Not All 'Baptists' Are Created Equally

I was appalled today as I read one of the lead news stories as sorted by Google News. Here's the link. The story is about the settlement awarded to the family of Lance Cpl Matthew Snyder, a marine who died in Iraq last year. Apparently, a church from Kansas picketed his funeral, waving signs suggesting that American deaths in Iraq are due to America's tolerance of homosexuality. I was appalled, not because the court ruled against the church (I'm thankful for that ruling on many levels), but because of the church name: Westboro Baptist Church. The news story points out that the church is not affiliated with any major denomination. In other words, even though it has the word 'Baptist' in it's name, it is not part of any major Baptist convention in the USA; it functions independently.

Yes, living a homosexual lifestyle is sinful and a person who continues in an unrepentant state, ignoring the Bible's teaching about their sin, will go to hell when they die. As Christians, we cannot ignore the seriousness of sin! At the same time...

We must not ignore the majesty and wonder of God's love, mercy, forgiveness, grace, and life-transforming power that is freely available in Jesus Christ for all who will believe!

It is true that a person needs to understand the true meaning of their sin in order to be saved: without Christ, every person is a depraved rebel against our holy and righteous Lord. EVERY human is in desperate need of salvation, hopelessly lost in their sin without Jesus. However, any message that stops there, with only a message of hate and judgment, is NOT a Christian message!

As Christians, let us do the hard work of loving those in society who do not agree with us. Part of loving means we must not condone sinful behavior and we must be honest about the real consequences of sin (in this life and the next). Part of loving also means we continually hold out the hope of Jesus to unbelievers and we continue to act with love towards them even if they do not believe or stop their sinful behavior.