Are the westboro baptist really wrong about their interpretation of th

"God hates ______"
God does not hate. That message could not possibly be more clearly stated in the Bible.

I don't think anyone so blind to the concept of "love" can claim to have an accurate interpretation of the Bible.

"Judge not lest ye be judged" Matthew 7:1
This quote is NOT understood by an alarming number of self-proclaimed Christians, and it's quite sad.

Here are some more parts of the Bible that are heart-breakingly overlooked by Westboro Baptist, as well as some others:

"But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" Matthew 5:44

"A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense." Proverbs 19:11

"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you" Luke 6:27

And perhaps the most tragically forgotten one... even given as a commandment:

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." John 13:34

The Bible has some amazing lessons to teach. Hatred, bigotry, judgment, violence, and apathy for our fellow man are NOT among them.

So no, I do not think Westboro Baptist church has an accurate interpretation of the Bible at all. In fact I think it's so grossly off the mark, they missed out on what the real message in that book is.

Love.

They're fairly accurate. But you see, they too cherry pick the bible.

Modern Christians that are kind, loving, etc. and don't hate the gays have cherry-picked to avoid the truth that the god of Abraham, Issac, and Jacon does in fact hate gay people. He ordered them executed in perhaps one of the most painful ways imaginable in the old testament. It says in the new testament they won't get to go to heaven. If ordering them beaten to death with rocks and having them burn for an eternity in hell for their sexuality isn't hateful, I simply don't know what is.

Of course, the Abrahamic god (who's actual origin isn't among the Jews, the names Elohim and Yahweh are both Canaanite in origin, so chances are he's just a rip off of those older polytheistic religions) doesn't just hate gays, he seems to hate just about everyone. Basically, if you're not deep-throating him, he hates you too. Westboro puts a whole new spin on the term on your knees for god, if you get my drift.

But you see, unlike other churches, Westboro cherry picks out the parts that support their own hatred and bigotry. They don't pay attention to the parts that say "love thy neighbor as thyself" or "judge not lest ye be judged". They ignore those, which, admittedly, are contradictory to the old testament law of moses

You see, I see Christianity is a religion that doesn't worship the old god of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. Most modern Christians worship Jesus, who is a lot less of a douchebag than his father (in fact, he's sort of seen as a sacrifice to his dad to prevent his dad from burning all of us alive for an eternity). Westboro calls themselves Christian, but they really worship the old douchebag god, not Jesus, his supposed son.

Their god is Fred Phelps.

The problem isn't their interpretation.

The problem is their arrogance in trying to dictate who will and won't go to Heaven. As if God has granted the power of final judgement to them.

And they've decided this "power" means that they have a God-given right to harass anyone they dislike... as long as they accuse that group of being gay-friendly.

There isn't a single person on this planet who follows the Bible to the letter. There's some pretty weird stuff in there.

Jesus spoke in parables, which by definition is a vague story with some inner meaning. Do think that literally "building your house upon stone" will send you to heaven? How do you know what to take literally or interpret? That question has confounded theologists for 2000 years. Not even different popes could agree! So I doubt this one, aggressive and hateful group, thoughts clouded with anger, have the answer.

We must all learn to interpret it, and create our own relationships with Christ.

This post is a waste if people actually comment the majority will bash the church and not offer any real insight into the accuracy of the interpretation. And when people do even if they quote verses there will be just as many verses that contradict whatever the ones are that they are quoting. Everyone knows their assholes but my point is is that it's just as easy to read the bible especially the old testament and come to the conclusion that wbp is right as it would be to say that they are dead wrong. It is culture that shapes religious belief not religious belief that shapes culture. So now because we realize it is wrong to hate homosexuals we must do some gymnastics and change our interpretation of the bible. It's the same with evolution. If you read the bible it does not allow for it even remotely say you take the creation story as a metaphor which makes no sense to me why you would. that extremely long list of begotten names puts the age of the earth in thousands of years not billions like it actually is. So the list is a metaphor too what possible value could a fictional geneailogy offer anyone. There is no meaning to it. That would be like me listing numbers 1 to a thousand and excepting you to learn a lesson from reading my list. Another topic lets say the creation story is a metaphor what is the meaning of the story. The only one I can deduce from it is that we as humans shouldn't seek knowledge we shouldn't strive to understand the world what a great message that is.

The Westboro Baptist Church is out to make money, pure and simple.

The church is run by some asshole lawyer (who was disbarred a while back) and his two sons, both of whom (or at least one) are attorneys as well.

On their website, they post new protest dates and locations. Some of those locations try to stop them from protesting there, sometimes by filing a lawsuit. The attorneys for WBC then file suit right back at them and make a shit ton of $$$ because technically they have the right to protest. They basically file lawsuits or counter-suits against anyone that tries to stop one of their protests. Thus, making a shit ton of cash. They don't protest most of the places that they threaten to protest.

They have a necessary public image. They are so reviling that nobody WANTS them anywhere near them because of the hatefulness of their message. Granted, the congregation may not be in it for the money, and yes, maybe the father and his sons believe the shit that they are preaching (hell, many do), but the ultimate goal that the founders had for the church is money. They are being paid to be bigots and the more people pay attention to them, the more money that they make.

The westboro baptist church abuses the first amendment, spreads hate and fear, and justifies it with the bible. The westboro baptist church is nothing more than a cult disguised as a religious organization. People should love one another, not hate; Especially not because of false interpretations from a holy book.

Alright OP. I do not know who you are, but it seems to me that you could have one of three temperments:

1) You align yourself closely or directly with radical disgraces like the Westboro Church
2) You do not align yourself with an extremist Christian sect, but still consider yourself some other type of Christian
3) You are not a Christian--just genuinely curious about Biblical interpretations.

Please follow this cool link about interpreting the Bible as the literal word of God, this is only two pages long and may shed some light (and hopefully make you laugh): http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/drlaura.asp

The point is, if you take the whole Bible literally, you're going to be doing a lot of outrageous, illogical, cruel, selfish, and disgusting things to yourself and other people. So, in answer to your question, yes--the Westboro "church" do interpret the Bible more literally than most other Christian sects.

To elaborate more, if you continue your search of Biblical interpretations, you are going to find a lot of religions that only accept either the Old or New Testament, Both (and take it all literally, like Westboro), or Both (and act progressively, like good samaritans).

On a personal note, my point is this: I am a Christian. I do not believe gays should be kept from marriage, that Christ is the only way to redemption, or that I should belittle others for their faiths if they are not Christian. Also, women weren't made from ribs. God and science can work together.

I'm not here for a debate. When it comes to interpreting the Bible though, it seems to me like you can go one of three ways:

1) Be a good samaritan. Praise God. Repeat. Leave it at that.
2) Take it all literally and be a conflicted, neurotic walking mess.
3) Use it to justify evil.

The "good" book fortunately has several verses that seem to lay on the hippy gospel of Love pretty thickly, and other verses that seem like sociopolitical soapboxes and plain old discomfort and hatred.