Reader Submission: Westboro Baptist protests

Westboro Baptist protests in NE Philly “An everyday Christian’s point of view”

When I learned that the “good ‘ol righteous folks” from Westboro Baptist Church were going to hold protests at two Philadelphia Catholic High Schools it forced a group of people I was aware of from the back of my mind all the way to the forefront.  When you think of wolves in sheep’s clothing this is the pure example of that saying.   Their hatred for just about everything and everyone is on the news every now and then but to learn that they are going to be on our home turf in Northeast Philly really got me fired up.

How dare they!?!?! What right do they have!?!?!?!

Well as far as rights they do have them.  They have the right to peacefully gather and they have the right to their point of view. BUT, what they do not have the right to is total lack of common sense.  That common sense is the common courtesy that you do not interrupt the hurtful and very PRIVATE family moment of a family funeral.  The common sense of when you want to get your point across or heard you do not start with teenagers trying to start their day off at school.  What this tells me is just how underhanded and cowardly these people are.

Let’s look at Westboro’s favorite target, homosexuals. As a Christian do I believe homosexuality is a sin? Yes, it is stated so in the Bible which I believe to be the Word of God. But in that being said we are told that no sin is greater than the other. So when I sin, as I do on a regular basis being the human that I am, I have failed God just as much as anyone else be them Christian, Jew, Muslim, etc. When Christ came to us He did not come to be with those who were “righteous” but He came to those who needed Him. He ate with the sinners, He walked with the sinners, He died in between two sinners.  One of those sinners, a thief, said that Christ did not deserve the earthly fate that they were going through but instead they, the thieves, did.  He also asked Christ to remember him when He entered His kingdom.  Jesus did not say, “No you are a thief,” or “Well for your sins you need to spend 1,000,001 years in purgatory.” No, he said from THIS DAY forward, you will be with me in my kingdom.

Ken Phelps and Westboro’s message is wrong, deadly wrong.  I say deadly because I sit here and pray for those misled people of that “congregation” just as I pray for those who suffer through any sin. Whether you, yourself, think it is a sin or not. Phelps has done in my view the worst thing any person proclaiming to be of God can do. He has misled a great number of people in their faith.  He preaches hate which is the opposite of Christ’s message of love.

As a Christian how can I stand with those who I view as in sin? Well first and foremost as I said, I suffer with my own sins so I am in the same boat as them.  Also I know at whose feet to lay those sins and turn to as I fall on a daily basis. As a Christian I plead with people, do not view these people as a Christian group, wolves in sheep’s clothing possibly for the tax exempt status. As a person I will stand in protest with others as these people try to attack our teenagers, our Jewish brothers and sisters, and families who want nothing to do but mourn and bury their loved ones.  Let’s drive this group back to their compound in Kansas and let God sort them out in time.

Brian Harris, Bustleton

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