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.