Sunday, June 19, 2011

How WBC Fails: God H8's 9/19

The Westboro Baptist Church (or WBC) is an Independent Baptist “church” known for its extreme stance against homosexuality, other religions, and anything else that tickles their fancy. They are also known for their greatly offensive protest activities against fallen service men/woman and high profile aka popular people. In this special section created for the WBC Cult Exposed we will explore their hateful and distorted “divine” teachings and expose them for what they truly are, a hate group who uses religion for personal power. 



Part: 9/19
Name: I’ll Pray for you - Pt 9 of WBC's GOD H8S vid
Link: http://www.twitvid.com/U94V9
Update: Videos have been removed. Blog now shows video of all of them combined. 

Bible verses mentioned:
Psalm 109:7: When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
James 5:16: Confess [your] faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Hipster kitteh also thinks the WBC is insane

  • Self Importance. 
    • Excessively (and often unwarranted) high regard for one's own importance or station; conceit.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.


The above passage is from Philippians 2:1-10.  Here we read a passage that only states the "you must be excellent to each other" philosophy, but a passage that states one should think more like Christ. One should be thoughtful, helpful, kind and caring to others while not falling prey to being a self important douche bag*. If only. If allow ourselves to continue along the many verses and books of the bible we see not only further statements and requests for this type of attitude, but also requests for prayers for both the living and the dead. As the prophet Micah said: “And what does God require of you? To do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8).  I could link numerous other verses, but I think the point has already been made, God said “be excellent to each other”

  •  Assume
    • Suppose to be the case, without proof: "Afraid of what people are going to assume"

With the advent of social media, words like twitter, youtube and facebook have become second nature to us. Words like my space take on more mean than just  your personal space, and every bleeding thing now has a camera on it. Where two people would engage in small talk and (if the stars align) get a number, now it’s “Hey got a facebook profile?” It almost seems like everything we say or do is forever recorded on the internet, with little or (more than likely) nothing we can do about it. You would think with such massive interconnectivity, people would think before they act. You think this explosion of technology would have the after birth of increased responsibility. You. Would. Think. To date however, this is not the case, and almost daily we are bombarded with embarrassing moments like your junk on twitter. Thrilling. You would also think people would take nothing for granted, and assume nothing. After all how can you be assume anything that’s never been assured?

  • Generally
    • In disregard of  specific instances and with regard to an overall picture <generally speaking>
 
To film a supposedly “informational” video with unwarranted self importance, to assume everything you say is correct without proof, and to speak in general terms; just one of these could damn your video, with all three you might as well call it quits. Today’s video, while displaying all three of the above, explores the reasoning behind the lye of “praying for you”.

That's right WBC fear the wrath of a cat.


So this video,


Remember back if you can we people where held accountable for their actions. Remember a time when you could believe the words spoken by another person? My mother can ever remember a time when you could ask a complete stranger to watch your baby and knew nothing would happen. Yes, you read that right, you could trust a complete stranger. This is not the case today, and a horrid example of this would be the WBC. Before we continue, I would like to show you what this video assumes about you’re the viewer.


·         You are a whore.
·         You are a lying whore.
·         You are a whore who lies about praying.
·         You only pray to Satan.
·         You are a parent who raised whore children.
·         Your children are whores.
·         You are a Catholic whore.
·         You are a Catholic priest who rapes kids.
·         You are divorced.
·         You commit adultery every night (and twice on the weekends!)


I would ask any member of the cult, many of which are lawyers, to prove their statements; to be accountable for them. I would love for them to prove that each person this video pertains to (aka the world) is all the above. I would also ask them to stop parodying Lady Gaga, they aren't very good at it. So what does the man named "Godhatesu" have to say from himself? Well, let's see....

What he said: "You like when you say I'll pray for you. You pray on your lust. "
One of the most deep seated concerns and buried fears of any child (or at least should be) is concern for their aging parents. As they spend many sleepless nights, energy and paychecks to assure their children are (assumed) raised properly and happily, the children live in relative bliss. One of my best memories is watching my mother and father try to play video games, and getting pissy when the princess was in another castle. However nothing lasts forever, at least on this mortal plane, and this rosy unstoppable parents dream changes as the years pass. It may begin with a gray hair there, or a dropped cup there, perhaps they walk slower or always complain it's cold. What ever it may be, you know the march of time is catching up, and it is time for the child to care for the carer. My father, who I might add is a thousand times more caring than these idiots, has being his slow march. At his advanced years (that's a nice way of saying he's old as dirt) he has regrettably been using the hospital as a revolving door. While taxing every time he enters, we are at least assured that every time he comes out, he still has quite a few years left in him. When ever he does enter, my mother immediately turns to God for strength and prayers. While I am not of the same faith, nor to I call my God by the same name, I will really admit I do the same. The point I'm make here is, that every time he enters the hospital, prayers are said for health and a safe return.

How is that praying on lusts again? We are not Shirley Phelps here.

What he said: "You don't get to rape a child then don a holy cloth and backwards color then pray to god." ... "Yo don't get to commit adultery every night with your rampit divorce and remarrying rate then slip into a pew and pray."

But I am neither a priest, married nor divorce, does that mean I am saved? 
 
