Obama is the new President - Westboro is scared

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't excited about Barack Obama being our 44th President of the United States of America.

It's an understandable occurrence that not everyone is thrilled with the president elect. Not everybody has to be happy about it.

And just because I like Obama, doesn't mean I support everything he believes. I definitely do not subscribe to the thought pattern that this guy will crap rainbows and bleed miracles.

But then there are the people who are going to go to the extremes - like the Westboro Baptist Church. These people are certifiable, but at least they are equal opportunity haters. Like Obama, they hated George W. Bush, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, victims of Katrina, teenagers killed in car accidents, soldiers who die overseas and the occasional state or two.

No kidding, these people claim to hate Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Kooky right?

Their Web site - godhatesfags.com - gets a pretty fair share of hits. I personally frequent their site to keep tabs on whether they will be paying a visit to Tennessee. At the very least, it would make for a great news story.

But I digress. They recently posted a "news release" about president-elect Barack and notes how he is the "Antichrist." Personally, if these people ever truly wanted to see the Antichrist, all they would have to do is look in a mirror.

The following is their "news release." Enjoy.

BARACK OBAMA IS ANTICHRIST

GOD IS PUNISHING AMERICA BY MAKING HIM
PRESIDENT TO FURTHER CURSE THIS EVIL NATION

Antichrist fit Obama like a glove; to wit: The Man of Sin, the Beast, the Son of Perdition, That Wicked One (i.e., That Lawless One), who wrests, or twists, the Scripture to his own destruction. 2 Pet. 3:16.

By his own pronouncements, and by the events as they have miraculously developed on the ground, presidential candidate - Sen. Barack Obama - is the Antichrist. The word Antichrist means "he that openly withstands Christ, being diametrically opposed to Christ."

Sodomite America deserves Antichrist as her president.

This evil, black Nimrod is on record as supporting same-sex marriage and the wholesale murder of babies; and, his basic theology is pure Arminian heresy, consisting of two Satanic lies:

1) God loves everybody; and,

2) Man has a free will.

He has shredded every part of the Bible which proves him and his sycophants - (i.e., his worshipers) - to be lying murderers and blaspheming hypocrites.

All the Bible aliases for "But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." 1 Pet. 1:25.

"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of Gods pake as they were loved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Pet. 1:20,21.

Thus Antichrist Obama has committed blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, Mat . 12:31,32. And Antichrist Obama is bound for Hell for his sins against the Holy Ghost, "cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone." Rev. 19:20.

Amen.

Problem: If this is such an "evil nation," why are the Westboro followers still here?

Answer: If they went anywhere else in this world, they would probably be killed.

Problem: When did Obama openly withstand Christ? It's not like he's declared Mortal Kombat against God.

Answer: Obama is a Christian - just not a WESTBORO Christian. Which means he's really not a Christian to the Westborians.

(Side note: I always find it amusing when Christians hate other Christians. It's like the deaf hating the deaf for being deaf. Now THAT'S hypocrisy at its best Westboro.)

Problem: There is no scripture presented to support the notion that Obama is the Antichrist.

Answer: The Westboro Baptist Church consists of inbred, knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, narrow-minded, unhappy-with-their-own-pathetic-existences hillbillies led by a senile, perverted, closeted homosexual named Fred Phelps. Sun rise, sun set.

Obama isn't perfect, but McCain was farther from. I know that everyone can't wait to see what Obama will do, but I really don't expect him to do a lot. Mostly I'm just curious to see how he helps our country's current situations.

In fact, I don't even expect him to get to do or "change" anything that he really wants to in his four years. All I really expect of Obama is for him to work his hardest to clean up the mess we are currently in.

War, economic chaos, social injustice, primitive educational standards. If he can just begin to heal any of these things, I will consider his time in office a success.

So congratulations Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States of America. I wish you the best of luck in leading and representing me, my family, my friends, my country.

And please don't screw up. I really can't stand when the Westborians think they have the right to gloat.

Judgment shouldn't be marginalized

This past Saturday, a few friends and I attended the Family Worship Center's presentation of "Judgment: Death Row" in Murfreesboro.

The presentation was a variation of a traditional Hell House - a haunted house with a Christian theme designed to lead viewers to a relationship with Jesus in order to save their eternal souls from the fires of hell.

