God Hates Fred Phelps (?)
“God Hates America”“Too Late To Pray”
“God Is Your Enemy”
“America Is Doomed”
“Thank God for [Dead Soldiers, 9/11, IEDs]
Free speech run amok.
It’s hard to get angry at the news anymore. So much murder, death, corruption, spin, extortion, starvation, hopelessness… you can’t care about all of it and keep your nerves intact. Desensitization is the consequence of an information-soaked society.
But I’m sure my blood was not alone in boiling at the latest news from Crackpot Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. “Pastor” Fred Phelps, infamous for his leadership in the “God Hates Fags” demonstrations, is protesting not just the war in Iraq, not just the Bush Administration, but the soldiers and even the widows, declaring to the spouse of a departed, “You’re partly responsible for him being dead, woman.”
So, without bothering to ask any funeral attendees their opinion of the war, or of homosexuality, Fred and his crew are crashing the party, holding aloft their signs of contempt and derision. And I mention homosexuality because, for this crowd, that’s what it all boils down to. Fred isn’t really against the war, or the military, or their widows. He’s against “fags” and all those who tolerate them.
Not only is his rhetoric disgusting, it’s illogical. He has a knack for contradicting himself. His website claims that Jesus did not die for the unregenerate, including homosexuals, and that they have no chance for redemption. Yet he persists in picketing against them, demanding that they turn and repent. He thanks God for dead soldiers, and yet, as quoted above, blames widows for bringing dead soldiers about.
I answered a poll at Good Morning America’s website that told me I am among the unanimity of responders so far in believing that funerals should be off-limits to protesters. I can say with confidence that America is against people like Fred Phelps, and for legislation (being introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Michael Rogers of Michigan) to keep him and his ilk away from grieving friends and family.
We despise his message. We abhor his method. Do we hate Fred Phelps? Does God?
“For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have?” Jesus asks in Matthew 5:46. If we cannot love our kids when they’re insubordinate, our friends when they’re negligent, and our fellow citizens when they’re out of their minds, we have not loved at all.
And ultimately, if we find our love to be no better than Fred’s, I have only one thing to say:
“America is doomed.”
Labels: culture, media, politics, spirituality
Posted at 9:58 AM
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6 Comments:
oye.
Sick. Just sick. You know, this whole thing is as frustrating to me as i'm sure the "fundamentalist" Muslim violence is to peaceful Muslims. How do we survive in a world where all types of people, many of them horrible examples of Christ and His teachings, claim to be Christians? Do you think the world sees ridiculous groups like this as a representation of the Church, worse yet, of Christ? Undoubtedly some do. But what about the majority of Americans?
Obviously we just have to try harder to let OUR true colors shine through, in spite of our devlish "brothers and sisters". I'll be the first one to say that some degree of intolerance is necessary in a number of situations. As Christians, we cannot tolerate this kind of behavior from other believers, even only nominal ones. Does that mean we try to beat them at their own game? Of course not. But it does mean that we have to stand up against the Fred Phelpses of the world.
God may not hate Fred and his band of cronies (who knows, He may), but He sure abhors they way they profane His name and hate His beloved creation.
blasphemy against the Holy Spirit - not a "minor" offense in God's eyes. For me, the best way to combat this evil is to scream even louder the love of Jesus by my actions. But every fibre of my being wants to go against the will of Jesus and inflict bodily harm against that man.
I'm with you both. I do wonder, however, whether the Muslim comparison is a good one. Is peacefulness the true call of Mohammad? I don't really know... I've heard both sides of this one.
I encourage everybody to take the link in my post for Crackpot Baptist Church (legally named Westboro Baptist Church) to their article in Wikipedia. It's a very thorough, very helpful explanation of Fred and the gang. I would have been inflicting bodily harm on them right alongside Fisher until I read that article. Now I know that it is truly a cult, not just a crazy bunch of psuedo-christians. When you have a fortified compound, incest by design, and an exclusivistic claim on salvation, I think that qualifies as a cult.
I wish the media would have said some of those things, to distance Westboro from us "real" Christians. But when I think about it, I realize that it is not the Phelpses who are doing the most damage to the Name of Christ. It's the lukewarm (or "cool") Christians that are really dragging his rep through the mud. I think most people are not fooled by the cults, but we, through our complacency, have convinced many, many people that Christ is only interested in fluffing the pillows of his chosen few.
Dude,
I read a good portion of that article just a little while ago. I didn't realize there was anything past the intro portion when i looked at it yesterday. Thanks for drawing my attn to that, Coreman.
I will have to say that hanging the flag upside down is not an entirely bad idea. I agree that America has lost her faith in God, that she is not God's "new Israel", and that she is not likely to endure as world power for too many more decades. I do wonder if, in some instances, God is bringing judgment to us. Not merely because of growing homosexual tolerance, but because we are blaspheming His name in front of the whole world in many ways. That's not to say that everything bad that happens is a result of His judgment, as this moronic group believes, just that some of it could be His wrath. Even then, that doesn't mean we are to cheer it on. We are called to repent on behalf of our people, and to continually call them to repentance, but with love.
I don't know if i agree that lukewarm Christians are more harmful to the cause of Christ than these other lunatics, but i would say they are equally so. Both are harmful for different reasons. The blatantly hateful, un-Christian "Christians" are obviously extremists that few people take seriously, but they still blaspheme Christ all over the media, because they get more attention. However, the masses of nominal, apathetic Christians do extreme damage from underneath, like termites. These are the ones who slowly transform the gospel into something it was never meant to be... American, consumeristic, quick-fix, prosperity-promising, individualistic, civilized, institutionalized... I do wonder which is most "dangerous", although both should be opposed.
Here are some links that I believe will be interested
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