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07/06/2007
God Hates Indictments
Westboro Baptist's Shirley Phelps-Roper has been officially charged for her June "flag desecration/ contributing to the delinquency of a minor" funeral protest arrest in Nebraska:
Funeral Protester Charged in Flag Stomp [AP via WaPo]
Now, as we've stated previously, flag desecration bans like this Nebraska statue make us completely uncomfy, and we actually think Shirley will absolutely win this if she pursues her legal options (something she most certainly will do). But then again it's Shirl, someone who condemns us to hell on a weekly daily minute-by-minute second-by-second millisecond-by-millisecond basis. How do we, in good conscience, fight for her right to stomp on a flag while busily blaming us for every America problem from hurricanes to athlete's foot?
So paraphrasing our opposition's usual rallying cry, we're going to have to take a "love the freedom of expression, hate the manner of expression" approach to Shirl's predicament. And to help us along, we also have another tool in our arsenal:
Your thoughts
Fred Phelps and his non-Christian cult at Westboro Baptist do not represent authentic, orthodox Christianity. They are not Christians. They are not Baptists. And they are not a "church." What they are is a blight upon the Christian faith. Their "preaching" and demonstrations are unbiblical and unreasonable. In fact, they are sinful.
The problem is that people like Fred Phelps and groups like Westboro Baptist will not debate me or anyone on the merits of their beliefs and practices. So as a Christian it is incredibly frustrating to see the harm they do. Preaching and teaching on the reality of hell (something I have no problem with) without using God's holy Law to bring to men and women, heterosexuals and homosexuals, the knowledge of sin does incredible damage to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul, for instance, "reasoned" with men like Felix regarding righteousness, self-control, and the judgment day to come. But with Phelps & Co. there is no reasoning. How sad.
If they truly loved those they shout at, they would take the time to reason with them. And as I've written previously here, true love speaks the truth (in love). True love would state clearly that homosexuality is a sin. True love would take people through the Law of God and demonstrate that everyone has fallen drastically short of their Creator's righteous standard. True love would show men and women the perfect standard by which they will be judged, show them they are guilty in the Courtroom of Eternal Justice, and are headed to hell. True love would then place the teaching and proclamation of God's love in its proper, Christ-centered context – that being true loves direct correlation to the Cross of Jesus Christ. The cross of the Messiah is the focal point of God's love for the world. True love acknowledges that God is holy, we are sinners, God judges sin, we're guilty, God saves through Christ alone.
True love - Bible and Christ-centered love - is a foreign concept to Mr. Phelps and his cult. And again, how sad.
Posted by: AJ | Jul 6, 2007 6:29:46 PM
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