So, Fred Phelps has died.
I have to say, he was one of those guys who really infuriate me: the ones who claim to speak for Christ but whose witness consists of hatred and venom; the ones who take pride in driving people away from Church so that they can take pleasure in condemning them; the ones who will one day say, "Lord, did we not smite the wicked and condemn the ungodly in your name?" and to whom Jesus will say "Verily I say unto you, I know ye not."
But I don't have to imagine Hell for him. He has already received his reward.
...
Shortly before his death, the Westboro Baptist Church excommunicated him. The very group he had led for so many years booted him out. Reportedly, it was because he had advocated that his church show more compassion towards it's own members -- its own members! -- and his flock turned on him.
He spent his last days on earth isolated and alone, rejected by his one-time followers and prohibited from being seen by his family, some of whom had already rejected and left his church but who still cared about the man. And his time waiting to meet his Creator was spent knowing that his church had consigned him to hell.
Like the fella said, "They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind." The group that turned on Phelps are following the very gospel of Intolerance which he has always preached. And so, at his very end, the people closest to him treated him like dirt.
Karma? Maybe. I can hope that the "backsliding" which led the church to excommunicate was a sign that maybe he was starting to realize that his mission did God no glory and instead brought pain and suffering to many. Maybe he came to see himself in the passage where Jesus rails against the sanctimonious religious leaders who "travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are."
Maybe.
He's in the Lord's hands now, I believe. Imagining him suffering the torments of hell which he predicted for gays might make for some enjoyable schadenfreude, but does nothing to help the people still suffering under the hatred Phelps personified.
No. The best way to "celebrate" the passing of the Reverend Phelps is for good Christians to speak out against intolerance and to show love and kindness to the individuals we meet.
Oh, I'm sure non-Christians will do that too; I certainly cannot claim (as some do) that Only Christians can be Virtuous. But it is because Phelps spewed his ministry of hate and because his disciples continue to do so in Our Name and in the Name of our God, that we who also follow Christ have a special responsibility to try to undo some of the evil he has done.