There has been a lot of talk recently in the news about the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka Kansas. In case you haven’t heard, they believe that God has called Christians to be prophetic in pointing out the problems of the world. However, they believe that God has everything so planned out that no one can actually change from their evil ways. In short, they believe that the world is doomed by God and that they need to point this out to everyone. This church’s most famous act is regularly picketing the funerals of dead soldiers with signs like those shown in the picture to the right.
Now we can write these people off as complete nut jobs pretty easily. But doing that doesn’t take seriously that this used to be a perfectly orthodox church. What happened to make them become so unloving, so hateful, and crass? Unfortunately there isn’t an easy single answer. Instead, it’s a whole host of reasons that over time led to the entire church going off the deep end.
First, every Christian has a circle of influence that includes those people they allow to teach and influence them. These are the people we will listen to about spiritual things. For this church, that circle probably started out with anyone calling themselves Christians. But as homosexuality began to dominate their thinking, they stopped listening to most mainline churches. Then even the evangelical churches began to be too “tame” for Westboro. Eventually, that circle tightened to close that if you go to their website they say that only their one church is the remnant of God’s chosen people.
Many Christians turn off their brains when they come to church, and listen to whatever their pastor tells them to listen to. This is a problem, because any one of us has the capacity to be carried off into heresy and into becoming a cult instead of a church. If the circle of who we listen to shrinks to the point there we only listen to a few people it is almost inevitable that we will be led astray, even if the leader has the best of intentions.
What keeps us safe from heresy is staying in constant conversation with other parts of Christianity, even those parts we disagree with. Turning off our brains to other ideas is the beginning of heresy. If it is God’s truth, it can stand up to conversation and seeking. If I start going off the deep end, and you only listen to me, then you will go off the deep end as well. But if we are both listening to other people as well, we can recognize when we are being swept away, and can come back from the brink.
We should not write Westboro Baptist off as an isolated instance of insanity. It isn’t a random occurrence, it’s a result that we all can expect to see in ourselves to some degree if we turn off our brains and follow one person wherever they go. And you know what’s really scary to me? I know there are people in my church who are just accepting my word on stuff too. In fact, that is what many pastors encourage. But whatever your pastor says, whatever I say, don’t shut off your mind, and don’t stop listening to people just because you disagree with them.
Now we can write these people off as complete nut jobs pretty easily. But doing that doesn’t take seriously that this used to be a perfectly orthodox church. What happened to make them become so unloving, so hateful, and crass? Unfortunately there isn’t an easy single answer. Instead, it’s a whole host of reasons that over time led to the entire church going off the deep end.
First, every Christian has a circle of influence that includes those people they allow to teach and influence them. These are the people we will listen to about spiritual things. For this church, that circle probably started out with anyone calling themselves Christians. But as homosexuality began to dominate their thinking, they stopped listening to most mainline churches. Then even the evangelical churches began to be too “tame” for Westboro. Eventually, that circle tightened to close that if you go to their website they say that only their one church is the remnant of God’s chosen people.
Many Christians turn off their brains when they come to church, and listen to whatever their pastor tells them to listen to. This is a problem, because any one of us has the capacity to be carried off into heresy and into becoming a cult instead of a church. If the circle of who we listen to shrinks to the point there we only listen to a few people it is almost inevitable that we will be led astray, even if the leader has the best of intentions.
What keeps us safe from heresy is staying in constant conversation with other parts of Christianity, even those parts we disagree with. Turning off our brains to other ideas is the beginning of heresy. If it is God’s truth, it can stand up to conversation and seeking. If I start going off the deep end, and you only listen to me, then you will go off the deep end as well. But if we are both listening to other people as well, we can recognize when we are being swept away, and can come back from the brink.
We should not write Westboro Baptist off as an isolated instance of insanity. It isn’t a random occurrence, it’s a result that we all can expect to see in ourselves to some degree if we turn off our brains and follow one person wherever they go. And you know what’s really scary to me? I know there are people in my church who are just accepting my word on stuff too. In fact, that is what many pastors encourage. But whatever your pastor says, whatever I say, don’t shut off your mind, and don’t stop listening to people just because you disagree with them.
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