Are there any other christians out there who are disappointed?

Question

in Rev. Phelps and the Westboro Church? Do you feel that satan has gotten ahold of them and is using them to turn people off of christians?

Phelps and the westboro baptist church are the people that are protesting at soldiers funerals.

Answer 1

I'm disappointed in their behavior. It's clearly not what "Jesus would have done." (In fact, we see Jesus acting *completely* differently with prostitutes and other socially shunned people.)

Along with their protests of soldiers' funerals, they're the ones who fueled a "Mathew Shepherd burn in hell" web site and picket homosexual funerals, etc.

Sadly, I believe (as another poster does) that they are sincerely doing what they think is the right thing to do. I've read some of their stuff. They have a cold logic about them, fueled by religious zealotry, but they have little understanding and/or love for individual people, the process of spiritual growth, or the grace of God. Everything is black or white to them, and the hurt they do people (driving some away from God) is just "collateral damage" in their holy doctrinal war.

They also use distorted logic to fuel their behavior. For example, they claim to have "free speech" rights to harrass a dead soldier's family in their moment of grief; so why aren't they picketing the White House and political leaders who made the decision to go to Iraq? No, they instead go for what will get them more public and media attention -- they beat on the weak, helpless, hurting, and lonely, rather than on those with power.

I can't help but see that as pathetic -- the mark of scavengers and jackals.

But that's what evil does and is. The most dangerous people are not those who are trying to be "evil," but those who think they are being "good" without having love for others as their motivating force in how they treat and respond to them.

Westboro is small (the church that meets, I think, is only 70 people). They get far more press than their size or ideas deserve. It's easy to hate them. I know they anger me.

But we are all guilty to some degree of wanting to see harm come to our enemies; they just take it to the extreme. What can we learn from looking in their distorted mirror? They leave me sad, and I want to pray for them. They need a real transformation of heart... as do we all at some point.

Answer 2

Yes, I am digusted with that church. I walked away from my beliefs in a formal setting a few years ago (going to church etc etc). Now that I have started to re approach my faith and christianity as a whole, I have found it is the hardest thing in the world to be a good christian and not feel like a leper everytime the news and media focus on the travelling freak show that you have mentioned.

All faiths have these types, its sad but predictable. I try not to write it off as Satan doing anything, its really a bunch of folks being misled and in reality, it is very bad for christians as a whole. If I ever want a seat on the Metro, I just open my Bible. Yeah, thats a bit odd to me now.

I am not disappointed, I am ashamed and I hope folks can see, that in reality, bigotry and hate can take any form and at times yes, it goes to a church. Hardly a christian act and sadly it is portrayed as a church.

Answer 3

Forgive me butting in on this. I've been a Christian for a long time and I'm beginning to think that disappointment with church is the eventual outcome for anyone who's truly seeking God. Church can't do what it sets out to do, unless it has set out to make itself redundant.

What am I talking about? Well:

You go to church
You get taught about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible etc...
You try to put it into practice
You get into a relationship with God
You realise you don't need to be taught by a human because you can relate to God DIRECT
You keep going to church, but it has no real use any more
Hey presto, you're going for something it can't deliver
Disappointment ensues.

I don't know the minister or church you ask about, but they may not be satan-influenced, but just normal.

Answer 4

Rev. Phelps is a nut case. I remember he protested at the trial of the killing of Matthew Shepard. He came to Canada about five years ago, to protest the Toronto Gay Pride parade, but never showed up. I recall, while listening to talk radio program, he basically took over the discussion by allowing his daughter, a lawyer, to speak with him.

Answer 5

No, I believe they truly think they are doing the right thing. That's the scary part!

I honestly don't think Satan is as involved in peoples lives as we think, most of the time I think we just get caught up in something and lose perspective.

Answer 6

I have never been disappointed by God or by Jesus. Some times I am disappointed by the actions of people. This is true for Christians, atheists, other religions. People will disappoint us but God won't.

Answer 7

He's making organized religion worse than it presently is.