Tuesday, December 14, 2010

God, Gays and Guns: An Open Letter to Fred Phelps

Dear Mr. Phelps,

You said on your website on December 9, 2010, and I quote:

"[Westboro Baptist Church]will picket the Goddard [United Methodist Church] because the so-called Christian churches of this nation have, of one accord, turned their backs on God's clear standard. The Methodists have joined hand in hand with all the churches across this land to spread the soul-damning lies that it's OK to be gay and that God loves everyone. Those twin lies will send a congregation straight to Hell!
Proverbs 11:21 Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the true seed of the righteous shall be delivered.
The parents and preachers in Goddard have raised their children for the devil himself and the result is that their children grow up to be murderous, idolatrous thugs. They worship the flag and the dead bodies of soldiers instead of the true God and believe the lie that God is blessing doomed America. When the Lord sends young men home from battle with no legs, that is a curse not a blessing. The citizens of Goddard, KS ought to get down on their knees and pray for God's forgiveness for disobeying Him and mistreating His servants. Instead they flip God off and curse His messengers. Woe onto the people of Goddard when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to reign in judgment!" - godhatesfags.com

I do have to disagree. I canot even imagine anyone in this peaceful town being with the devil. This sounds not like civil argument, but rather like the Salem witch trials. Except that none of us will hang for witchcraft.
Since when are our residents "murderous, idolatrous thugs?"  Crime in this town is veryt low, and what does happen is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We have our own police force, and another city's men on call in case there is a heinous crime; however, those are extremely rare and everyone gets along for the most part.
God has blessed America because of its freedoms, and for its Constitution which holds every man equal to do whatever he wants, and suffer the rewards and consequences. In fact, if it weren't for that Constitution that God has blessed, you wouldn't even have the right to protest without the government jailing you.
By respecting the flag, we recognize those freedoms which are, sadly, so fleetingly rare in this world. We respect that we must fight for them, and that we are doing so by living free. We also are proud of our veterans from Iraq and Afgnanistan, and those of us that are over there right now. They are fighting, giving up their time, their comforts, and sometimes entire body parts or even their lives, for those freedoms. If it weren't for the US Military, and those who develop their equipment, any other nation could walk right in and steal our liberties, which you're using right now to protest. We all thank God our veteran [a resident of our town] survived and we are proud of him for having willingly sacrificed so much. If he had died of his wounds, his family would be in grief, mourning, and sorrow. It appears that those who applaud the deaths of soldiers have no compassion for anguish or grief.
We get down on out knees and ask God's forgiveness for our sins, for no one is perfect. But we all try to live the lives that He wants for us. We all attempt to make decisions according to the dictates of conscience. These usually turn out good for us in the long run. If out liberties are in danger, our men are up to the challenge.
In fact, it is those who abuse religion and somehow percieve thta they're the Messiah, that are endangering this country! The radical Islamic extremists are behaving just as you are, using religion to justify dastardly deeds, and they are the ones endangering the lives, limbs and liberties of American citizens! It is only fitting that you protest our military, which is fighting people like you, like Hamas and Al-Qaeda. The only thing separating you from the level of terrorists is the fact that you're all pacifists. Let's compare: You both are cowardly, setting up your enemy through manipulation. You both abhor the US. You both hate those who don't agree with you. But Hamas actually shoots at its enemies. Al-Qaeda sends its best into villages and blows up innocents.
But you...Your kind are even worse than extremists. You dont' actually go out and debate your enemy. You don't go out and fight like men. You just sit there, picking fights, and then run back to Mother Courthouse to sue them. It's all your fault. You've been the ones picking fights, and you use manipulative tactics to make it look like the other person caused it. I read on Wikipedia that you spend over $250,000 a year picketing. Why not just stop? Scarcely anyone agrees with you. You're wasting money. Why not just get real jobs? You make a profit off suing. That's how many people you've pissed off. You're fighting a losing battle. Everyone else knows you're wrong. Why not just accept the fact that gays do no harm to everyone else? Why not just realize that the military is one of the most honorable institutions ever created, and recognize what you truly owe them? Why not stop taking the Bible out of context? You complain that churches are sending us all to Hell? Well, guess where we'll be seeing you.
You say, "God hates fags." In fact, God doesn't hate anybody. He loves us, and protects, and watches over us. Here at Goddard, you'll find the epitome of those values. There are other small towns around our wonderful country, and an overwhelming majority subscribe to these values. We leave the judging to God, and live our lives together as a community composed of individual parts, free to do as they please. And for that, we deserve to be commended.
But we have have been attacked by a megalomaniac who hates us all. Taking the Bible out of context is equal to telling God to say and do. Those words are God's sacred words, His instructions to us about life. By altering them, you have placed yourself above Him. You're telling Him what to do, and putting words in His mouth. And for that, you and your followers are all idoalters yourselves. You worship yourself, and your followers worship you. And yet you attack us about our suposed "idolatry." Well, if worshiping the REAL God is idolatry, than I'm a card-carrying member of the Idolaters' Club. As are most of those I am surrounded by.

Sincerely,



Joseph Stuewe
Junior, Class of 2012, Goddard High School

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