Who are the God-Haters?
Westboro Baptist Church, which is not affiliated with any Baptist organization, will be picketing the funerals of the Virginia Tech victims. Their reasoning? The Virginia Tech teachers and students who died brought their fate upon themselves by not being true Christians.
“The evidence is they were not Christian. God does not do that to his servants,” Phelps-Roper said. “You don’t need to look any further for evidence those people are in hell.”
You can read the rest of the article here.
I couldn't help but think about a similar situation posed to Jesus.
1 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
So it doesn't follow that gratuitous suffering stems from the grade of our sins.
Or consider Paul, his life was filled with calamity. (See 2 Corinthians 11:24-28) Did he undergo this suffering because of sin? No way! Paul is one of the Church's greatest saints. The reality is that Paul underwent suffering for his RIGHTEOUSNESS.
So, what are we to do with these lies and false teachings? How do we explain to a skeptical world that true Christians don't believe this?
The irony is that since Christ loves the world (John 3:16) and we are to love what Christ loves (Matthew 22:36-40), the real God-haters are these poor souls from Westboro Baptist. I also wonder how should we correct them. Thoughts?
2 comments:
Wow. This whole story is very unfortunate. I did more research on the church and they seem to operate the www.godhatesfags.com site as well. Apparently they have done the same types of protests to soldiers who were killed in battle also.
So what are we to do to show people that these folks do not represent true Christianity? First, I would hope that the general public's common sense would show these folks as lost fanatics that do not represent a real Biblical Christianity. Second we could pray for these people...
I will admit that before I came to Christ it was stories like this that did keep me away from coming to God. Maybe the Real Baptist Association could find a way to get plugged into a large network and make a statement letting people know that this is not what Christ taught. As Christians we must stand up and defend our faith! Other ideas?
how sad joe. im no theologian, but I do know that this isn't right. The words I think of when I read this are "so close yet so far away". It seems that they want to please God, but where in their tracks did they get this impression? What do we do? For sure not bad mouth them. Admit that we are no better than they are, but also try to explain mistakes and grace. These people have obviously taken it upon themselves to decide (judge if you will) on what is considered righteousness. There is no love it that. If there is no love, there is no Jesus. That should be answer enough.
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