2006
Banderas vs. Phelps
Julie Banderas of Fox News had it out on the air with Shirley Phelps. I wouldn’t call this journalism, nor would I call it a defense of Christianity (and by that I mean a defense AGAINST Phelps who is not practicing Christianity, no matter what she calls herself) but it still needed to be said. I have no idea whether Banderas is a Christian, but she at least has a passing familiarity with the faith. I do try to pray for Phelps, when I think of it, but she makes me so angry that it’s difficult. I actually find it easier to pray for jihadi Muslims than for Phelps and her followers. Why? My standards for those who profess Christianity are far, far higher than for those who don’t. Here is why:
For it is no business of mine to be judging those who are outside; but it is yours to be judging those who are among you; As for those who are outside, God is their judge. So put away the evil man from among you. (1 Corinthians 5:12-13)
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary includes this comment on that passage of scripture:
1Co 5:9-13 - Christians are to avoid familiar converse with all who disgrace the Christian name. Such are only fit companions for their brethren in sin, and to such company they should be left, whenever it is possible to do so. Alas, that there are many called Christians, whose conversation is more dangerous than that of heathens! [emphasis added]
As Solomon said, there is nothing new under the sun. Phelps is the latest in a long line of people who profess Christianity but who are, either by design or inadvertently, actively working against it. She is wrong on so many levels that I don’t have time to fisk her philosophy, other than to simply state that it is NOT Christianity. She will have a lot to answer for someday. Here’s the smackdown, with a hat tip to Hot Air.
June 14th, 2006 at 9:38 pm
I’m not a Christian, but I was raised as one. I’m pretty familiar with the Bible, Catholicism, and mainstream American Christianity. These days, I study Buddhism, and I try to find as much common ground as possible with my family’s faith and the faiths of others.
With that in mind, you can imagine that I’m right there with you in your sentiment about Mrs. Phelps and her kin. On some level, I admit, I took a bit of glee in watching the Phelps group finally step on the toes of other conservative Americans (although that’s a ballpark comparison at best, to be honest; I wouldn’t compare them to anyone but the “jihadi Muslims” you mentioned, as far as their political cousins are concerned). I heard about the Westboro Church folks protesting at military funerals and thought to myself, Wow. Now we’ll all get a nice, long look at where such extreme, narrow-sighted, hate-filled ideas take us.
I’m not one to use the word “evil” very often, and I use it now with trepidation. And yet, I have to admit that the phrase “Evil turns upon itself” comes to mind. To me, it’s logical that, eventually, the Westboro Baptist folks would find out that they have more enemies than allies; it was inevitable that other Americans, homophobic or not, would eventually look at their Westboro neighbors and shake their heads in disgust at the depths to which the Phelps folks and their parishioners have smeared the good name of Christianity.
I should also add that I’m generally wary of Fox News, big-time war supporters, and rank-and-file conservative Americans in general. I don’t consider any of them to be bad people, not even inherently misguided, necessarily. But as a bisexual person, I find that I have few allies among this crowd that I’ve gathered in the previous sentences. To see a widely known, highly infamous, homophobic organization be trounced once it’s stepped on enough toes… well, that makes me breathe a sigh of relief. It makes me see that hatred and evil will only push us so far before we come springing back at it, repelling it back into the darkness once more. A little florid of me to put it that way, I know, but I’ve been following the activities of the Westboro Baptist Church for some time now, and the level of bile and hatred I’ve seen come out of that group of people is just nauseating.
That’s all for now, I suppose.
June 15th, 2006 at 6:13 am
I’m not aware of anyone who supported them *before* they started protesting the funerals, actually. They were pretty much universally despised in the Christian community by those few who had heard of them. But the fact is hardly anyone had heard of them, at least around here (New Orleans area). The only reason I knew about them is that I was a DMOZ editor, and I reviewed the site http://www.godhatesfigs.com (not a typo, that’s figs, as in the fruit) which is a pretty decent parody of Phelps site.
I don’t think “evil” is overstating it, and I think the more people who learn about this group, you’ll see more of a kick back against them.
June 17th, 2006 at 6:56 pm
i never heard of Julie Banderas but now i have…i have to say she is a true american and i’m very impressed with her intellect and journalism skills. we need more people like her questioning these haters that supposedly talk for God but we all know thats blasphemy. No one deserves to die or pass judgement so Phelps and her goons have no right to do so but only God has the right. she is not reading from the bible but probably from the koran or something.
July 1st, 2006 at 8:46 pm
great job Jules!!
September 18th, 2006 at 10:26 am
While I do not profess any religious beliefs, I do have faith In a carpenter from nazareth named Jeshua, Son of G-D.
I watched the news broadcast between Mrs. Phelps, and Mrs. banderas and was listening to a age old dillemma about religion talked about among those who do not truly understand the bible. While Our lord says “where two are more are gathered in my so shall I be there also”, does not fit here. It was a debate about Homosexuals and a passage in leviticus.
To talk about the first. I do not believe in homosexuality, and I do believe that this country is becoming exactly like Paul described in The first chapter of Romans, I do not believe that Jesus wants us to practice hatred of the individual. While Paul talked about casting out the unjust person in the church (Corinthians), it was aimed at those who falsely joined the church to spread lies and to bring people back to worship Apollo at the temple. This was a Roman city in modern day turkey.
Our lord gave the parable about the wheat and the tares. This was used to identify that those undesirable was to be left in the church and then jeshua would harvest the wheat with the tares, then seperate each, then destroy the tares and gather the wheat in his barn. This also goes to homosexuality. G-D does not hate the person that practices the act. If G-D did hate a sinful act and destroyed them, then all of us would be destroyed because none of us are rightous, no not one (romans Ch.3 v. 10). G-D hates the act. A person can change but the act remains the same.
This is the reason that I do not believe that homsexuals should ever teach in a church because how can you pluck the splinter out of your brothers eye when you have a plank in yours? Sin cannot teach salvation anymore than salvation teaching sin. This is why a church that allows homosexuals to preach is a church of Laodecia (idle church) and cannot refine a person or annoint the eyes with eyesalve so they can see.
The passage in leviticus that the discussion was about was Ch. 19 v. 18-19. They both were right, but also wrong. The part they had right was the book, chapter, and verse. The part they had wrong was they argued for each passage as a seperate entity. Mrs. Phelps was quoting verse 18, while Mrs. Banderas quoted 19. This passage is part of a chapter that is part of a book in a five part book called the “Torah” or the law. These five books were meant as a book for Israel to cleanse themselves and prepare for priestly duties to the world in the name of G-D. This was not to happen as the lord chastized them in the wilderness for forty years and they still were a stiffnecked people so a whole generation was passed except for Joshua, and Caleb.
G-D has not forsaken his covenant with Abraham since Abraham was not made to pass thru the pieces, because G-D new Abraham would be faithful but not his offspring of future generations. G-D understands the human condition and did not allow Abraham to complete the deal. This covenant was from G-D to Abraham as a future promise. Israel is not forgotten because of this promise, even though they have been chastised for their disobediancemany times.
The reason why religion should not be argued by the media,or in public. Debates about differences of faith in Jeshua and what he stood for and said, should only be argued in private because those who are of little faith or just learning about Jeshua would become dismayed and leave the church. This is a sin in itself. By leading the little ones astray it would be better if that person or group of persons place a millstone about their neck and cast themselves in the water (Drown themselves). This is the reason why people are becoming fed up with religion because humans will always pervert the word of G-D causing dissention and outright hatred of G-D even though G-D is blameless.