God Hates Fags???

Type in godhatesfags.com and just see what you get.


You will get a CHURCH website, Westborow's Baptist Church and you will see all about this. They believe that indeed, God hates fags. They believe that God started the war and that he kills soilders and that he hates America. They believe that God does not love everyone. They are displaying our beautiful, loving, holy, merciful God as some kind of...devil or dictator. And I am just trying to wrap my mind around how any of them ever came to that conclusion. How can they call themselves Christians and read the Bible and think these things.


I feel sorry for them...I really do...


God is about love. He is love. The Bible teaches us about his love CONSISTANTLY AND CONSTANTLY. And NO WHERE does it say that God hates fags. It doesn't say that He hates anyone. God loves everyone of his creation. No, he may not believe that homosexuality is right, but he isn't going to deny them his love or their salvation because of it. All sin is the same. I am no better or worse that a Homosexual if I lie or steal something. A murderer is no worse than a homosexual. And the best part; GOD FORGIVES US, HE LOVES US, HE STILL CARES ABOUT US. That is one of the hardest things to understand, is unconditional love.


The thing that I am praying about and something that I am going to need a lot of help with and that I can't do without God is to love these people at Westborow's Baptist Church, and to forgive them, just as God does.


My youth pastor, Freddy said that what I can do, what we can do, is to just be who we are called to be, love everyone, and put this in God's hands. We just need to be a glimpse of Heaven to others, a glimpse of Christ to others and pray that us as Christians can reach out to others, and not let WBC get to the others first.


I just really felt led to share with those of you who don't know, what is going on out there. And your thoughts and concerns are greatly appreiciated (as long as they are appropiete and we don't end up getting in a right or wrong conversation. Let's stick with the love theme here!!)
Thanks for listening. Hope you all are having a really great week.

-Liz

A little bit of everything...

Everything seems to just be...so much better lately. I am happy. HAPPY!!! That's pretty exciting. Although I am definitely not going to rely on this happiness, because it could go away...but I am enjoying it.

My conversations have been phenomenal lately. (Thanks to Freddy. Check out his Conversations series and more on iTunes; type in "thegathering" and listen to the free podcasts.)

It just seems like I am having deeper and more substantial conversations and that they are actually going somewhere and they aren't just ankle deep.

Freddy, my friend Lauren, and I stayed after at church last Wednesday and we had an incredible conversation:

Most Christians have this idea that is placed in their head that you MUST say a prayer to be saved. And that you must follow all of these rules and go through this long, churchy process to be saved. Not true. Being a follower of Christ isn't simply a prayer and a baptism and you're done. While although those things are good, it's really about the journey and about GETTING IT.

The disciples didn't get it at first. Yes, the followed Christ and were with all the time and loved him, but they still didn't quite get it. I mean, Peter had known Jesus for a long time and WALKED ON FLIPPIN WATER and still denied Jesus three times before he was crucified. But eventually, he got it and Jesus used him in extraordinary ways.

It's about the journey that you take whether or not you understand what Jesus did, who is is, what you mean to him, etc.

That conversation DEFINITELY shaped my life. That's what conversations should do, shape your life. And the conversations you have with people should reflect the conversations you are having with God and vise versa. If you can't have a meaningful, deep, real, authentic conversation with a person, your conversations with God are not going to be meaningful, deep, real, or authentic.

Lately, I have been telling more people to come to church. And, I don't say "Come!! It's fun, we have games!" (Because we kinda don't have games...just ping pong and pool. ha ha.) and I don't give them the typical church answer. I just try to let them know that it is a place where you can be real with people, and feel welcomed and maybe walk out of a place feeling just a little bit more whole or valued or whatever word you wanna feel in the blank. Church shouldn't be about boring people with the same old stuff and telling them their sinners and making everyone feel horrible and tired. Church should make you feel good and excited about life and God and make you feel like you have a group of people you can always go to and be vulnerable with and they won't judge you or hate you. I can say with confidence that our church, or maybe just our youth group will make you feel that way. Because we all know what it feels like and we are all broken. And I just wanna get the pre-conceived notions and the statistics out of the way...

That's really all that my brain can process and all that my fingers can really type for now. But maybe even later tonight, I'll be back.

I want you to have a great week.

-Liz

My First Blog

Aww, how cute! Haha, anyways, I'm Liz and I like to talk a lot and ramble and such, so I thought, "What a better way to do that than through a blog?!" So, that's why I have this. I am a pretty opinionated person and can talk about the most random things. Sometimes it actually makes sense...but only sometimes. Yeah. So, just grab the popcorn and start reading!!! Just a few things you should know about me: I am kinda crazy. I have OCD. I don't make sense. I love God, so he will probably be the main focus of my blogs. I will talk about youth group and church a lot because my youth pastor blows my mind and says things that I will probably feel the whole world needs to know. I'm not a natural redhead. I obviously can't blog. AND I prefer creamy peanut butter over crunchy. Those are just the basics for when you are reading this. :) So, later down the road, I will hopefully be rockin and rollin with this thing so, stay tuned.