Westboro Baptist's Antics - Final Part

Wait a minute. "...does not bear the sword in vain?" Again, this brings up the question. Why picket the funerals if the soldiers were doing their basic jobs of protection and defense? This isn't a question of sin. Take a look at the Huffington Post article Supreme Court To Hear Military Funeral Protest Case.

It's a free speech conundrum here. The family has the right to bury their son at a funeral, but gets picketed by a church who has the right to picket.

Major ouch. It's a pickle of an issue and still is, as as mentioned in Supreme Court: Raucous funeral picketers allowed.

Did I read right? Margie Phelps says "Nation, hear this little church. If you want them to stop dying, stop sinning." Are they ordering us to "quit sinning?" Does that mean the soldiers should stop doing their jobs? Westboro and congregation would be FLATTENED in no time!

Nowhere in the Bible does it say to "love the sinner, hate the sin," as in this article titled, appropriately enough, Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin. But Matthew 7:3-5 comes to mind:

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

Enough of the picketing, enough of the hate, enough already.

Just LET people grieve at the funerals, please.

Westboro Baptist's Antics - Part 4

What is a soldier's basic job? Protection and defense! Here's an interesting blog post titled The Ultimate Battlefield Tragedy by Ron Hutchcraft Ministries. Some rather good points here!

But picketing the funeral of an innocent CHILD who was at the Giffords event in Arizona?! What's the logic of that?

All this leads to some questions to answer.

- Can the church be prosecuted for harassment and stalking? They've been served protection orders in the past.
- How do they afford all the travelling they do and court time? (Southern Poverty Law Center's Westboro Baptist Church article and Slate magazine's "Subsidized Hate") This leads to the question of how to remove the tax exemption.
- Is the RICO Act applicable? (Go to the webpage and see the offenses list)

But come on... Let the families mourn their loved ones they're burying in peace.

Here's a blog post titled My take: Fred Phelps is wrong about the gospel, right about the law. Some very good points are made in here. Remember what I said above about a soldier's basic job being protection? Two paragraphs says:

"These wars are essentially wars to defend our nation from terrorism, and as such they are “just wars.” Therefore a soldier who fights in these wars to protect our nation is what the apostle Paul calls “God’s servant for your good” (Romans 13:4).

"In carrying a weapon to defeat a nation’s enemies, a soldier “does not bear the sword in vain” but he is “a servant of God . . . who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:4)."

Interesting. Not just terrorism. Invasions and other sorts of attacks as well.

Westboro Baptist's Antics - Part 3

We know that historically, many young men became soldiers. Numbers 1 has a common line:

"All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families."

Again I ask, just WHAT is the reason for all these soldiers being picketed, no matter where they're from? The Westboro picketers are always claiming homosexuality, terrorism, and a host of other sins. They forget that the armed forces, the soldiers themselves, are the first line of defense against those who wish to do evil against us. Now apply this soldier subject to law enforcement. Why isn't Westboro going after them? Why aren't they picketing every law enforcement officer who has died in the line of duty, especially the annual event at the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial in DC? Many police officers were with the armed forces.

Again, here's a verse that shows how soldiers have protected people, in Acts 21:31-35:

"While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

"The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers."

Westboro Baptist's Antics - Part 2

Think about it... Where would we be without soldiers protecting and defending us? Where would Westboro be and what would they be doing, if anything? Even back in our country's early days, we didn't quite have the military. We had people who just took up arms and defended their city/state/country. Throughout history, we've had examples of when people are building something, like a wall, castle, home, etc., a weapon of some sort is nearby or at hand. If not that, then someone else standing watch, as seen in Nehemiah 4:13-18.

"Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”

"When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.

"From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me."

There were even some brave soldiers who went into battle no matter what, as seen in 1 Samuel 14:52:

"All the days of Saul there was bitter war with the Philistines, and whenever Saul saw a mighty or brave man, he took him into his service."

Westboro Baptist's Antics - Part 1

Before I start, one must remember that a blog is just that, one of opinion. This blog post wasn't just posted out of opinion, but has researched areas in there together with links. I have also asked questions. That being said, there will be five parts to this post.


I've been watching the antics of Westboro Baptist since around 1993. I thought their godhatesfags.com site was going to be a short-lived fad site and would burn out in a short time. Guess not. A lot of what they've done amounts to hate, according to the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Are they also a cult? Some anti-cult people say yes.

But picketing soldiers who died in wars and young kids who were innocently shot? Just WHAT does this have to do with homosexuality, 9/11, and/or terrorism? Just what gives these people the right to be so overly judgmental?

In the ChildCare Action Project (CAP): Christian Analysis of American Culture page titled Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged!, it says in one paragraph:

"Yes, we do have the right and the authority to judge the behavior of others as long as we honor and obey His Word in doing so."

But picketing like this with these signs? John 7:24 says "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." They're no judges. Neither are they doing it in His honor.

Stairs and the Knees - Part 2

In the first post, Stairs and the knees, I mentioned it was a bit difficult to get down the steps carrying a laundry bag. I just toss the bag down the steps.

Going upstairs, I put the bag up a few steps, go up those steps, and repeat the process til I'm at the top. If I can, and the bag is light enough, I'll just toss it up the steps. Now and then I've done it Santa-style, on the back.

One other interesting thing is that it's getting easier to carry things around. With my volunteer job as computer refurbisher, I had difficulties a lot of the time in carrying the computer from a storage area to my work area. I had someone bring the computers to me at times. Now, it's getting easier to do that, making sure no obstacles are in my path.

Hills and Wind and Water after Knee Surgery

Booktoots posted Natural Way to Increase Resistance While Walking and it got me thinking...

Where I live is a steep hill going downhill going one way from the house. Going the other way is a gentle hill. You wouldn't really notice it if you weren't looking at it. But it's there. Walking to the store and back I can't quite do yet. Towards the store, you're going up the hill. It's a gentle grade, but it's still some good exercise. Going up my driveway is easier than going downhill. Can't quite do that when it's snowed or there's some ice around.

Where I used to live had hills galore of varying steepness. You could stay on the same street and go uphill a little, then downhill, then suddenly downhill, then turn a corner to another street, and go right back uphill. Then go round a corner, downhill a bit, then go around another corner, steep hill, then gentle hill. Back home, one gentle hill up and down. Wow... Good walking.

Personally, water walking does a great job.

When I was still able to use a bike in high school, I had this paper route that took me up a hill, then down. Think how hard it was for me to go up the hill when the wind was blowing hard. Now think how much harder it is when your bike is stuck in third gear...