I guess I've been living under a rock because I just found out today that the same people who proudly (and inaccurately) declare "God hates fags" have been protesting military funerals. This group from a Baptist church in Topeka has always enraged me to my very core and today was the final straw. Obviously we know that these people are evil, but I'm going to show you why. I'm going to counter their views with the words of the God they claim to serve, but obviously don't know. To see the God that I love so much so badly misrepresented and His words twisted to promote evil makes me so angry and so sad, I cannot remain silent.Jesus to the Pharisees (who seem a little nicer compared to these people):
"Healthy people don't need a doctor, sick people do...Now go and learn the meaning of this scripture: 'I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices.' For I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough." Matthew 9:12-13
"So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." John 13:34-35
Other verses to this effect: John 15:12-14,17-19, Matthew 5:43-45, Luke 6:27-34
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his son into the world to condemn it, but to save it." John 3:16-17
"I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love." John 15:9
"If a shepherd has one hundred sheep, and one wanders away and is lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the other ninety-nine others and go out into the hills to search for the lost one? And if he finds it, he will surely rejoice over it more than the other ninety-nine that didn't wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father's will that even one of these little ones should perish." Matthew 18:12-14
"If you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins." Matthew 6:15
I could list so, so many more scriptures to show that God does not hate anyone, God is not killing our troops in Iraq, God did not rejoice over 9/11, and God does not hate America, or Canada or Sweden or any other country they have listed on their website. God is a just God, He has laws that He expects to be followed, but He does not hate anyone who does not follow these laws, rather He longs for them to follow His ways because He has a beautiful plan for their lives. He doesn't hate those who don't follow His ways, he longs for them, He anguishes over the pain that comes into all of our lives in this depraved and fallen world. If God were to hate anyone (which He doesn't) it would be those who were self-righteous and judgmental of the lost. Those who believe in Him and have his words to look to are in far more trouble than those who had no idea they were going against his laws. The reverand Fred Phelps might be really surprised to see where he ends up when he leaves this world. That's all I have to say.
