Funeral for Powell boys draws Church Protesters

 

Taken from the L.A. Times:

Westboro Baptist Church is backing off -- and claiming victory.

Church members, who have gained notoriety for protesting outside military funerals and for their extreme anti-gay agenda, have canceled plans to gather outside Saturday's double funeral in Tacoma, Wash., for brothers Charles Powell, 7, and Braden, 5.

But that doesn't mean Westboro Baptist Church is going away. Members agreed to cancel their protest only after a Tacoma, Wash.-based morning talk radio show promised them air time to preach their beliefs. “The Bobby D Show” interviewed the founder of the Kansas-based church, Fred Phelps Jr.

"Just finished interview with @bobbydshow. Bobby D. Was a real gentleman. Washington trip now canceled," Phelps tweeted just moments ago. Westboro spokeswoman Margie Phelps, who is also Phelps' daughter, also took to Twitter a moment ago to crow about the turn of events, calling the radio time "icing on the cake."

The no-protest-for-air-time transaction is not new, and may signal Westboro's new, shrewder strategy to reach more potential converts, notes the Washington Post.

Charlie and Braden Powell died Sunday when their father, Josh Powell, took an ax to them before setting a gasoline-fueled inferno that engulfed the boys and himself -- the final tragic twist in a long, drawn out family saga.

Westboro congregants see the boys' death in Graham, Wash., as divine retribution for a same-sex marriage bill pending in that state. They target military funerals for the same reason, saying soldiers' deaths are punishment for the country's increasing acceptance of homosexuality.

News of the canceled protest will no doubt be a relief to the maternal grandparents of the boys. They pleaded for Westboro protesters -- and the well-meaning counter-protesters -- to stay away so that the boys could be laid to rest in peace.

The reason I posted this article is I think it illustrates very well what we have been talking about recently.

When Americans for the most part think of religious people they think that all of us are like the ones mentioned above. In reality most of us hear about these kind of stories and wish that people like the Westboro congregation would get thrown in jail or get some kind of plague (preferably a bad case of hemorrhoids, but that’s just me).

Because that is not an option, I think it would be far more productive for us to talk about what we can do about it, what each and every one of us can actually really do.

First we have to understand the church did not get the bad PR in America overnight and the problem will not be solved overnight. Little by little though I think we can turn the tide. One act of kindness, one offer of prayer and soon people in our country may begin to remember what it means to be a Christ-Follower.

We get offended when we are called religious and are kicked out of the schools and government buildings, we have to remember though, if we are just about building churches to entertain ourselves in and we lose sight of the poor and disenfranchised in our own neighborhoods, who is to blame our nation for seeing us as a plague of religious.

With that in mind, this year at Southside, we are taking our goal of Build, Serve, Grow to the next level with a focus on, "Taking it to the Streets".

We’re going to activate a new focus on Kindness Outreach to remind out community or the love of Jesus.

Things like giving out water on hot days, washing toilets for local businesses, washing windshields, taking BBQ door to door, giving out dog biscuits at the dog park, all with the intention of helping people who were once hostile or unaware of Jesus more into a vibrant life relationship with the Master.

How can you get involved?

First, commit that 2012 will be your year to activate and be a part of Kindness Outreach to our community and Second, commit to an attitude of prayer as we launch this big year!

May God's blessing be on you in this coming season,

Pastor Willy

Why I hate the video, Why I hate Religion, But Love Jesus.

START HERE -------->

OK, now that you have watched the video poem posted on YouTube by Seattle 22-year-old Jefferson Bethke thats all the buzz, let me start of by saying, I don't hate the video, I just wrote that so you would read what I had to say about it. Actually, the video has a lot of really great points, it just doesn't do a very good job of explaining itself. So, lets take a little time and unpack what was said in the video.

First, so that we all have the save starting point, lets define what exactly is religion. The dictionary defines religion as:

re·li·gion

   /rɪˈlɪdʒən/ Show Spelled[ri-lij-uhn] 

noun

1.       a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

2.       belief in, worship of, or obedience to a supernatural power or powers considered to be divine or to have control of human destiny

3.       any formal or institutionalized expression of such belief: the Christian religion

4.       the attitude and feeling of one who believes in a transcendent controlling power or powers

Now that we can see what we are talking about, I think most of us would agree, this is not something that we HATE.

As a matter of fact, this is a word that describes us... the religious, the "Christ-Followers" the "Christians".

So to say that we hate religion can easily be interpreted to mean that you hate Christianity and the danger is although we may understand what the guy in the video is trying to say... those who are outside of our religion may not.

I think we can all agree that the dude is trying to communicate his displeasure with false-religion and hypocrisy, however it is not well communicated and the overwhelming message is, "Religion is Bad".

Now let me pause and defend this guy by saying that I have in sermons used this same word in the same general way, however it was in a context that made it clear I was referring to the Religious Elite i.e. hypocrites.  

To our dismay, the bashing of the church and religion has become somewhat of a national sport and regrettably an activity that many in the church have been all to willing to take up with vigor.

To quote the video:

"I mean if religion is so great, why has it started so many wars

 Why does it build huge churches, but fails to feed the poor

 Tells single moms God doesn't love them if they've ever had a divorce

 But in the Old Testament, God actually calls religious people whores"

Well I hate to go against such a popular video, but lets look at each of these claims from just one verse of the poem.

"We build huge churches, but fail to feed the poor". I would say this is overwhelmingly untrue, a huge percentage of all the feeding of the poor worldwide is done at the hands of the "religious people". Hospitals are built, schools are started, clean drinking water is provided, etc. etc.

Can we do more? Yes. Should we do more? Yes. Will we do more? Yes. Have we been sitting on our hands? No. Even in the small church that we have, we made a difference last year, giving to SEED, sending money to missionaries, Sending shoes and other stuff I'm not thinking of. This year we have already planned to do more and we are one church, think of every church in the US, now every church around the world.

"Tells single moms God doesn't love them if they've ever had a divorce".

Really?!?! I don't know what kind of church this kid has been going to, and yes I know bad stuff happens. But ask yourself this question: How long have you been going to your church and how many single moms did you or anyone else there tell them that God doesn't love them? Rubbage!

My mom was divorced and a single mom, the church was there for us and loved us. By FAR that is the experience of single moms in the church. Support, acceptance and love.

Last one: "But in the Old Testament, God actually calls religious people whores".

Well, this is just not true, if it were, God would have called people like: Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob all whores for they were profoundly religious. The ones he did call whores, were the ones who, were hypocritical, sell-outs, fakes, weenies who turned there backs on the church.

Sooooo, next time you get a hankerin' to rip into the local church, take a minute to cool your jets and ask yourself, "Am I getting caught up in all the hype"?

The local church IS Christ bride and the vehicle that God in all his divine wisdom chose to bring HOPE to the world.

Your Very Religious Pastor,

Willy