Kevin DeYoung anticipates a visit to East Lansing by the abusively protest orientated Westboro Baptist Church.
From time to time you run into intense folk who claim to be committed Christians, are generally frantic that the church isn’t proclaiming God’s judgement and how bad everyone is, but never seriously seem to mention or testify about their experience of acceptance by God through the saving work of Jesus.
They seem to confuse the blunt prophetic urgency of the Old Testament prophets, who were bringing God’s Word to a people who were reneging on their covenant relationship with God. with the New Testament example of the a redeemed people who spread through the world introducing people to the message of God’s fulfilled promise of salvation in Jesus.
DeYoung’s description of the group from Kansas is apt to all such people:
There are many reasons to protest the sign-wavers from Kansas. WBC is rude, disrespectful, tone deaf, strident, mean-spirited, and foolish in the way they choose to communicate. And worst of all, as far as I can tell, their message has no gospel, no good news for sinners in need of a Savior.
Anyway, DeYoung gleans three salient points which Gospel hearted Christians should remember:
1. Any truth promoted to the exclusion of other truths can become an untruth.
…Yes, divine grace apart from divine wrath is meaningless. I would be the last person to deny the doctrine of hell. But the preaching of the gospel celebrates rescue not reprobation…
2. It matters how we’re heard.
…I understand that sometimes people will hate Christians no matter how mealy-mouthed they make their pronouncements. Some offendedness we can’t avoid. But we can avoid needless provocation…
3. We must refuse to play into the binary stereotype which says the opposite of unconditional affirmation is fuming hatred.
…There are two ways to make Americans more and more accepting of homosexuality: one is by making same-gender erotic relationships look normal and the other is by making those who oppose them look nasty. Everything about WBC plays into the thinking that says “either you approve of homosexuality or you despise homosexuals.”…
Read the whole text of the post and its explanatory material.
Shouting at people and telling them how bad they are is not communicating the Gospel.
Sitting under a ministry that proclaims how bad people who aren’t present are is not Gospel ministry.
Gospel ministry communicates, to those who will hear it, their personal need for the saving work of Jesus lest they receive the just judgment of God.
This can be accompanied by tears, the emotion of sadness and empathy.
It cannot be accompanied by anger and hatred, the emotions of superiority and self-righteousness.
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