Get by with a little help from my friends

[SonSearcher]

Hey guys. I am assuming this thread will fit here just fine, but if it needs to be moved maybe the forum moderators may do so.

I need to ask a question about 40 days for Life vs.a current protestant group “protesting” at a local abortion clinic.

This morning a couple came to get an abortion. Some of our sidewalk ministers ended up talking with a man who was the husband of a woman who was in the clinic receiving an abortion. He was there with his son. He was told that he needed to stay out with the child as the child is not allowed to be in the clinic with the mother while the procedure is going on.

The man was distraught. He was visibly upset. He was very uneducated and had been told by three doctors on three separate office visits that his wife needed to get an abortion because of possible expected problems from a vaccine she received in the first few weeks of her pregnancy before she realized she was pregnant.

The sidewalk ministers had begun to minister and said things like, “I am sorry that this is happening,” “we are here for you no matter what”, what you do from now on is the most important," Jesus will forgive you He loves you" and so on and so forth…these sidewalk folks were Catholic and they are there for 40 Days for Life.

After a few moments the other group who loudly proclaim Catholic doctrine wrong and we are a bunch of Mary Worshipers…was there with their “abortion posters” and loud condemning voices came over and began to berate this young man and “tell him that he and his wife are going to hell” among other things.

Well the ministers began to defend the man and say “guys he is remorseful, he is willing to work with us, he needs love, and so on.”

Well the protestant started in on the ministers also and long story short, the Catholics were drowned out and discouraged and left the altercation.

So here we go…the questions…may be answered by Protestant and Catholic alike from any point of view.

How do this make you feel?

How would you react to this? Can we say that one approach is better than the other?

What are some ways that you can minister effectively and efficiently to folks on the sidewalk both the customers of abortion and the other Christians.

What is your opinion of the gruesome abortion posters that have been commonplace at abortion clinics? Are they effective?

 

[robwar]

you have a lot of questions and each can be a thread on it’s own. With the Protestant group, do you know what Church they might have come from or a majority of them? If you can find out then maybe those of you who were there can visit the pastor of this group and let him that maybe they think bad things about Catholics but in front of an abortion clinic is not the time to have this kind of debate. Anyone who is there in front of a clinic needs to work together not against each other over differences. Starting to yell at the Catholics there will not turn people away from having an abortion. Try not to get sucked into the anti-Catholic stuff but point out to the pastor that the behavior of these people does more damage.
Sorry about what happen, I’ve been at 40 days and usually everyone is there to fight the common evil not to pick a fight with others there. Don’t give up.

 

[SonSearcher]

you have a lot of questions and each can be a thread on it’s own. With the Protestant group, do you know what Church they might have come from or a majority of them? If you can find out then maybe those of you who were there can visit the pastor of this group and let him that maybe they think bad things about Catholics but in front of an abortion clinic is not the time to have this kind of debate. Anyone who is there in front of a clinic needs to work together not against each other over differences. Starting to yell at the Catholics there will not turn people away from having an abortion. Try not to get sucked into the anti-Catholic stuff but point out to the pastor that the behavior of these people does more damage.
Sorry about what happen, I’ve been at 40 days and usually everyone is there to fight the common evil not to pick a fight with others there. Don’t give up.

Good points, and sorry for the long post. I agree with your idea about notifying the pastor. I don’t necessarily know where they are coming from or what denomination, but that would be good info to know. So I will probably try to figure it out.

 

[Iheartcoffee]

The front of an abortion clinic is no place for inter-Christian squabbling. We need to be a united front against abortion no matter what disagreements individual Christians may have between each other. We need to treat those that come to the clinic with love. Yelling and condemning gets us nowhere and it only reinforces bad stereotypes.