Fred Phelps' Death - Why We Should Not Celebrate It (Biblical Standpoint)

Fred Phelps’ death has definitely received a big impact on many people today – and not in a positive way either.  Now, I know some of you may be asking, “Phelps spoke of hatred and anger, causing grief and starting a group that followed that belief for years!  His words were poison!  How could his death not be a good thing?”  Yeah, the life he lead was certainly not of love – but of hate, which goes against what the Bible teaches when He tells us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (1 John 4:11, Matthew 5:43-44, Leviticus 19:18).  “God hates gays/fags”, “God hates soldiers”, “God hates rap music” (no joke)… the list goes on – all claiming that God “hates” these things, when in fact God does not hate them (specifically the sinner) at all (1 John 4:8, 4:16, 4:19; Romans 5:8).  God loves us, because God is love!

Now, with that said, I also want to make a point that despite of Fred Phelps’ hate towards sinners and his self-righteous behavior… we still should not celebrate his death!  In fact, I would have to say that Phelps’ death would come close to being as celebrated as when Osama Bin Laden’s death came to light to us.  Over-exaggerating?  Maybe, but the celebration of the death of a man is still there, whether it be Osama or Fred Phelps.  Yeah, the death of someone (Osama) who caused so much strife, war, and terror would become a good thing in terms of stopping the terror over all… but that still does not mean that we should have been celebrating it.  In God’s eyes, every sin (bar from one specific one) is equivalent.  1 Corinthians 6:9-10 lists some examples on the sins that will keep us from the Kingdom of Heaven.  Why do I point this out?  It’s because we ALL are guilty of some sin or another.

Based on the information I gathered, Westbro Baptist Church members (most at least) are self-righteous – people who think that are not sinners at all (perfect).  Naturally, they are wrong in this regard, as everyone has sinned in some part of their lives and, as a result, are not perfect (Romans 3:23).  Now, even so, we too are just as guilty as they are when it comes to sinning.  We too have sinned, whether it being drug addiction, love for money, lust, pornography, homosexuality... the list continues on, and we have fallen in some form of sin at some point in our lives.

As such, why should we celebrate a man’s death... a man that has caused a spread of hatred around others and falsely testified God’s Word… when we all have sinned ourselves?  Especially the Christian’s who are celebrating his death and speaking about it as if out of joy… that’s hate right there – hate for a man who spoke of hate.  I’ve already pointed out that God is love, and that as Christians we need to love our neighbor as ourselves… AND, we need to be able to forgive the sinner (Ephesians 4:32, Mark 11:25), no matter how hard that may be.  We should not celebrate his death… but feel sorry for the fact that he may not have repented when he was near death.  Chances are that he didn’t… but he may have.  If he did pray for forgiveness for these sins and truly wished to repent, then I say that’s great for a man who has preached and spoke of hate for so long, finally saw the error of his ways, repented at that moment of his death, and was finally truly at peace.  If not, then it’s a shame that he didn’t.

Let’s take a good look at ourselves, see the sins that we have caused (no matter the number or the amount of times we have sinned), and have faith in God to help us remove those sins and repent.  As such, by truly repenting, we may be able to help those who are struggling with their sin and needs a helping hand to guide them to Christ (Matthew 7:1-5).  If we each do that, then we may be able to lessen the hate in this world that we have let creep into our hearts for all of these years/decades/centuries, and follow the love that Jesus Christ has given us for so long, by paying for OUR sins through His death on the cross… so that we may have eternal life, for those who believe in Him and are faithful (John 3:16, Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24).  As such, because of what Christ has done for us, believers in Christ who commit to Him to the end will receive such a glorious gift that we don’t rightfully deserve… but God says that we are deserving of His love anyways.

In conclusion, I agree that Fred Phelps did not lead a life truly devoted to God.  He spoke of hate for not just the sin (which is right, since we should hate sin [Romans 12:9, Psalm 97:10]), but also spoke hatred at the sinners (which is wrong).  Even so, I personally believe that we should not celebrate his death, but focus on repenting ourselves, and leading a life of faith and agape love – the kind of faith and love that is so preached by Christ and throughout the Bible.  By living a life of true Christian love… we may be able to lessen the hatred in the world today.

