Continue reading<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think there\u2019s always a sad irony when we hate, at least as it pertains to the church.<\/p>\n
The irony here, of course, is pretty clear. Without this man whose funeral they plan to protest, they would not have been able to spread their gospel of hate.<\/p>\n
Irony is present in most of the other things we hate in the church too.<\/p>\n
Along the same lines as the Phelps family\u2019s hate of Steve Jobs, many people in the church today hate science. Of course, without the advancements of science they wouldn\u2019t be able to spread their anti-evolution\u00a0propaganda\u00a0across the internet, television, or on DVDs.<\/p>\n
Other people in the church hate the idea of women in any position of leadership in ministry. This one, in particular, is incredibly ironic considering the fact that it was women, not men, who were the only ones brave enough to venture to the tomb on Easter morning and discover it empty. Without women there is no Christian faith.<\/p>\n
This week on PBS they ran a Ken Burns special called Prohibition<\/em>. At the turn of the 2oth century (and continuing in many places to this day), many people in the church hated alcohol and wanted to criminalize its production. Which, of course, would have made a criminal out of their Lord and Saviour.<\/p>\nThere is perhaps no more palpable hate today than that directed towards homosexuals who want to participate in the life with the church. Many of us close our doors trying to keep the \u201csinful people\u201d out. Yet, every Sunday morning our\u00a0sanctuaries\u00a0are filled with liars, cheats, the greedy, the\u00a0gluttonous, people filled with lust, and the prideful.<\/p>\n
Still others revile and condemn anything that enters the church which may have \u201cpagan\u201d origins. They label these things \u201cunclean\u201d and \u201cunholy\u201d, not fit for service to the church. Yet, not only does the church have a long history of redeeming and repurposing pagan holy days, unclean spaces, and unholy music, this act of redemptive is the very heart of the gospel these people claim to hold so dear.<\/p>\n
I think if we look open and honestly at the things we hate, we would see that our hate is really very selective.<\/p>\n
We hate things that are different than us. We hate things that don\u2019t conform to our culturally defined sense of acceptability. We hate what we\u2019ve been taught to hate without really asking why.<\/p>\n
Perhaps most of all we hate because we think it our Christian duty to hate.<\/p>\n
Ironically, it<\/em> is<\/em>.<\/p>\nBut not in the way so many of think.<\/p>\n
We should hate injustice.\u00a0We should hate exploitation.\u00a0We should hate oppression. We should hate abandonment and persecution.<\/p>\n
We should hate the idea that people could starve to death in the 21st century. We should hate the reality that 150 years after this country abolished slavery, child sex slaves still walk the streets in every corner of the world. We should hate the fact that millions of people die every year from easily treatable diseases because they simply don\u2019t have the money to pay for the vaccine. We should cringe with hate that within walking distance of every single one of us are people desperately in need of love, hope, and healing from a world that has turned its back on them.<\/p>\n
There are plenty of things to hate. But people, places, and even things that are \u201clost\u201d don\u2019t need or deserve our hate.<\/p>\n
They require hope.<\/p>\n
They deserve\u00a0our support.<\/p>\n
They need our love.<\/p>\n
That is what redemption looks like. That is what it means to be Christ<\/em>ian.<\/p>\nRest in peace Steve Jobs.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grace and peace,<\/p>\n
Zack Hunt<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 \u00a0 Westboro Baptist Church uses iPhone to announce protest at Steve Jobs\u2019s funeral By\u00a0Elizabeth Tenety Westboro Baptist Church\u00a0announced plans Wednesday night to\u00a0protest Steve Jobs\u2019s funeral, sending the message out. . .wait for it. . . via\u00a0Twitter for iPhone. Margie Phelps,\u00a0daughter of the small church\u2019s founder and the lawyer who represented the church during their\u00a0First […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Westboro-Baptist-Church-Hell.jpg\" "\\"Westboro-Baptist-Church-Hell\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n