Leonard Pitts on the wasted life of Fred Phelps. I agree with his worry about recriminatory glee over Phelpss death. But Id add two things. (1) Christs command to love persons, even those who (like Phelps) devote the greater part of their lives to spewing hatred in the name of God, cant mean feeling warm and tender towards them. Thats a psychological impossibility, not to mention a moral misstep. The kind of love Christ is talking about is benevolence, not sentimentality: wishing the person well, and acting towards that end, without expectation of return. In Phelps case, that means praying, sincerely and without rancor, that he can finally let go of the hatred that corroded his life on earth and hurt so many people. And in order for him to do so, it might be the case that hes in for a painful process of postmortem conversion that would entail being confronted with the full depth of his wickedness. A purgation of self-examination before God. (2) Loving someone like Phelps - that is, sincerely hoping for his good - doesnt mean declining to condemn the evil he wrought or in a faux-pious way muttering who am I to judge? Final judgment of course isnt up to us. Were too fallible for that. But when we see evil in the world, love for the victims of it requires that we call it out, name it, and hold the purveyors of it responsible. Phelps doesnt get a free pass because hes died.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 10:48:46 +0000
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