Top 6 Favorite Super Smash Bros. Characters

And so, we have left the year of 2013 behind and started on a brand new year in 2014.  Many games are being looked forward to, and I personally am excited for the new Super Smash Bros. game that's coming out for the Wii U and the 3DS.

With that said, I am going to make a post on my top 6 favorite SSB characters (because 6 is better than 5... sometimes).  Now, these are my personal favorite characters to use in the SSB universe.  I will be deciding based from all 3 current SSB games to date.  Before we begin, here's a small 'honorable mention for those who I love to use, but didn't exactly make it to the Top 6:

• Captain Falcon: Falcon Punch, speed, and his sweet moves!
• Luigi: I like jumpers, and Luigi is no different.  He's also strong, but Luigi isn't the easiest character to use either.  But nonetheless, I can't deny that I love Mario's brother, whom I like more than Mario himself!
• Bowser: Powerful, hard to K.O., and I love giant reptile monsters like him!
• Lucario: One of my best (and favorite) Pokemon currently in the actual series, balanced, good movepool.

So there's our honorable mention... yeah, that's about it.  Well, let's begin with number six!

6. Toon Link
Not Young Link from Melee.  Toon Link from Brawl.  Why?  Simple.  I like this Link more.  Anyone who has read my favorite Zelda games page on my Blog know that Wind Waker is my favorite Zelda game to date, and since Toon Link is pretty much based from that Link... well, there ya go.  I love the cartoon design, as opposed to the real life looking design (not saying that I dislike it, just that I like the cartoon look more).  Also, I prefer the Master Sword's design from Wind Waker more personally.
Aside from design, I like his move set better than the other Links (effectively being only Link and Young Link).  He's light, can jump well, and still has ranged weaponry to work with (even though I feel like they are slower and lack some range as opposed to Adult Link).  His attacks hit hard (especially that down thrust of his, like every other Links has been), and that up thrust can K.O. pretty hard too.  I also like the fact that he can wall jump, and using the Hook Shot to get you back on the ledge is cool.  Not always good for recovery, but it looks neat!
If there's one thing that I would like to change from Toon Link is to replace his current shield with the Mirror Shield from WW, but that's about it.

5. Yoshi
Yoshi and I go back during the times of SSB.  He was always my default character until halfway through Melee onward.  Back when SSB and SSB Melee were among the few games I constantly played, I was really good with Yoshi.  I especially remembered when we had a 'Peddler's Market' thing going on at our school when I was in Jr. High, and there was a booth where SSB Melee was a big hit at the time.  It costed 50 cents to play, and you get to keep playing as long as your win each match.  Otherwise, you had to pay 50 cents to play another round.  I only had to pay the 50 cents until I had to be in class.  I was at my prime with Melee, and Yoshi was my default and best character for me to use.  A great jumper, and a heavy hitter.  No one could stop us!
With the boastful story done, now I can say that I am not as good as I once was, as I actually play a wide variety of games today (Nintendo games mainly still).  In fact, I have gotten rusty since I stopped playing Brawl regularly for a few years.  And as such, Yoshi isn't my best because of it, but he's on here for both still being a favorite, still one of my better characters, and just pure nostalgia.  Never underestimate the green happy dinosaur, because this guy can still hit very hard and has amazing jumping capabilities.

