An Open Letter to Westboro Baptist Church

Friends,

I greet you in the name of the Risen Lord. It is with much anguish of heart and soul that I write this letter (blog posting) to you and your followers this day. My heart is torn in frustration to hear of your planned protests of the funerals in Tucson, Arizona following the recent shootings this weekend. My heart breaks as I think of the families that will be impacted by your message during these protests.

The common theme of protesting funerals is not unexpected. When there is a major media event, we have come to expect your protests in shame and disgust. At a time when families are hurting, grief is being expresses, and feelings of loss overwhelm families and friends, your church desires to promote a message of hate and anger.

I wonder where in your message of hating the homosexual is the love Christ expressed for the sinners all throughout the New Testament? Where in your message is the proclamation of redemption through the blood of Christ? Where is the hope of the cross? Where is justice being proclaimed? Where is truth being exalted above all other truths?

The message that your church proclaims is not the Christian message. It is a self-focused message that lives in fear of the culture and seeks to create a God that is sympathetic to your own views instead of passionately entering a relationship with the Holy Trinity. You are not a church, nor do you proclaim the Christian truth.

Yet, I know people hear your message and believe they are hearing the Gospel proclaimed. They see that you represent a church and believe that this is what all Christians are like. Instead of bringing people into the fellowship, your protests are turning people away from the message of Christ. Instead of evangelizing and proclaim a message of love, your message of hate closes the door to a generation of Christians that are desperate for the truth Gospel’s message of Christ’s salvation and God’s grace.

God’s grace is open to all, and I believe that grace is available to you as well. I wish you will repent from the sin of misrepresenting the Gospel, and close down your harmful and distracting message of hate. I pray you will find the true God, the true God that sent his Son, who humbled himself in the form of a servant, died on the cross, and rose again, so we may be free of our sins. I pray you will find Christ, for when you do your message will be about love and reconciliation instead of hate; peace instead of anger; hope instead of despair.

May God’s grace pour into your heart this day.

Peace,

 

Shannon