Westboro

"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God"

(Jesus in Mark 7:6-7).

You've probably heard of Westboro "Baptist" Church. They're well known for their outrageous protests. Their main target has been gay men and American soldiers. They claim to be teaching the word of God - but are they?

Who are Westboro?
Westboro "Baptist" Church consists of less than 100 people, most of them from the Phelps family. The patriarch of the family is the Church's pastor. They have been listed as a cult by the Apologetics Index site http://www.apologeticsindex.org/111-westboro-baptist-church.

Are they Baptists?
The problem is that Baptists have no central authority, so anyone can use the name Baptist. So if you just go by the name, yes, they are. But Westboro isn't linked with any Baptist Union, and in fact they have been condemned by Baptists all over the world. In England the Baptist Union said this:

"We do not share their hatred of lesbian and gay people. We believe that God loves all, irrespective of sexual orientation, and we unreservedly stand against their message of hate toward those communities. Neither the style nor substance of their preaching expresses the historic, orthodox Christian faith. And we ask that the members of Westboro Baptist Church refrain from stirring up any more homophobic hatred..." http://www.baptist.org.uk/news_media/latest_news/gay_play.html

So, there you have it - they go so far as to say Westboro does not represent the true Christian faith! Could you get a stronger condemnation? They're not Baptists in any meaningful sense of the word.

With that in mind, in future this site will refer to them as the "Westboro Church".

Is what they're teaching Biblical?
Let's compare some of what the Westboro Church says with the Bible. Westboro says:

"Our message to this evil world is that God hates you, and you better prepare for the return of Christ in power and glory. Jesus came the first time to save; and Jesus will come the second time in vengeance, because you do not obey the Gospel. It will be soon, and you will experience the wrath of the Lamb, face to face." http://www.godhatestheworld.com/common/html/john316.html

That's the essence of what they teach. Whoever you are, God hates you. But what does the Bible have to say? Consider the most famous verse in the Bible, and the following verse!

"God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17)

How does that fit with what Westboro teaches? They have had to come up with a complicated justification for rejecting what this verse so obviously teaches. So, Westboro says their message is that God hates you. The Bible says God loves you. Who will you believe?

Anyone who hates you, or tells you that God hates you does not know God. The Bible says, "anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:8).

How should we respond?
"Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it" (1 Peter 3:9). That's a hard teaching, but the measure of our love is not how much we love those it's easy to love. No, the measure of our love is how well we love those it's hardest to love, like those people at the Westboro Church.

Image from: http://www.godhatesfags.com/visual/photos/multisigns.jpg