4. Ike

My third Fire Emblem game I have played was Path of Radiance, and it is one of my top 3 favorite games (along with Rekka no Ken and Awakening).  Ike was the main character of this game, and boy, did I like him.  He's a pretty awesome character and, unlike other main characters, is not of noble birth.  This alone sets him apart from the likes of Roy, Marth, Lyn, Ephraim, and so forth.  In fact, he is just a common mercenary... who so happens to be a main character in his respective game titles (PoR and Radiant Dawn).
Once I found out that he was going to be in Brawl, I couldn't help but be excited.  Once I got my hands on the game and played... I was happy!  While Ike isn't the fasted character to play with, he is a very strong and capable fighter.  Not only that, but he can move averagely quickly and isn't easily knocked out, especially if you know how to use him.  He became one of my default characters in Brawl.
Ike's strong, and it helps that he isn't terribly slow.  His special B moves are pretty sweet, and his Final Smash move is one of my personal favorites!  I only wished that his sword Ragnell would be able to fire ranged attacks, as it has that same capabilities in his FE titles.  Oh well, I'm just glad that he made it in Brawl as a playable character, and I enjoyed using him a lot (and still do today).

3. Pikachu
Pokemon is one of my favorite gaming titles to play, and Pikachu is one of my favorite Pokemon.  Not my most favorite, but I do like him.  He's had his moments in the anime, and is very popular.  Although, he isn't too terrific in his original gaming series, even with the help of the Light Ball item, it's great that the SSB universe has been incredibly kind to this yellow mouse, sometimes even considered 'broken'.
Pikachu may be very light and somewhat easily KO'ed, but his speed, great recovery, and heavy hitting power makes up for this.  A friend of mine used him all the time and was pretty good with him.  I see why he used Pikachu a lot, as he is very good.  I enjoy using him.
His electric attacks are dangerously tough, especially Thunder.  Quick Attack is such a great recovery, Thundershock has good priority, and that speed... I could repeat on with this, but I just enjoy using Pikachu a lot.  And besides, it would be wrong of a Pokemon fan like me not to use a Pokemon in the SSB universe.

2. Falco
Now, I could choose Fox here, but 'personally, I prefer the air'... sometimes.  Falco is really good with that.  He can jump really good, has good air control (at least I think so), and the fact that he can use good attacks in the air makes it worthwhile (not to mention that his blaster fires faster in the air).
Now, with land fighting it's almost no different.  Falco is really good on land too, as his attacks work nicely and hits hard!  And I like that he has a wide variety of utility moves to work with, suck as the Reflector (which I like that he kicks it, making it like a boomerang in Brawl), as it helps reflect projectiles and such, and his Falco Phantasm (great recovery, especially in Brawl).  The Fire Bird could still be better, but it works nonetheless.  And I do prefer his Blaster over Fox's, as his stuns the enemy.
Fox and Falco have their perks (examples being that Fox is fast and Falco jumps better), and between the two... I will always pick Falco!

1. Marth
This guy (and Roy) are what helped me get interested in the Fire Emblem series... and I am glad that it did!  Fire Emblem still remains as my favorite video game series to date!  I am glad that Marth and Roy came to America's SSB Melee, as it got players interested in the series too!  Now, with that said, why else is Marth my number one?
Needless to say, Marth is awesome!  In Melee, he works real well as a nicely balanced character.  He's fast, his attacks have good speed and priority, and his array of sword techniques is nice!  Dancing Blade has some great combos in there, provided you time them right.  Dolphin Slash makes for a decent recovery, and a very good attack.  His Shield Breaker sticks to the name.  After a full charge, it will break the opponent's shield regardless of how fully charged it is.  Not only that, but it hits real hard once fully charged!  And one of my personal favorites: Counter.  Just simply having your opponent's attack countered against him always brings joy to my heart!
I also like that Marth's blade, Falchion, is best when the tip of the blade is used.  As a fencer, I can attest and say that it suits my playing style, especially since nearly all of Marth's moves is based on sword attacks and techniques.
I honestly wish he was this good in his own Fire Emblem gaming titles.  I like his character, but he always seems to be weaker than some other good characters (it's such a shame that he can't promote).  But, he's still awesome, and is great in the SSB series so far.  I am excited to see how he turns out in the 4th installment!

So there's my top favorite SSB characters to date!  If you have personal favorites that are similar/different from mine, leave them in the comments below! :)