Is protest ever a message of 'love'?

Question

I've watched news clips where anti-ss marriage, and anti-abortion people claim that they are protesting out of love. How is "YOUR GOING TO HELL" a message of love? Please explain, I'm trying to understand your diverse culture, as a progressive Christian, this 'bigotry in the name of Jesus' is new to me.

Answer 1

Protest is sometimes born out of love, sometimes out of hate or fear.

I am a leftie political activist who has participated in anti-war & pro-choice & other civil rights marches, etc., over the years. I've attended the March in Washington for Women's Lives and the March for GLBT Rights in Washington, DC, as well as the anti-war marches in San Francisco. I stood in sweltering 104 degree heat along Ritchie Highway to protest the "chain of life" back when I lived in Baltimore.

It all depends on your perspective. Anti-gay & anti-choice & pro-war folks will claim that we're the true "haters" because we don't fall into step with their religious beliefs. Pro-GLBT and pro-choice & and anti-war folks will claim that those who want to stifle others' freedom constitute "hate."

Personally, I think the word "hate" is very divisive. I'd like to see a dialogue between the two sides in a way that perhaps we can find some compromise. But especially after seeing some of the debates on this site, I don't think that's very likely. The rhetoric is just too ugly & inflammatory.

Answer 2

I will admit there are a few Christians that are way to quick to such things. Though It is in love that they protest, and try to preach what God , not man has said in his word. The Bible says these things are a sin, thus Hell is a great possibility for those people. The Bible(God) says this ,not man. These people truly don't want to see any go to a place designed for the fallen angels of Heaven, and it is love that compells them to step out and do these things.Now not everyone that says they are a Christian truly is. We tell by the fruits of the Spirit.

Answer 3

I don't know what a "progressive Christian" is, could you explain?
The message must have said "you're going to hell" the other way really doesn't make sense.
Perhaps the people protesting are warning people that kill an innocent baby in the womb is indeed murder and by committing murder they are putting their soul at risk. To warn some one of this is "love". Love for the infant and love for the parent considering murder.

Answer 4

The looks on their faces do not tell a story of love. I have seen protests by christians holding signs that say "Your Going To Hell," and their attitude was far from caring and "warning" out of care for the future of the people they are protesting.

Those people are full of hatred and anger that anybody would claim that they are wrong... or claim to not agree that they are right.

They have the right to believe anything they want. They have the right to say so in a public forum. They even have the right to hate others if they choose to or they think that their god agrees with them.

They just don't have the right to insist that others agree with them. They don't have the right to harass others about it. They do not have the right to force their view on the entire country... just because they think their god agrees with them.

If they are protesting out of love... somebody should inform their faces... perhaps they aren't aware of what LOVE really is.
1 Corinthians chapter 13 says...
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails

What part of that biblical description of love includes protesting and shouting out angry slogans against the people with whom they disagree? You have seen the television coverage of such protests... does that look like what Paul was describing to you?

Answer 5

bigotry in the name of Jesus is a plague on Christians everywhere. Jesus wanted us to preach the right way of things, not tell people that they will be eternally tortured for doing wrong. We will never prevent all the wrong in the world. We need to help those who have done wrong, not make them feel bad.

Answer 6

Have you ever heard someone say "WATCH OUT FOR THAT CAR IT'S GOING TO HIT YOU!" They are trying to save you from getting hurt... in the same way "YOU'RE GOING TO HELL" is a warning because they don't want you to get hurt.

How would that be bigotry??? I don't understand your logic. If you don't want to be warned then don't pay any attention... just let the car hit you (so to speak).

Answer 7

because Hamas and Hezbollah will come and locate them and they're going to kill them. there have been no peace marches in Northern eire in the course of the concerns because human beings may have had to concern for his or her lives in the journey that they did. That for sure did not propose that the individuals there did not pick peace - look on the challenge now.

Answer 8

If you warn someone to avoid danger, why isn't that considered to be love?

If you let a blind man walk off a cliff without a warning, why do you consider that to be tolerance?

****Edit****
In response to what the guy said below, yea, you get some jerks at any protest. But it works both ways. I was at a peaceful protest conducted by my church on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. We were not anywhere near an abortion clinic (we were arrayed along a main road near a major intersection in a way so as to not impede pedestrian or vehicular traffic flow); my sign was designed so as to be as inoffensive as possible, as far as I could tell (it simply said "choose life", or something similar). Neither I nor anyone else that I could see from my church was making rude gestures or faces. Yet some people who were driving by felt the need to make rude gestures (i.e.: the finger) or say rude things out the car window. I can see why some Christians might get frustrated and angry. They are human, after all.

***end edit****

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Galations 6:1-2 (NIV)
Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ

James 3:19-30 (NIV)
My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.


Ezekiel 33: 7-11 (NIV)
"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.

"Son of man, say to the house of Israel, 'This is what you are saying: "Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?" ' Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?'

New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

Answer 9

It's a message of warning. Love by warning people is a good way to make them change.

Answer 10

I really hope that Richard Kent gets the best answer here. I think it sums up everything I would have said, and is more articulate than I could be.