1. Westboro Baptist Church left confused by 'Sorry for your loss' counter-protest - The Week
Westboro Baptist Church left confused by 'Sorry for your loss' counter-protest
If this account is true, I find it revealing that the head of the group did not even recognize the message in Christianity when it was presented publicly in their face.
Instead of a negative counterprotest, or treating others on condition of how they treat you, the protest sign was to offer "sincere condolescences and support"
DESPITE the negative actions they were protesting. This is what Christians should be doing, and the Westboro group did not even understand.
Clearly that's how foreign the message and meaning of Christianity is to them -- IF this article is accurate, reporting that they didn't get the message.
(The member of the Westboro's who apologized publicly for their protests and actions gets it, and maybe other members do, but I do not know if such members remain with this group or not.)
2. Political Cartoon I thought sends as "mixed a message" as the Westboro's it is protesting:
Nick Anderson: Fred Phelps - Nick Anderson - Truthdig
I did not like or "get" this response in #2 as much as #1.
I think the suffering we create on earth with these conflicts is where we put ourselves through hellfire. The mutual unforgiveness, denial of fault, and projection
of blame, where BOTH sides suffer in a vicious cycle. I don't think answering back and forth with more of the same negativity and rejection helps at all, but makes it worse!
This still enforces the hard-lined image that God is "unforgiving" and is out to punish people and send them to hell?
I believe the whole point of Christ Jesus is to allow a process of corrections and salvation, so no soul is lost!
On some level it makes no sense to me if God is "all powerful" and "all knowing" that any soul would end up lost forever.
Surely whatever process hell/purgatory represents is for the purpose of "burning away impurities" so that souls are saved, not lost in the fire.
So I am in the "opposite" situation, where I get the first message, but it's the second message I don't really get!
How can Christ come to save "all humanity" and still have God sending people to hell; I don't think that is God doing that, I think we do it to ourselves!
We don't need any divine help to go to hell, the purpose of God's help is to PREVENT us from sending each other there by our own unforgiveness and desire for retribution.
In heaven, I envision it more like my friend Binh told me.
That after we die, we will find ourselves among the same people we thought were so evil and lost. Whether on earth or in heaven, we still need to forgive and correct the same problems, so why not start now while we are on earth. Dying and going to heaven is not going to change that.
I believe in a process between these steps, that we are going through now.
All people and groups I know are having to face their conflicts, and come to realization
that we are all in the same boat together. Whatever one person or group is being hypocritical about, there is an area where I do the same thing; we all do.
As soon as we realize we can all make a heaven or hell out of wherever we are,
maybe we can choose to make solutions out of problems, and heaven out of hell.
Not claiming to be on higher ground while condemning our neighbors elsewhere.
When we all do that to each other, we bring each other down. Our whole govt
and democratic system is bogged down with problems instead of collaborating
and investing resources on solutions we could all agree on.
As Winston Churchill said it: "If you find yourself going through hell, keep going."
I see it as a process, that is common to all humanity. We all go through suffering
of injustice and oppression, a process of trial and error, learning from mistakes
and abuses of the past, and seeking better ways to correct and prevent them in the future.
One thing that was credited to the Westboro Baptists and their disruptive protests,
was they compelled different people to unite in trying to counteract or correct the problem.
My favorite responses were the people who sought to be compassionate and charitable,
and deliberately NOT answer hateful statements with equal anger or hatred.
So I believe the response in example #1 is more effective and true to Christianity
than the response in #2 that seems more of the same old judgment back and forth,
judging and criticizing neighbors on a superficial level. I understand that you get back the treatment and judgment you give others; but in Christianity the point is to BREAK the cycle of retribution and suffering by 'rising above' the sinful conditions and responding with love and forgiveness to heal the relations and restore peace and harmony in society.
Thanks for being here and participating in this process of
learning to correct the problems we see going on in the world,
in the media, with religion and politics, with nations and society in general.
Everything we do to change ourselves, to be bigger better people
makes the world that much more prepared to receive the same change globally.
So thank you, everyone, for contributing to this effort and responsibility for reform.
Whatever we do locally has a collective impact globally.
Whatever we change internally affects how we interact externally.
So all of us make a difference. We all have a part to play,
and share responsibility to help each other to succeed,
in making the most of what each of us has to offer.
Please feel free to post any and all thoughts you have
about what these things mean to you, and where you think humanity is heading.
And the best way we can work together toward better goals.
