The folks from Westboro Baptist Church, headquarters of the infamous “God hates fags” movement, have been in the New York City area for the past several days. It was a big weekend for them, protesting wicked Catholics, rebellious Jews, Obama the anti-Christ, and of course, the heathen gays. On Thursday, they decided to stop by the Jewish Theological Seminary to explain that God was fed up with Jews who refuse to repent of their apostasy and that he will soon wipe them from existence. Obama, too, wishes for the destruction of the Jews, as would be expected from the anti-Christ.
So, why did I and some of my Christian friends show up at their protest with signs trying to counter their demonstration? They’re trying to provoke a reaction, right? And wouldn’t any counter-protest serve to legitimize their views to some degree? Who takes them seriously, anyway? They believe that Christ and the anti-Christ have somehow set aside their differences to annihilate the Jews.
These are all fair points that I had to consider, but as a Christian, I had a much larger stake in this protest. They were representing Jesus in a way that his followers simply can’t allow to go unchallenged. The God of Westboro is primarily one of judgment. He applauds only those who have achieved a high moral status by following the right rules, holding the right doctrines, and condemning the right groups of sinners.
Contrast this with one of the stories from Luke in Chapter 18. The passage begins, “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable…” (Luke 18:9). The story is about two prayers from two very different people, a priest and a tax collector. First, the priest thanks God that he is not like all the sinners he sees around him, like the tax collector beside him, and then lists a couple of ways in which he is particularly holy.
The tax collector, however, could make no such prayer. People in his profession were known for extracting far more than the government actually required of its citizens so that they could reap the benefits. They went unchecked by the empire, and were thus common symbols of greed, corruption, and Roman imperial oppression. His prayer was simple. “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13). When he finishes his parable, Jesus says, “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).
One of the main criticisms raised against Jesus by the religious establishment of his day was that he spent time hanging out with prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners, and this is why I had to try to correct Thursday’s misrepresentation of him. Westboro isn’t just a group of off-the-wall religious fanatics—they represent something larger, the idea that God is interested in the morally upright. He is not. People who followed what they believed to be God’s law couldn’t stand Jesus because he accepted many people that they always rejected. God is instead interested in people with humility and the willingness to listen.
Don’t get me wrong. Just a brief glance at several passages in the Bible would reveal that God is clearly a judge who will punish wrongdoing, but the manner of that punishment makes known His true character. The Torah sets up a system of laws showing the Hebrew people right from wrong and punishing them when they choose the latter. Sacrifices were always required to make up for infringements, which makes sense. A holy God, perfect in every way, could not be in the presence of imperfect beings by definition. Some change on the part of the imperfect had to transpire, and sacrifice was the usual method. But God wanted to commune with his creation more than anything, which is why he sacrificed himself in order to be with his creation. He had nothing else to gain from such behavior. And so Christians celebrate. We are undeserving, but blessed.
When we see ourselves or others living in ways that violate God’s law, we can’t condemn anyone because God did not condemn anyone. Instead, we attempt to show people the God who can be trusted to provide us the right way to live because of His sacrifice.
So, to all whom the church has ever excluded—Jews, homosexuals, or anyone else—we welcome you. We hope you will spend time with the Christians at Columbia as we try to follow the Rabbi who is teaching us to live with true humility and love. As for the Westboro crowd, if they wanted to join us, we would welcome them, too. For now, I can only pray that God grants them the mercy they so want him to withhold from everyone else.
The author is a Columbia College senior majoring in history. He is the president of the Veritas Forum and a member of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.
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