ARE YOU SERIOUS???

I just saw what is possibly the most twisted and disturbing church web site EVER ...

I've been following all of the coverage on Heath Ledger. One of the stories that came out today is that Westboro Baptist Church out of Kansas is arranging to picket Health Ledger's funeral because of his part in Brokeback Mountian. Seriously? That in and of itself is gross enough. Why would you picket someone's funeral? Why would you add more pain to his greiving family and friends?

So, I Googled this church because I wanted to see what they were about ... OH MY GOD! Their church web site is www.godhatesfags.com No lie. The whole site is about how God hates pretty much everyone and everything ... but mostly the homosexual community. It's so upsetting what is said on the site and how it's worded ... it's almost like you can see this man's furrowed brow and hear the cutting nature of it all.

Is that really the message that he wants to put out there ... that God hates everyone? Yeah, that's going to make me want to believe in God, trust Him, honor Him, serve Him ...

I understand that many people read the Bible and feel that it is very clear cut on the homosexual issue. Personally, I don't know. I think there's alot of grey in that area that I'm working it out in my own heart between God and myself. But, for arguments sake, let's just say that I did decide that homosexuallity is a sin (and again, I'm not saying that it is or it isn't ... that's something you'll have to work out in your own heart) ... aren't we all sinners? The Bible is pretty clear on that. That's the whole reason for atonement ... Christ's death ... if we weren't such a big bunch of sinners, there would have been no need for Jesus to suffer on our behalf.

I am so outraged by this man's message. Yes, I know we all have a right to our opinion and we have a right to share our opinion with others. After all, that is what I'm doing right now ... sharing my opinion. But, I personally don't see the point in attempting to punish a dead man and his family simply because you don't agree with him.

And I'm totally heartbroken that anyone, much less someone who is leading a congragation of other believers, would portray my Lord and Savior as a heateful, spiteful ass hole who does nothing more than look down His nose and abhor His own creation. Genesis 1:27, 31 says, "And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them ... And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day."

Furthermore, John 3:16-17 states, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him."

....................................

The God that I serve is, yes, all powerful and He could smite me with nothing more than the blink of His eye ... but He doesn't smite me ... why? Because He loves me so much. He loves me inspite of the fact that I'm me which doesn't look or sound pretty most of the time ... He made me the person that I am because He wanted to have a relationship with the person that I am. And you know what? I don't hate homosexuals. They're not a bunch of pervs, child molestors and sinners as people try to portray them to be ... they are just people. People ... like you, and me, and the teller at the bank ... people. And God loves people. He's the one that thought them up in the first place, gave them free will, and ultimately, sent His son to die in order to save us from eternal separation from Him. If that sounds like hate to you, you're entitled to your opinion. To me that sounds alot like LOVE ...

John 4:8-11 says, " Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for GOD IS LOVE. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

I'm so fired up about this right now. I better stop writting before I start to get hateful like the folks at Westboro Baptist Church.

I'll end with this ... And then people wonder why my generation is running away from chruch as fast as their feet will carry them. Organized religion needs to re-read their Bible and get a grip on realtiy.

It's not supposed to be about hate. It's all about God ... and God is LOVE.

What's love got to do with it?

People suck. They totally and completely suck... with their secrets and agendas and lies and manipulations. People are rude and hateful and spew their venimous accusations and do it all under the claim that it's simply "out of love". That bothers me! We as human kind obviously don't know the first thing about Love. Love is not spiteful or hurtful or manipulative. Love doesn't fish for information only to use it for self-serving purposes. Love doesn't pretend to care or serve it's own agenda. Love doesn't keep a list of things to be upset about or accuse others with malicious intent.

Is this world really in such a sad state that it is considered okay and normal to tear people down and hurl insults at them "out of love"?

WOW. How have we gone so off course?

All of this brings me to the realization that human kind has no idea what Love really is. Someone needs to show the world Love ... actual LOVE.

Love has no agenda. Love has no point to prove or argument to make. And Love certianly doesn't attack or make accusations. It can't. It doesn't even have that ability ... because it's Love. It does not posess negative qualities.

A wolf is a wolf. Plain and simple. No matter how hard it tries and no matter how many wool pelts it piles on it's self, it will still have it's nargly fangs and it will still be a wolf.

No matter how hard people try to use fancy words or pretty packaging - malice and hate and hurt and insults will still be malice and hate and hurt and insults ... and such things are impossible to be done from a spirit of Love.

I Corinthians 13:4-7 says, "LOVE is patient, LOVE is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seaking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. LOVE does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves."

That friends is LOVE. Loveing others under this true defination of Love is what we are created to do. This is our life goal. It is our greatest work. So let's put down our self-seaking agendas and put away our forked, visous tounges. Let us stop hurting one another and blaiming it on our "spirit of love" and instead, just LOVE. Pure, simple, genuine, humble, honest, trusting, others-driven, patient, forgiving, preserving LOVE.

Let us not insult Love any longer.

So, what's LOVE got to do with it? EVERYTHING. Love is my everything. I am going to give as much Love as I can to as many people as I can and hope beyond all hope that Love will make a difference in this world.

Like the Beatles said ... All we need is LOVE. And I couldn't agree more.

I will rage ...

Everyone has heard the statment "alone in a crowd" and I am sure that at some point in time in every persons life they have felt that way ...

I am in a weird place in life. I have become so very aware of all of my defenses ... all of my tactics to keep myself hidden behind walls ... and I have begun to tear the bricks down that have held me at bay for so long. It's so much work ... I'm sweaty and bleeding and at any moment I feel like every muscle in my body is going to revolt. But it needs to be done and I want it to be done. It's just that it seems like the more of my walls that I tear down the more I realize that everyone else is so walled up that I am still all alone ... now it's just alone in a crowd. Being open is really scary for me. This is new. I HATE new! Everything about me is changing so rapidly. I want to rip other peoples walls down with mine even though I know it's not my burden. The loneliness of life is starting to kill me little by little. I am working so hard ... growing, changing, refining, becoming an adult ... I guess I never fully realize how hard it would all be. I am so lonely ...

Jared told me to rage against the dying of the light. I am fighting for it as much as I possibly can. I am afraid though that there's not much fight left in me. If I am only going to end up alone in the crowd then what is the real use in tearing all of my walls down in the first place? So I can be a better person? What does that matter when everyone is so walled in themselves that they can't see who I really am anyway? Until I figure it all out or until I die trying ... I will rage, rage against the dying of the light ...