The concept for the original Hell House was "Scaremare" and was pioneered by Jerry Falwell in the 1970s. Scaremare still runs to this day.

Since its development, multiple churches, usually denoting themselves as fundamentalists, have emulated this Halloween pastime, including Trinity Church of Cedar Hill, Texas - whose hellish production was documented by director George Ratliff in the movie Hell House.

It was very obvious that the Family Worship Center spent top dollar on its faithful interpretation of salvation through the intricacy of its set, the man-power it took to run the production and the oh-so-subtle advertisement spots on Comcast.

But even with a decently- sized budget, the overall message delivered by the church left much to be desired - specifically accountability.

The play is set up to take the audience through the lives of several death row inmates, including murderers, rapists and child abusers. It displays scenes of drug use, domestic abuse, suicide, assault, molestation, drinking and death.

Each prisoner has a different backstory.

One was molested as a child. This led him to become addicted to pornography and eventually kidnap, rape and kill children.

Another was unprepared for the burden of motherhood, what with her addiction to an unnamed drug demon. Her baby wouldn't stop crying so she shook it to death.

The crimes of the inmates can go on and on, but the one running commonality among them was their lack of faith in the Family Worship Center's opinion of God.

I say the Family Worship Center's opinion of God because not every sect of Christianity believes exactly what this specific church does. However, through its hell house presentation, the FWC made perfectly clear what will and will not get you into its Heaven.

Suicide and the rejection of God is an automatic admission ticket to become Satan's little errand boy.

The only way to get into Heaven - or have your name recorded in the "Book of Life" - was to ask Jesus to forgive you of all your Earthly sins. But unawareness with the Christian faith was not covered. If you are not aware of the concept of Christianity, do you also go to Hell?

The biggest problem with their version of ultimate forgiveness was there is no accountability for Earthly actions.

For example, the aforementioned child-shaking mother asked the religious figure present at her lethal injection if God could forgive her. He replied the mandatory "yes," because really, let's face it, he doesn't know for sure. She then asked Jesus to forgive her, they injected her with a dose of deadly narcotics, and she dies but then awakens moments later - in Heaven.

Every other non-murderous individual should be outraged at this. This woman is allotted the same reward for living a terrible life that a person who works very hard to remain virtuous gets.

It is true that forgiveness is not fair. But forgiveness should not come without retribution. People should be made to be accountable for their actions and not receive a free ride to a blissful eternity.

In a technical sense, Person A and Person B are both given the same opportunity - life.

Person A spends his life obeying laws, caring for others and trying his hardest to be an overall good person.

Person B, given the same opportunity of life, squanders his life selfishly, harming other people.

Both people ask Jesus to forgive their sins. According to the FWC, both will get into Heaven.

Person A should be pissed. Luckily for him, he gets to spend eternity enjoying being pissed off.

The fact of the matter is the Family Worship Center has no idea what the requirements are for entry into either Heaven or Hell. Like many other sects of Christianity and other religions, they think they know, but they don't.

And that, above all else, is the concept that terrifies us as humans. The answer to all the "big" questions is very simple - we don't know.

The FWC would like to think that, after we die, we go to either Heaven or Hell. They like to think that the requirement for entry into Heaven is to "confess Christ openly, follow Christ in baptism, be faithful in going to a Bible-believing church, read the Bible, pray daily, give your time, talent and tithes, and be a witness for Christ."

Those are all very nice goals and decent standards to live by. But once again, these are just theories - not guarantees.

Yes, the answer is scary. We will all die one day. Not knowing what will happen to us after we die is absolutely petrifying.

But it isn't a bad thing. We have the fear, so we should use it. The only thing we can do is blindly prepare for what lies after life.

So we help out others in need, love our fellow humans, whether we agree with them or not, and try to maintain a progressive, safe world for ourselves and our posterity. Doing these things is not always easy, and many people mess up. But it's okay because, after all, we are only human.

The FWC message that left much to be desired was that we need to stay out of Hell.

Swing and a miss.

What their message should have been is that we should be good people because it is the right thing to do.

Andy Harper is a senior journalism major

Originally posted on 10/27/08 at www.mtsusidelines.com