God loves…
i copied this from Steven Bush… my thoughts are below.
Fred Phelps is the man that has brought to America such things at www.godhatesfags.com & www.godhatesamerica.com & www.priestsrapeboys.com. he is a man that pastors a church in kansas. a church that is known for hate instead of love. they are the church that is seen picketing funerals of soldiers…all the while holding pickets that say God Hates Americas & God hates Fags.
it breaks my heart to see such a wonderful & beautiful thing such as the Gospel of Jesus & his story of love & redemption get pissed on & defamed by people such as Fred Phelps and the people that go to his Westboro Baptist Church. these are the very people that will be picketing the funeral of Tim Russert (newsanchor for MSNBC) [today].
there will come a day where people like Fred Phelps will have a rude awakening. it saddens me to know that these people think they are truly helping the advancement of God’s Kingdom. when in all actuality they are doing more damage than good.
i apologize to anyone who reads this blog & is not a Christian. this man & his church & their beliefs are the farthest thing from the true loving & redemptive story of Jesus Christ as you can get. please don’t discredit Christianity because of these people & their picket lines.
my thoughts are… that i am unbelievably ashamed that this church is only 45 minutes from where i live. it is so hard to see them picketing and spreading hate in the name of Jesus and our God, even just down the street. nothing about what they do is love or from Christ and it is a difficult presence to live down as a Christian in this area. there was even one sunday a few years ago that they picketed Westside and i don’t even remember why.
i am asking you now, to pray for this church. it is hard to believe, i know, but God loves even these people and wants them to find true repentance from their sin against Him. no one is perfect, His grace covers all… but when you have people spewing hatred as love… and this hatred as the Love of God… it needs to be stopped, in the true name of Jesus. not through our own act of hate toward them, but through our Christ-like love, despite their actions.
pray today, that any presence that this church might have at Tim Russert’s funeral would be ignored as Christianity but rather, the true Spirit of God would shine through the faith of the Russert family.
I understand where you and Steven are both coming from in this entry. Fortunately for the world people, even non-Christians are starting to see Westboro and the things they do and are starting to think that these folks are a wee-bit off their rockers. You can check out http://tinyurl.com/57buxn to read about a shock jock here in Central Florida who offered them 30 minutes of air-time on his syndicated show just so they wouldn’t protest a soldiers funeral.
With that said, we’ve got walk the very fine line of not being judgmental ourselves. (I really shouldn’t be saying anything because I’m one of the most judgmental people I know) If all we do is judge Westboro (and don’t misunderstand me I’m not saying this entry did that at all) then we’re no better than they are. Ya know what I mean? It’s like a vicious cycle.
When will it in?
Thanks for sharing.
i just can’t believe that these people actually picket people’s funerals. that is just sick. who do they think they are ? it reminds me of the story about the woman caught in adultery and the people that wanted to stone her, as if they had never done anything wrong before ! these people need prayer desperately.