Bob Jones III apologized this week for a comment he made in 1980 while being interviewed at the White House. The one-time president of the uber-conservative Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, said at the time that homosexuals should be stoned to death. Despite taking 35 years to right his obvious wrong, Jones, in his apology, shows he hasn’t grown much as either a Christian or a person.
At the time, Jones was at the White House to lobby then-President Jimmy Carter against extending Civil Rights Act protections to gays. In an interview with Associated Press he said, “I’m sure this will be greatly misquoted but it would not be a bad idea to bring the swift justice today that was brought in Israel’s day against murder and rape and homosexuality. I guarantee it would solve the problem post-haste if homosexuals were stoned, if murderers were immediately killed as the Bible commands.”
Strange that Jones should have been so concerned about being misquoted when being quoted accurately was far bigger an issue. Fast forward to three years ago, when a petition was circulated at his university demanding an apology for his words, Jones stubbornly refused, and he continued to righteously refuse until last Saturday when he finally said he was sorry and admitted his comments were wrong.
The evangelical preacher said: “I take personal ownership of this inflammatory rhetoric. This reckless statement was made in the heat of a political controversy 35 years ago. It is antithetical to my theology and my 50 years of preaching a redeeming Christ who came into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
“Upon now reading these long-forgotten words, they seem to me as words belonging to a total stranger – were my name not attached. I cannot erase them, but wish I could, because they do not represent the belief of my heart or the content of my preaching. Neither before, nor since, that event in 1980 have I ever advocated the stoning of sinners.
“The Bible I love, preach, and try to practice, does not present today the stoning of sinners as God’s way. Its message is the good news that Christ Jesus was condemned on behalf of sinners to rescue all of us from condemnation and judgment by His willing sacrifice, for He was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. I apologize for the reflection those remarks bring upon Jesus Christ, Whom I love; Bob Jones University, which I have loved and served; and my own personal testimony.”
Well Bob, thanks for nothing. You’ve again missed the point. By labeling your words as “long forgotten,” you’ve ignored the fact that thousands still remember your thoughts very well, and have been actively campaigning for you to take ownership of them. Now you that you have, it is a shame that you could not have done it in a more sincere way, taking responsibility for your heinous thoughts instead of couching the comments around your equally-as-vile a belief that homosexuality is a sin.
Gay and lesbians are not sinners Bob because of their sexual orientation. They are merely another variation on the myriad of humans on earth. By failing to recognize that, and by failing to welcome them into your church and your school, you continue to marginalize a fascinating cross spectrum of individuals.
Thousands of young people have attended the Bob Jones family of schools under the leadership of a man who once wished them dead. Now that he finally has decided that they have a right to live, he brands them sinners in need of salvation. As the LGBT community struggles with gaining equality in South Carolina, it’s time to invite them with open arms into your home and your life, Bob. Doing anything less perpetrates discrimination and pain. It’s the Christian way.
