To the editor:

Recently, I was confronted by a friend who challenged my approach to the messages that I have shared in the Journal-World.

In summary, he told me that the way I was sharing my messages prevented them from being received by the audience that I was trying to reach.

As Christians, he and I are both aware that a fundamental biblical truth is that one should speak the truth in love.

Many of my public opinions have dealt with the gay agenda in Lawrence, which I have opposed. However, I have genuinely wanted to share God’s love for the gay community with the hope that His truth would be made known. I realize that my words have been taken by some people as hate instead of love, although that was never my intent.

The fundamental truth that I have wanted to share is about the cross of Christ, which cannot be compromised because the cross is about God’s love and our sin. Only through repentance and the acceptance of God’s love, as expressed by Christ’s atoning work, can any of us receive forgiveness for our sins and the power to be a holy people.

Carl E. Burkhead,

Lawrence