Today the Supreme Court of the United States heard a significant "free speech" case involving the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KS visiting and protesting various internment services of "killed in action" soldiers.
One family, the Snyders, said "enough," and brought suit. The case has arrived at the highest court in our land, and it is a real shame.
I will not discuss the merits of the case. I am not a lawyer. I am a father of 3 children and the father in law of my daughter's husband who recently returned from serving our country in Iraq. And I want to weigh in because of my support of our gallant troops, but more importantly as a follower of Jesus Christ.
The only thing that I will say in "defense" of Westboro Baptist is that they DO have a right, under the free speech clause of the First Amendment. That's the end of my support. As Americans, we do have the right to picket and protest. But, there's a big "but."
Westboro Baptist should understand that, more than a right to protest, they have a RESPONSIBILTY. Their responsibility is to God first, and the nation second. And it's not just as a local church, it's the responsibility that a body of Christian believers have. I believe that Christians, more than anyone else, have a responsibility to bring Glory to God and to reflect who God is.
As Christians, we bring Glory to God through our words and deeds. How we speak to the unbelieving world around us. How we treat the unbelieving world around us. God has called us to be "fragrant" both to Him and to the rest of His creation. Westboro and it's "allies" have gone beyond fragrant and instead have become putrid. In my opinion, Westboro Baptist has sullied the face of God and in the process has turned away many who might otherwise desire knowing more of Christ. Instead, many will now avoid the truth.
How do we, as Christians, best reflect God? We reflect God by demonstrating His attributes. The attributes that God has communicated to man. Remember that all of mankind is a special creation. The rest of the universe may have been spoken into existence, but man was specially formed out of the dust of the ground into the image of God Himself. When God first breathed life into man, God bestowed (communicated) many of His attributes to Adam. For that reason, man has the ability to love and show love, to want justice, to be able to demonstrate mercy to his fellow man.
But out of all the communicable attributes, God wants his creation to reflect Grace. Grace is that attribute that encompasses so many other traits or characteristics. You could even say that there are attributes of Grace. When Christians show true, God-given Grace, the world is amazed and often stopped in its tracks. In recent history, Grace is the supernatural power that caused the downfall of aparthied and Russian communism thereby liberating literally tens, and maybe hundreds, of millions of people. Essentially, Grace is acting in a Godly way toward your fellow man without concern for personal benefit. As long as God gets the Glory, we have acted righteously. We have acted in such a way that we, as mere humans, have directly pointed someone to the love of God.
In that way, Westboro, and especially its pastor Fred Phelps, have been anything but graceful. Should we as Christians be fighting the plagues of blatant homosexuality and pornography and violence and abortion? Of course. Those actions and "rights" are scourges on our society - as they have been on every other society that was once "great". And in time, God will judge our nation's stand on those things.
But to "rejoice" in a family's trouble and trial is not God's way. When a family looses a loved one, no matter how, our God-given job is to come alongside them and offer comfort and understanding and love. In that way, we lift up and strengthen that unbeliever and direct them to Christ and His saving Grace. Should the folks of Westboro Baptist attended any of these military funerals? Sure. Why not? But they should have come with the wonderful, life-infusing Grace of God. Westboro did not do what they should have. The signs and protestors were uncalled for.
To Marine Albert Snyder's family, I offer you my condolences. I thank you for your son's service so that my family and I can live as free men and women in this society. I never want to walk in your shoes. Your son answered his calling to serve the United States as a volunteer, and to that many millions of us Christians are eternally grateful. We will continue to lift you up in prayer that God will bestow His blessings and healing on all of you.
I also offer my apologies for my brothers and sisters in Christ at Westboro. All of us have certain family members that are "weird"; it even happens in the Church. I have no excuses for them. I can assure you that God will one day hold them accountable for their actions. God will do this because He is just and full of Grace. God also has a bigger stick.
Let's pray that God reveals Himself to both of these families and anyone else directly affected by the actions of Westboro Baptist. If any of you reading this post happen to pass or come across a military funeral, please stop and offer your thanks. Give them a hug. And then otherwise, keep your mouth shut. Then silently return to your car and pray. In the end, God will receive all of the Glory and Honor. Amen.
