Aug 08 2007
Sick………
The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KN, plans to stage protests at funerals of victims of the 35W bridge collapse to state that God made the bridge fall because he hates America, and especially Minnesota, because of its tolerance of homosexuality.
[From me]
They don’t know the God I know and serve. Sad….
What do you think?
P.S. If you want to see Shirley Phelps-Roper up-close and personal–check out my interview with her last summer–here.
16 responses so far
Unfortunately this is the view many of our gay brothers and sisters have of Christians. They see us as rejecting them even before we have a chance to talk to them. It is almost automatic.
How many people have walked past a Church or turned away from a conversation with a Believer over this sort of foolishness? Paul’s exhortation to love in 1 Cor. 13 is NOT just for starry eyed boys and girls, it is the core of the Christian’s walk with the world.
Doesn’t matter how Orthodox our Creed is, if we are cruel to those for whom Christ died, what faith will He find in our hearts?
I spoke to a gay girl this weekend. She told me that she knew that in our hearts, most Christians were very much like Phelps and gang. It was a sad conversation and only the beginning of what I pray will be an opportunity to build trust.
Wouldn’t it be astounding if a group of loving Christians countered these folks with the same ferver??? Instead of protesting, showing the LOVE and COMPASSION of God to the victims and families while heaping burning coals upon the lips of those Westboro wackos (whom God loves just as much as He loves me.) That’s why He is God and I am not.
They are mercenaries who are willing to sell their so called convictions for media air time. They bring shame to the name of Christ. I am still amazed that you were about to interview them and not get physically sick.
What really shocks me is that I have heard this guy was a major civil rights crusader several decades ago. I often wonder if he was ever sane and just went bad?
Initially, one thing come to mind when stuff like this happens. Jesus Christ told His disciples to beware of false prophets and teachers. i think this is an excellent example of that.
Kevin, I’m sickened by this, in fact all the so-called righteous protest by Westboro and the likes. The real problem is (and has been noted here) most unbelievers see ALL of us as they see Westboro. In fact, I’ve seen some of it myself.
I’m weary of Christians who only focus on the ‘thou shalt not’s). Especially when the ‘thou shalt not’s are pointing to others, rather than ourselves.
Alycelee
It’s truly sad, Kevin.
How are these people being “funded” so they can stage so many protests?
Where will they “not” protest?
This is sad, but entirely predictable behavior from the group. I’ve stopped linking to them from my site after learning that they make money off of every click to their websites. And I think I’m going to stop writing about them as well. There’s just no point.
very unfortunate.
very unfortunate indeed!
I worked with a student who has two mommies for over a year and a half. He wasn’t interested in a relationship with Jesus because he thought that all Christians were like these freaks. Well after a year and a half he accepted Christ this summer. Why? Because it took him so much time to realize that real honest Christians aren’t filled with hate and that Jesus came for us all.
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Having come to Oklahoma from Kansas and growing up just 25 miles north of Wichita, Kansas, I have been well aware of Fred Phelps for many years and his group picketing so many funerals of late is an atrocity. He just keeps getting worse and worse. Even when he passes on his small group will keep going on. Christians ignored or just complained amongst themselves about Madeline Murray O’Hara and we still do not have many religious rights in public settings because of her group and people like her. It turned out her group was larger and more powerful than anyone thought. I’d hate to make the same mistake again.
Totaltransformation, yes, Fred Phelps was a civil rights lawyer, but according to his estranged sons, he used the term “dumb niggers” to describe his clients.
Fred is highly intelligent, but I’m not certain that he was ever quite sane. His mother died when he was very young, and he could have interpreted that as rejection, or abandonment, as children often do. His behaviour towards his family is consistent with somebody terrified of being left alone. There is a very high probability that he was sexually molested by a paedophile, too. Maybe a trusted parent figure- who knows?
I’d say that he probably has paranoid personality disorder. He is right, everyone else is wrong. He sees plots and enemies everywhere. He blasts others for their sins, but he himself is accountable to nobody. He is extremely litigious, angry, spiteful, accusing, violent and abusive. This is NOT a happy, fulfilled person! This is a very sad, deluded old man who uses coercion, abuse, threats and violence to weld his children to him, because deep down, he believes that he is essentially unlovable, and fears being abandoned again. That’s how I’d interpret his behaviour.
And his poor offspring - bullied, beaten, bashed, tortured and threatened all through their formative years- no wonder they scream their pain in public!
Fred is gay, no doubt, and not getting any action.
Name - he has 13 children to prove that he’s a true-blue hetero