.... anyway 

With a show of hands, I wonder how many would see child rape as acceptable. I would hazard that no one would raise their hand in agreement. Child abuse is not cool, it's just a line one does not cross. When such stories appear on the news about said person doing such, do you think they are looked kindly on? Oh sure we accept what they did, but then we also make the pay for it. It matters not who the person is too mind you. Priest, president, rich or poor, they all have the axe come down when shit hits the fan. With all this huff and puff about god hating you for this or that, and your prayers just being laughed at, one wonders what prayer really is and how to use it.

The first clue to our answer is found in the book of Timothy, specifically 2:16. "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."

These few lines express more than just a hope for prayer. It gives instructions that it is a good idea to use prayer as a tool to help others. That no matter what your status (from lower to high class) you are highly encourage to use prayer to the divine in hopes to better the world around you. When speaking specifically about sin, The Lord does not want judgment to fall upon people. He a dood, a dood who wants all his buddies to hang out with him in the afterlife; he doesn’t even want bad stuff to happen to them in this or the next life. As for praying for others, the Christian line of thinking is prayer for others causes them to repent and seek God or to be healed with the power of Christ.

Our next clue comes from Matthew 7:7-11.  "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. "Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone? "Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

Here we are again encouraged to pray to the divine, without fear of our social or moral standing. You see prayer is more than just some random words a priest taught you. It’s so much more than just some repeatable mumble you read in a book. Prayer is suppose to be a deep personal communication with the divine*1, and the expression (be it thoughts or words) of our inner religious needs. By the power of prayer, one may find the strength to carry on, to find the guidance so desperately needed, to find the comfort of a passed love one, to find wisdom in something greater than yourself *2. Prayer may be long or short, alone or in a group, silent or aloud, but it should be a true communication with God and not done for public recognition or “I’m better than you” attitude (Matthew 6:5-8).

Now, while God may have promised to answer our prayers and give us everything we need (we call that a keyword) we obviously need to know there are limits to this. In the bible, God the father is describe with the quality’s much like any other father. He is strong yet gentle, strict yet fair, calm and loving, and (in my dad’s case VERY) patient. Even while being a source of unyielding love and happy go luck emotions, he still knows the secret many parents today refuse to follow. He knows that it is never wise to spoil a child. When you bow to your child’s ever whim and have them be in charge; well this lovely comment pretty much sums it up:

“You act like your children live in a vacuum and have no effect on the rest of the world. You’re wrong. When you fail to teach your children discipline, the rest of the world gets to hear them shriek in a restaurant. When you fail to teach your children respect, the rest of the world gets to listen to their sulky snide tone in the department store. When you fail to teach your children anger management, the rest of the world has to clean the blood off of the walls….”

Much like a dad will help you out in TRULY hard times, this same dad would also like you sink or swim to help you grow into a better person. Oh and he won’t give you the lottery numbers either, believe me I tried.

When we explore this further, we see the all mighty father isn’t into the immediate gratification thing nor is he a random miracle dispense machine. Placing a buck in the church collections and expecting God to do what you want is not only stupid, it’s also insulting. The divine (much like in any faith) answers prayer requests in their own way in their own time (in this case Psalms 40:1-3). While such answers may be odd or even insulting at the time, we will learn with time that it was exactly what we needed. It's kinda like the old phrase Give a man a fish you feed him for a day, teach the man to fish feed him for life...


BUT wait there's more! You also get the knives... uh wait... There is a kicker to this as well, something the WBC should know had they actually read the bible. God does not hear, consider or act upon prayers of unholy requests, are selfish in nature, or done with impure motives, as seen in 1 John 5:14-15, Psalms 66:18, Proverbs 28:9, Isaiah 29:13, Isaiah 59:2, Hebrews 11:6, and James 4:3. So praying for more dead people? Definitely not on God’s ok list.


Here are just a few other verses that encourage us to pray, and this was all from a ten second search on Google no less;
·         "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him" (1 John 5:14-15).
·         "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7). 
·         "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints" (Ephesians 6:18).
·         "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express" (Romans 8:26).
·         "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
·         "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
·         "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures" (James 4:3).
·         "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him" (Matthew 6:5-8).
·         "To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 'Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men-robbers, evildoers, adulterers-or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get." But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted"'" (Luke 18:9-14).
·         "'Have faith in God,' Jesus answered. 'I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, "Go, throw yourself into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins'" (Mark 11:22-25).
·         "And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it" (John 14:13-14).



What he said:
Can you tell?
... and yet after twenty years of the WBC saying this, America is still here.



The “word of religion” has been used for many things over the course of human history. It has been used to heal, to bring hope, to inspire and build. But it has also been used to destroy, to murder to twist, corrupt and selfishly used for personal gain. It has always been up to us, as the supposed children of the divine, to see what is right and wrong. It has always been up to us to make the world a better place, the WBC needs to remember that.




*: The douchebag is a common subspecies of human, who has an over-inflated sense of self worth, compounded by a low level of intelligence. Douchebags behave ridiculously in front of others with no sense of how moronic they appear, they can also be seen in almost any setting although they do seem to prefer malls, college campuses, or anywhere they can gain attention.
*1 Well to me it is, but I’m sure all religions share this in common.











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1 comment:

  1. As of 10/13 this posting has been updated with new information and reformatted to the currently adopted style.

    ReplyDelete