Tahoe Church Blog

WBC (Westboro Baptist Church) will be coming to South Lake Tahoe to Protest Lake Tahoe Community College’s presentation of THE LARAMIE PROJECT a docu-drama about the 1998 hate-crime murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student who was brutally beaten by two young men, tied to a fence, and left to die.

As you know, WBC became the most hated family in America by protesting at Military Funerals. This accomplished their goal of using the media to get out their message of Hate.

This is a very challenging issue to discern. In a very black and white way the WBC has more things biblically right than they do wrong. So I want to very carefully divide the true statements from the false ones using scripture as the final judge. I will only deal with their views and actions towards homosexuals in this blog.

What The Bible Says….
Anyone who has heard of the cities of “Sodom and Gommorah” knows that they were notorious hot spots of homosexuality. Gen 19:5-8 “and they called to Lot and said to him, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.’ But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, and said, ‘Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.’” The Greek word in the New Testament for homosexuality is literally “a sodomite”. Many are trying to redefine what the term “sodomite” means. (A term that has remained unchanged for 5000 years, even today– “sodomy”) The city was clearly destroyed by God because of homosexuality in the story of Gen 19, even the New Testament clearly states exactly the same thing in Jude 7 “Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.” Any sinner should always remember that the God who commands us to love our neighbor is the same God who will cast any and all unrepentant sinners into the “eternal fire” (hell). Here are more Bible passages that deal with homosexuality, Lev 18:22-23 “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.” Lev 20:13 “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death.” 1 Cor 6:9 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals” 1 Tim 1:9-10 “realizing the fact that (civil) law is not made for a righteous man, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers” Rom 1:26-27 “For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.”

If the homosexual community chooses to practice homosexuality in privacy, that is their free choice. But let such persons know for certain that the Christian Bible condemns all such practices and God will judge them unfit for the kingdom of heaven if they continue to practice and openly promote homosexual sex.

WBC Twist….
Psalm 5:5 (English Standard Version) The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. This is the passage the WBC loves to twist, YOU (God) hates _______ This is how they justify their hate. WBC Inserts “Fags” instead of “evildoers.” WBC mainly mentions homosexuals, not adulators, thieves, liars, blasphemers, or murders, any of which could be inserted. From God’s view there are a lot more adulterers than homosexuals. This group implies that homosexuals are more evil than other sinners. One could say that the WBC may love homosexuals more than the others because of their effort to warn them of hell. Jonah hated Niveveh so he ran away and didn’t warn them about the wrath of God. Jonah really wanted to see Nineveh’s destruction; he was anticipating their judgment, not their repentance. So the loving thing to do is to warn all sinners that God is just and will punish all who have broken His law. All agree that the way the WBC warns homosexuals is in a very hateful way. The Bible calls us to love… “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” 1 Corithians 13:11

The Wrath issue…
From what I’ve heard the WBC teach, it is safe to say that they think homosexuals have been abandon by God, as we see foretold in the book of Romans. If we are living in the time of God’s abandonment, someone could conclude that those sinners will not repent, but that is a judgment not for us to know. We, the Church, are simply under the same orders to proclaim the gospel to the lost. Not to judge that some types of sinners will not repent.

Jesus encountered many self righteous Pharisees. He showed His dislike towards their arrogant holier-than-thou attitude many times in the gospels. I would think it would be fair to say that Jesus would show the same contempt towards WBC. The bible teaches humility, mostly because we have nothing to boast about. We are all sinners in need of being delivered from the wrath of God.

If the WBC followed the Bible, they would go on mission trips, not protesting trips. They would be in contact with the Tahoe churches, and work with the churches. The reason they don’t contact local churches for support is that churches follow the loving example of Christ’s humble sacrifice, not WBC’s hateful, condemning, hopeless message of wrath.

The South Lake Tahoe churches love homosexuals. We want homosexuals to come to the cross for the same reason we, in the church, came to the cross…forgiveness, healing and eternal life. There is a great ministry that has had success in helping homosexuals to repent from their sinful lifestyle. Check out Exodus International.