I’m hearing this phrase over and over again, and can I just say that I’m pretty darn tired of folks using their religion as a shield to hide behind when they are flinging their hatred and stupidity around the way a monkey throws poo.
Let’s start with the good folks of Westboro Baptist Church, because things are gonna get pretty real later, but I think most of us can agree that the Westboro folks are kooks. The banner atop the homepage for WBC is GodHatesFags. That’s their masthead. God also apparently hates Jews, Catholics, the media and soldiers, by the way. Essentially, God hates everyone and everything except WBC’s congregation. They are the elect, and everyone else will be cast into hell. In fact, when I visited the site, I noticed a little counter that tells me exactly how many people have been cast into hell since I opened their page. How helpful.
Now, without agreeing in any way, shape or form with these people or their agendas, I kinda see their platform. There are plenty of verses (mostly in the Old Testament) that talk of God’s hatred for people. These people were cruel, unrighteous, and sinful, and God hated them and their actions. WBC folks extend that hatred to today, and they feel that they must vocalize God’s hatred of wickedness and the people who wallow in it daily.
But here’s the big BIG problem: Jesus.
Jesus brought the world a message of love and peace. Jesus asks us to do something that is completely counter-intuitive and alien to our survivalist nature: he challenges us to love others unconditionally.
“But I say to you...love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” ~ Luke 6: 27-28
And for most of us, the love part is really easy when we’re loving other Christians. We like to love those who are like us, the people who get it. The people who are filled with the awe and wonder of a man sacrificing himself for our eternal benefit.
The love thing gets dicey when we have to love criminals, atheists, homosexuals, Jews, Muslims, poor people, or anybody we somehow deem to be “other” than us. Because apparently “other” means “less than” or “not worthy.”
But even though there are truly sinful folks in the world, and even if God really does hate particular people for their sins and intends to doom them to everlasting judgement, Jesus instructed us to treat them with love, respect, and humility. The absolute worst thing we’re supposed to do to people who willfully reject God is….leave them alone.
“And whoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when you depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.” ~ Matthew 10:14
“And if the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into the pit.” ~ Matthew 15:14
Jesus, you see, was big about leaving the judgement up to God and leaving salvation always an option on the table for people to come to. But who the heck wants to come to salvation when those who claim to have it are always so darn mean?
We can’t turn people away from our businesses because we’re Christian. We can’t withhold money from government programs we don’t like because we’re Christian. We can’t refuse people the right to live the way they want because their lifestyle conflicts with our Christian views. But what we MUST do as Christians is be kind to all people, whether we agree with them or not, whether we like them or not. This is what Jesus explicitly told us to do.
And in case you forgot, he also explicitly told us not to judge others, because none of us is perfect.
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