck me as significant to the ongoing worldview differentiations of the LGBT-conservative dialogue.<\/p>\n

First, Merritt talks about the sexual abuse he suffered as a little boy by a much older, close family friend. That sick perpetrator, and others like him, steal the youth, vitality, and hope from so many innocent kids. I know not whether Merritt\u2019s perpetrator is a believer, or if he has repented, or if he continues to molest other defenseless little boys. What I do know is that God is not unjust and does not forget (Hebrews 6:10a). There are certain things in life I ask God, \u201cwhy?\u201d Indeed, I can theologically rationalize \u201ccorrect\u201d answers to any of those questions, but none do justice to evil\u2019s horrendous and unjustifiable perpetrations. Merritt has had over twenty years to remember these perpetrations every day, and he has obviously come to a point of understanding God\u2019s control in his life and this situation, because his writing is more gracious than I would have been to such a person. To Merritt\u2019s faith and perseverance goes much credit.<\/p>\n

Second, here is where the culture war takes over. Partisan activists on both sides of the divide will quickly forget about Jonathan Merritt<\/em>, and instead use his story that legitimately happened to him<\/em>\u00a0as ammunition to validate their partisan worldview. The far right will say; \u201cSee, homosexuality is caused by sexual abuse. No one is born gay.\u201d And the far left will say; \u201cMerritt is a conservative sell-out as he propagates the lie that sexual abuse causes homosexuality. All real LGBT people are born that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where is the humanity for Merritt?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nowhere to be found. <\/strong><\/p>\n

And the partisan activist like it that way because it\u2019s easier for them to hate<\/em> without accountability.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The above process is the core of what continues the ridiculous nature of culture\u2019s most pressing disconnect.<\/p>\n

Third, Merritt doesn\u2019t self-identify as gay in the excerpt. He doesn\u2019t answer any of the baseline questions around the contemporary dialogue regarding sexual orientation. He also doesn\u2019t speak to his future. Will Merritt live his life celibate or one day have a partner? And he owes none of those answers to you, me, or anyone else<\/strong>. Jonathan Merritt is a person who loves God who is loved by God. And that\u2019s all I need.<\/p>\n

Yes, he was outed. Yes, he is a public figure and is offering his story to public critique. Yes, the questions will always abound from people from all sides who will rabidly demand answers from him until the day he dies. I could care less about any of that. And I hope Merritt never gives anyone the pleasure of knowing any of those answers<\/strong>. He doesn\u2019t owe you or me or anyone any of those things. You either trust Merritt or you don\u2019t. You like his writing, thoughts, and opinions or you don\u2019t. No matter what he says,\u00a0I\u2019m gay and getting married to my partner<\/em> or I\u2019m celibate because I believe in a traditional interpretation of scripture,<\/em>\u00a0partisan activists will still have a field day with him, his story, and his conclusions no matter what.<\/p>\n

Merritt is Brother Jonathan to me. Always will be. It is not up to Merritt for you to decide what path you will take in relation to your own worldview, his story, or other\u2019s in your life.<\/p>\n

Much love.<\/p>\n

www.themarinfoundation.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"