From A Course in Miracles: "When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter. As you see him, you will see yourself. As you treat him, you will treat yourself. As you think of him, you will think of yourself. Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself or lose yourself."Beautiful, huh? I thought of this while looking at a video from BoingBoing.net of members of the Westboro Baptist Church singing "God Hates The World". If you click on the link and watch it, I have to warn you that it's tough to sit through. At first, I laughed because it was so outrageous. I thought it had to be a sick joke. But then, when I realized how serious they were about their hatred I got more and more sad. And after it ended, my soul was in a puddle on the floor.
But then I remembered that passage from the Course and I just let it all go. I ended up feeling bad for them, actually, trapped in that way of thinking and unable to have any peace because of it. And unable to offer any peace to anyone who isn't as miserable as they are. God doesn't hate the world. They do.
Now I'm no saint. And if you end up reading enough of my blog posts and tweets you'll quickly see what a hypocrite I am for asking that we all love one another one day and screaming at a soccer player on TV on the other. But I don't hate the world. In fact, after watching that video I love the world even more. Any world that can take that kind of abuse and still let you live in it is okay by me.
I'm just starting to raise a 4 year old. And after I watched this video I recommitted myself to teaching him so much about love that it will never occur to him to join a group like the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka. That's my answer to them. I can't hate them. Hate is what they're selling and I won't buy it. I can pray for them, though. I can hope that one day all of them will come to their senses and get help so they can get out from under that horrible psychic burden they're carrying around. And I can work to make the world a place where, in the future where my 4 year old will live, the idea of the Westboro Baptist Church never crosses anybody's mind.
Care to join me?
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