Protests

The folks from Westboro Baptist Church (Topeka, Kansas) were in town this week-end. I was way to busy to pay much attention, but the newspaper shared a bit about their reasons for showing up at Fielder Road Baptist and Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic, two Churches in Arlington, Texas.

Aman Batheja reported in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram – Abigail Phelps said Westboro Baptist Church has been protesting around the country for 20 years. “This entire nation and the world has been saturated with these words, and we have bound this nation,” she said. “So yeah, we’ve accomplished exactly what the lord God [sic] intended us to accomplish.” The group’s newer signs include: “Thank God For Oil Spills.” Phelps said God caused the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as punishment for “antichrist Obama” [sic] and the country’s refusal to repent of its sins.

I don’t mean to sound unkind or un-lloving, (then again, maybe I do)  but I know a little about what “the Lord God intended us to accomplish,” and this isn’t it. The folks from Westboro have managed to miss the whole of God’s design and will in relationship to brothers and sisters in Christ. I might mention that President Obama is not the “Antichrist” (he’s not nearly that smart or popular) and that “oil spills” are generally caused by negligence or faulty equipment. But that is beside the point.

Pastor Phelps probably hasn’t discovered “lloveletters” yet. But when he does, perhaps he will figure out a way to practice llove rather than stooping to the unbeliever’s path of “foolish protest.”

And you can quote me!

So, the point is, God’s design never includes choosing up sides among Believers and carrying around foolish signs while shouting ignorant epithets at one another.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I read the Scripture to make clear that the “World” is to know that we are disciples of Christ because of the “Believer’s llove for one another.” (John 13:35)