Kudos to My State of Birth, Part 3

The story goes like this: a person is attacked by robbers and left for dead on the side of the road. A priest came along and seeing the injured person, went to the other side of the road and went on by. Then a religious person came along and seeing the dying person lying by the side of the road, he also went to the other side of the road and passed on by. Finally, a Samaritan came along and felt compassion for the hurting person and took care of him. Jesus finishes the story by asking, "Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?" It is clear that Jesus didn't just want people to take care of and love the people who lived within so many feet of a person's front door - He wanted people to love and take care of all people, including strangers.

The people of Westboro Baptist Church are therefore NOT following the teachings of Jesus to love their neighbor - which encompasses all people including those they are currently protesting against. What would Jesus teach that they should do for these grieving military families? Well, the Samaritan in the story Jesus told provided for the medical care of the man who had been attacked, paid for lodging until the man could recover and return to his home and paid for his food until he was well again. So I suppose in today's terms that would mean that this church would provide meals to the family who lost their loved one, they would help defray funeral costs and perhaps provide or pay for grief counseling for the family - particularly the children as most of our service personnel are young and many leave behind small children. THAT would be the "Christian" thing to do because by His own words, that is what Jesus said to do.

However, the members of Westboro Baptist Church are spreading messages of hate and anger as evidenced by their own signs that they hold up during their protests. They are clearly NOT loving their neighbor and have, therefore, misappropriated the word "Christian" because their actions do not at all reflect the attitudes or teachings of Jesus. A person's faith, or lack thereof, is between himself and God and no one can step in and judge that. However, we can definitively say that the ACTIONS of the members of Westboro Baptist Church do not follow those of Jesus and are, therefore, not "Christian."