I am anti-gay. I am a Christian. I believe that God punishes people, organizations, and countries, for their actions and the actions of their consitutuents.
I am not, however, an inconsiderate moron (well, not most of the time). This article (rightfully) villifies someone who shares the beliefs I listed above, but who fails to pass the “not an inconsiderate moron” test. I agree with Reverend Phelps that homosexuality is wrong, and I agree that it is a possibility (though by no means a surety) that long wars of attrition and acts of terrorism against our country are a punishment for that and myriad other sins committed by our nation, but picketing a funeral–ANY funeral–is a sure way not to get your point across. As a point of fact, it is a sure way to get the entire world, saved and unsaved, to think you’re a rotten person with no regard (read: love) for the people to whom God wants you to minister. I’ll be the first one one to tell you that I have no great love for people in general, saved or otherwise, but Rev. Phelps’ actions, in my opinion, step outside any form of decency.
People like Mr. Phelps give the body of Christ a bad name. I can’t put down zealoutry, but I can put down what is nearly barbarism, and not only ineffective “ministry,” but a performance that is clearly detrimental to the cause Rev. Phelps professes to be promoting.
Yeah, I’d either read about that some time ago or saw it in the news…and I was disgusted by the protesters. While I believe active homosexuality is a sin, there is a matter of respect owed to the dead and military forces. If they were allowed to protest, than it gives people the right to protest a school-teacher’s funeral because he/she taught in a public school…all in the name of free speech. There is a time to speak out, and time to be quiet. THere are places to be heard, and places for silence.
I was wondering what you meant by:
” I believe that God punishes people, organizations, and countries, for their actions and the actions of their consitutuents”?
More specifically, what do you mean by “punish” and how does that corelate with what you percieve in the Bible?
I think I know what you mean, but I’m not sure if you are sculpting your own ‘ethos’ of the word or using a dictionary definition or have theological conotation. In essence, I have no idea what the word “punish” ,in relation to God, the Bible and people, would entail and how it would pan out in your opinion.
I mean exactly what I said, I think. God punishes people, and groups of people, who disobey him. He burned Sodom and Gamorrah off the face of the earth. He destroyed the world in a flood. He riddled Egypt with plagues for refusing to relinquish the Israelites. He struck down an Israelite for touching the ark of the covenant, even though the man thought he was trying to save it. He used His people to destroy entire nations of heathens. In much the same way, God punishes people today. He might not strike them down with fire from Heaven, but he punishes them. Maybe with diseases, maybe with misfortune, maybe with war. Whatever the means, the fact remains that God is a real and powerful influence in the world.