Raising Hate

I wonder if these kids have any understanding of what their signs actually say. Take little "Johnny" on the left; Does he honestly believe that God caused the Columbia shuttle to have a heat-shield failure and burst into flames during reentry?
How about little "Sally" on the right? I won't ask if she knows what a "fag" is, because I'm quite sure that Mom and Dad have taught her exactly what that word means. I'm more interested in her understanding of the word "hate." In fact, I wonder if anyone associated with Westboro Baptist Church really considers what they mean when they claim that God "hates" anything.
God does hate. Let's get that out of the way. Proverbs 6:16-19 shows seven things that God hates. A lying tongue, murder, wicked hearts that devise wicked plans, people who spread strife... and others. God hates idolatry (Jeremiah 44:2-4). But, you know what God doesn't hate? You.

God does not hate "fags," nor does He hate any sinner. He hates what we do, but not us as His precious creation. How do I know this? Romans... specifically Romans 5:8 -

But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

I've had the pleasure (or perhaps displeasure!) of translating that verse from the original Greek. You know what's interesting. The while we were yet part. That's a present active particle (BOOM with the Greek grammar!) that denotes something we're currently doing. So, it's not really while we were yet sinners, it's better to say while we are being  sinners. See the difference? We change it to make more sense in the English language, but the meaning isn't that we were once something, it's that we currently ARE something - and STILL Jesus came to die for us.

Maybe I'm the stupid one here, but it seems to me that we hate much more than God does. You're black and I'm white - HATE! You're gay and I'm not - HATE! You're fat and I'm skinny - HATE! You're rich and I'm poor - HATE!

Folks - Westboro Baptist Church gets it wrong and they use the Bible to try and justify their skewed ideas. They protest and celebrate at funerals, all while speaking about hate and God's good pleasure to kill people, and all the while they seem to forget that Jesus equated hate with murder... and then those same sign-holding folks become the very thing they're protesting.

There are so many issues wrapped up in this one - it's hard to stay on a single point. So, I probably should stop there. Let me close with this:

All these problems are OUR fault... not God's. We've become so much an "entitled" society that we've even moved that entitlement towards salvation and God's perceived "requirement" to save us from the mess we've made. This is simply not true. There was no "have to" with God - He chose to. He saved you and me because  HE WANTED TO - we bring Him nothing. And what do we do with that salvation? Look back at that picture...

We bend and mold His words to fit our desires. We make Him appear to be the originator of all our evil thoughts, desires, and schemes. All the while, we forget Jesus' teaching on that last night that He would sit with His disciples. On that final night,... what did He think was most important? What did He think to say to them the eve before He would suffer on their behalf?

By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35)

If you can mix that picture with Jesus' words - then you're a much wiser person than I am. Because, try as I might, I can't picture Jesus holding one of those signs.