God doesn't rejoice at the death of
a sinner and neither should we. But we can rejoice that the voice of a bitter,
hateful old man has been silenced. God in his providence has chosen to take
Fred Phelps, at this point in time. We will never know why now, and not 30
years ago.
Just because someone takes on the
label of "Christian" does not mean that they faithfully represent
Jesus Christ. Fred Phelps, one could say, was the polar opposite of Jesus
Christ. Fred hated, Jesus loved. It’s really that simple.
Even ignoring the extreme hatred
for the moment, Phelps' public reputation for such vile hatred created a
horribly false picture of how a Christian is supposed to be. Jesus himself
tells us in John
13:35 that the world will know we are His followers of by our love. Of
course we are never to condone or wink at sin, instead we are to recognize the
terrible weight of sin under which all of us struggle, in a wide variety of
forms. When we acknowledge our own sinfulness, we will be prompted to pray for
others and not judge them. The answer to this situation and others like it is
found in the definition of the gospel; the good news that God loves the world
and sent his son to destroy the power of sin and death. This is what the world
needs to hear, NOT "god hates fags".
The Westboro slogan is not true and does not communicate the love of God
for the world. We are here for true love and nothing else.
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