Sam Harris

I am fairly certain most of you are familiar with the rev. Fred Phelps. If not, he is a preacher from somewhere in "god's country". He is an old , gaunt, rather scary looking "man" who somewhat resembles a scarecrow from the farmland he calls home(a perfect representative for the omnipotent Marquis de Sade many christers worship I might add). In any case, Phelps and his congregation,straight from the cast of the movie,"Deliverance" love to pickett gay pride parades and other events in major metro areas across the country. These buffoons carry signs with statements of loving christian compassion written on them like;"god hates queers" and ;"Matt in hell" (they are referring to Matthew Shepard,the much-publicized victim of a viscious of anti-gay homocide).

  The interesting thing is,these "people" do not stand around in an austere manner,with sour appearances on their faces and screaming angrily. Rather the reverse is the case,they laugh uproriously and have a grand old time at these rallies. These people are not merely seeking attention,I believe there is a strong sado-masochistic componant to their behavior. It would seem that the motivations of the "champion" and the good rev. phelps come from similiar tawdry psycho-sexual origins. Although with the "champ" I think the masochistic elements are more of a factor than the sadistic.

  It should be patently obvious to any of us who possess the slightest modicum of reason,that aside from what I am about to say,there is little one can say regarding entities like phelps and "the champ". Since we are only personally dealing with one subhuman(thankfully) here, my comments pertain to him. The man is a glutton for punishment. I can only attribute any of the responses to his lunacy I have previously made to self-acknowledged stupidity of the highest caliber. Well,I have forgiven myself we are all entitled to a roaring brain fart every now and then right? I frankly don't care(after all you swim with the champ at the risk of your own self-respect)what the rest of you do with the "champ".Speaking strictly for myself,I refuse to enable any more of his masturbations,be they mental or otherwise

Landulf, you run when confronted with truth, not without the usual insults. Come now, I know you’ve more courage than this.

A person who advocates the gospel of Christ must present a balanced gospel, not just the feely good parts. The whole story involves sin and how it causes one to be lost and in need of a savior. I would be remiss not to mention that the wages of sin is death, and that eternal. But the good news is that Christ has overcome death, and paid your penalty for sin. Therefore, you’re getting the whole truth, and the truth will set you free.

Others, such as this Phelps character (whom I’ve never heard of, is he a figment of your imagination?) erode the liberating power of the gospel. How can you draw the lost, how can you talk about reconciliation, how can you help hurting souls with such hard messages. Nope, you’ve mentioned a fringe element. Now come on, how many mainline Christian (Catholic, Baptist, Assemblies of God, Pentecostal, Methodist, etc.) ministers go around acting in such a manner??? Very few.

No landulf, the gospel is liberating and once you get to know Jesus, you get set free. Then you just simply want to share the good news with others. This good news is for you. Reach out in faith my friend and see the joy that God will bring into your life. Not just joy, but direction, love, peace, hope, etc.  ..Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) John 7:37b-39.

Now how good is that? (got my spiritual eye on you my friend, hee hee…praying for ya!)

Champion is a troll and the best thing to do is to ignore him. He’s been placed here, quite possibly being paid to be here.

Landulf, You are right.  Fred Phelps is a hateful man who is the complete opposite of the Jesus he says he follows.  His joy in the death of people like Matthew Shephard is outrageous and an eternity away from the emotions and heart of Jesus of Nazareth.  The last thing in the world Jesus would do is hold a sign that says ‘god hates fags’.  Any ‘person of faith’ who can not come right out and condemn the hate, conduct and attitude of people like Fred Phelps only participate in his hatred.

landulf, you entrance into this forum was filled with anger and venom. Then you settled into open discourse with a calm manner. Now you disappeared.

Do you still think that myself and the fringe have anything in common? I would hope that I have been tough, but firm, and in most cases gentle, in espousing the tenats of the Christian faith. Let me know how you think I am doing. I am a person who occaisonally needs to “sharpen the saw,” so to speak. I’d be interested in what your take is now.

Do you still think that myself and the fringe have anything in common?

Absolutely!!!  You know what really upsets me about the religious wrong?  Every single wrong-wing talk show host, commentator, columnist, pandering politition and bible-thumper was going to the wall for that poor girl in Florida. 

I couldn’t help but think while all this was going on, if Terri had been gay, I would have never heard her name!

What is all this talk about Christians hating homosexuals? How did you folks arrive at this conclusion? God loves everybody equally. Christians have to love everybody equally as well. I don’t think a single thing would have changed with that case as you say it would have.