How to Share Your Faith When Controversial 'Hate Groups' Hit the News
Do you feel outraged when someone using the label 'Christian' grossly misrepresents the God of the Bible's truth and character with hateful words or actions?
Case in point: Westboro Baptist Church out of Topeka, Kansas. Maybe you've heard about this small, 75 member group of wackos that has sparked outrage and revulsion through the protests they've staged across America. This controversial group recently resurfaced in the news because they scheduled, then cancelled, a series of pickets and protests to be staged at the funerals of the Virginia Tech shooting victims. The funeral protests were cancelled as the result of a 'trade-off' negotiated by radio jock Mike Gallagher. In exchange for a morning of national talk radio exposure on his National Radio Show, the group agreed to cancel their plans to picket the Virginia Tech funerals.
For years the Westboro group has directed their venomous hatred toward gays-not in an effort to reach out to gays with the saving grace of Jesus, but with a vocal, derogatory hatred. Past protests have included military funerals, where the group displays signs that taunt "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God Hates America." This week their intended targets were the VT funeral services. This controversial group has hijacked God's message of hope and forgiveness, and distorted God's truth with its message of hate. And in the process, they have the effect of giving all Christians a bad name.
In Jesus' day there were Pharisees who distorted and dishonored God with their man-made rules and regulations, all the while cloaking themselves in the blanket of religious leadership. Matthew 21:12-13 gives us a glimpse of Jesus' outrage at their distortion of His Father's plan and purposes.
Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 'It is written,' he said to them, 'My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a 'den of robbers.'
Do you stand ready to speak out against these sorts of hate groups who claim the label 'Christian' but grossly misrepresent Christ's teachings? If and when you find yourself in a conversation with friends and someone launches into an attack on 'those stupid Christians,' are you ready to step up and represent God's truth clearly and accurately? If you aren't, sign yourself up to receive the free weekly Soul Fuel e-blast that helps ground teens in the 30 core truths of Christianity.
What can you say to your friends about the Westboro Church protestors or other groups like them? Talk about it, be up-front and passionate about what you think of them based on Jesus' teachings and message of hope. Here are some starting points:
They preach hate. Jesus tells us to love others.
1 John 4:7-11 tells us,
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
Share the Good News of God's love and free gift of salvation with your friends.
They preach that they are the 'select few' and that it is too late for repentance. Jesus offers the gift of salvation to all who will receive it.
John 3:16 says,
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
According to God's word there is only one unpardonable sin that can be committed today, and that's the choice of permanently rejecting Christ. If you need help, use the GOSPEL Journey to share with your friends how they can accept Christ into their lives.
In the case of the Westboro group, they claim to achieve "divine enjoyment" when they hear of the pain and suffering of people that they consider sinful (i.e., Katrina, tsunami and 9-11 victims). Jesus' heart broke for physically hurt and spiritually lost people.
In Luke 13:34 Jesus says
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!"
Luke 19:14 tells us,
"As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it."
Let your friends know that Jesus loves them so much that he died on the cross for them.
Don't hesitate to stand up for Jesus' message of hope and His free gift of grace and to stand against hate groups' counterfeit message. Like Jesus, we should stand up and be counted when God's purposes and character are distorted and his offer of salvation misrepresented. So step up, speak out and share God's love and grace!
