I was looking for my next subject yesterday afternoon when I came across the notice on Facebook that the good folks from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas are going on a field trip. These guys are the protesting bunch, an American Independent Baptist church. This time, they're agenda includes making pretty darn sure most of us are going to hell without even the benefit of a handbasket.
On May 18, they're going to protest in Oxford, Miss. Now, having attended Mississippi State, I reckon there is a lot to protest in Oxford, but this group is going to be hauling signs around with rather vile words on them, having decided that God hates this and that.
Their Website statement says, "Another idol of Doomed USA is Ole Miss, your football idol, featured in movie, "The Blind Side." Did we tell you, God hates idols?! Shortly, God will cast down all the idols of this nation, and in that hour, you WILL get an understanding of the Blind side -- just before God drop kicks you rebellious, idolatrous back sides directly into hell! All the players will be there, and you can get up close and personal with them, as you curse each other FOR ETERNITY. That is a LONG time!
"When God turns his hand to destroy Doomed USA, pursuant to His plain word, He will destroy all your false gods. Exodus 12:12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. You should have heeded our warnings, and put away your idols and feared and obeyed your God!"
Wow. My first reaction is they should spend some time studying grammar, but I digress.
That's a mission statement that is a whole lot to process. The fact eternity is a LONG time is strangely new to me. Quoting a portion of Exodus about the Passover as rationale for protesting football is extremely new to me. I assume they're against the spread offense that Coach Hugh Freeze is using at Ole Miss, with all that passing and such.
Anyway, evidently they never heard of Ole Miss before seeing this movie about four years after it came out or else they've confused Ole Miss with LSU or some other recently championship program (oh, they're going to Tuscaloosa, too, I see). Gee, the Rebels have one lousy winning season and all Westboro goes nuts.And they apparently don't have much of a football calendar or they would know that this isn't football season, even spring football season, so the players and fans won't be paying much attention.
By the way, Westboro is pretty well convinced all us Methodists are joining all football players in hell, so we can commiserate with Rebels fans.
This all got me to thinking about this judging thing. Let's look it over in scripture and come to some conclusions.
First, there's the very famous Gospel rendition of Jesus' sayings about judging, which everyone whips out if someone says something about whether they're sinning. It's very popular among the sinning class for some reason. Matthew's version reads, "“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."
But James, Jesus' younger brother, gets in on the act. "Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?"
The Apostle Paul travels the same path: "Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?"
Seems fairly conclusive, although we must add what Paul said to the church in Corinth to make sure we cover this entirely. "It isn't my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your
responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning."
So, this notion of making random judgments about who the heck is going to hell seems rather misplaced. Jesus made a pretty big fuss about it, always noting that there is ONLY ONE lawgiver and judge. He also said time and again that we are not to judge so we wouldn't be judged the same way.
That doesn't mean we can't judge what sin is based on scripture, but that it's really none of our business who is doing that sin in private. That's between the ONE lawgiver and judge. And Westboro, or me and you, isn't the ONE.
Finally, if football is going to be the idol we condemn, well, they better get a whole lot more signs ready, I'm afraid.
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