Thanks to all of you!
Westboro Baptist Church left confused by 'Sorry for your loss' counter-protest
Jordan Valinsky said:
If this account is true, I find it revealing that the head of the group did not even recognize the message in Christianity when it was presented publicly in their face.
Instead of a negative counterprotest, or treating others on condition of how they treat you, the protest sign was to offer "sincere condolescences and support"
DESPITE the negative actions they were protesting. This is what Christians should be doing, and the Westboro group did not even understand.
Clearly that's how foreign the message and meaning of Christianity is to them -- IF this article is accurate, reporting that they didn't get the message.
(The member of the Westboro's who apologized publicly for their protests and actions gets it, and maybe other members do, but I do not know if such members remain with this group or not.)
2. Political Cartoon I thought sends as "mixed a message" as the Westboro's it is protesting:
Nick Anderson: Fred Phelps - Nick Anderson - Truthdig
I did not like or "get" this response in #2 as much as #1.
I think the suffering we create on earth with these conflicts is where we put ourselves through hellfire. The mutual unforgiveness, denial of fault, and projection
of blame, where BOTH sides suffer in a vicious cycle. I don't think answering back and forth with more of the same negativity and rejection helps at all, but makes it worse!
This still enforces the hard-lined image that God is "unforgiving" and is out to punish people and send them to hell?
I believe the whole point of Christ Jesus is to allow a process of corrections and salvation, so no soul is lost!
On some level it makes no sense to me if God is "all powerful" and "all knowing" that any soul would end up lost forever.
Surely whatever process hell/purgatory represents is for the purpose of "burning away impurities" so that souls are saved, not lost in the fire.
So I am in the "opposite" situation, where I get the first message, but it's the second message I don't really get!
How can Christ come to save "all humanity" and still have God sending people to hell; I don't think that is God doing that, I think we do it to ourselves!
We don't need any divine help to go to hell, the purpose of God's help is to PREVENT us from sending each other there by our own unforgiveness and desire for retribution.
In heaven, I envision it more like my friend Binh told me.
That after we die, we will find ourselves among the same people we thought were so evil and lost. Whether on earth or in heaven, we still need to forgive and correct the same problems, so why not start now while we are on earth. Dying and going to heaven is not going to change that.
I believe in a process between these steps, that we are going through now.
All people and groups I know are having to face their conflicts, and come to realization
that we are all in the same boat together. Whatever one person or group is being hypocritical about, there is an area where I do the same thing; we all do.
As soon as we realize we can all make a heaven or hell out of wherever we are,
maybe we can choose to make solutions out of problems, and heaven out of hell.
Not claiming to be on higher ground while condemning our neighbors elsewhere.
When we all do that to each other, we bring each other down. Our whole govt
and democratic system is bogged down with problems instead of collaborating
and investing resources on solutions we could all agree on.
As Winston Churchill said it: "If you find yourself going through hell, keep going."
I see it as a process, that is common to all humanity. We all go through suffering
of injustice and oppression, a process of trial and error, learning from mistakes
and abuses of the past, and seeking better ways to correct and prevent them in the future.
One thing that was credited to the Westboro Baptists and their disruptive protests,
was they compelled different people to unite in trying to counteract or correct the problem.
My favorite responses were the people who sought to be compassionate and charitable,
and deliberately NOT answer hateful statements with equal anger or hatred.
So I believe the response in example #1 is more effective and true to Christianity
than the response in #2 that seems more of the same old judgment back and forth,
judging and criticizing neighbors on a superficial level. I understand that you get back the treatment and judgment you give others; but in Christianity the point is to BREAK the cycle of retribution and suffering by 'rising above' the sinful conditions and responding with love and forgiveness to heal the relations and restore peace and harmony in society.
Thanks for being here and participating in this process of
learning to correct the problems we see going on in the world,
in the media, with religion and politics, with nations and society in general.
Everything we do to change ourselves, to be bigger better people
makes the world that much more prepared to receive the same change globally.
So thank you, everyone, for contributing to this effort and responsibility for reform.
Whatever we do locally has a collective impact globally.
Whatever we change internally affects how we interact externally.
So all of us make a difference. We all have a part to play,
and share responsibility to help each other to succeed,
in making the most of what each of us has to offer.
Please feel free to post any and all thoughts you have
about what these things mean to you, and where you think humanity is heading.
And the best way we can work together toward better goals.
Thanks to all of you!
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