"No one ever wins when the goal is to settle the score."-For King and Country, "Ceasefire"
On August 12th, there were two protests conducted in two separate southern cities. Both were concerning a hot-button issue in this country, and both had the potential to make headlines, yet only one did. The reason why is quite simple: one protest ended violently, while the other remained peaceful.
The one that actually made headlines was of course the one in Charlottesville, Virginia. A white supremacist group was protesting the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee when they were met by counter-protesters. Insults began to fly between the two groups, which led to fists flying, kicking off a domino effect that ended with a man driving his car into a group of people, killing one woman and injuring many others.
The white supremacist group was blamed for what happened, and while I agree that they were at fault for their actions, the counter-protesters were as much at fault, if not more so. None of the coverage of the event has made it clear who yelled the first insult or threw the first punch, likely because it's not known who did. However, the group that didn't start it is guilty of not stopping it. They yelled back and punched back and let the dominoes continue to fall.
The other protest, in contrast, remained peaceful. It took place in Atlanta, Georgia at the Human Coalition-owned Women's Care Clinic. A group of three pro-abortion organizations gathered to protest the fact that Human Coalition doesn't perform abortions, calling it a fake clinic and spreading various other lies about the work done there. However, no matter what the protesters said or did, none of the staff members at the clinic retaliated. They continued to stand firm in their convictions and do the life-saving work that the protesters hated so much. Not only that, but they also welcomed the protest knowing that the only reason they were being protested was because their work was so successful that the abortion industry saw it as a threat to their bottom line.
So what can we learn from these two protests? What I take away is that the results of the protests prove the validity of the above quote. In Charlottesville, there were no winners. Neither side really got what they came for, one side got blamed for everything that happened, and the statue is now shrouded in black in mourning for the young woman who lost her life as the last domino fell. Atlanta, on the other hand, had a clear winner. The protesters didn't get the publicity they craved, and they didn't stop the clinic from continuing its work. Human Coalition won the admiration of their supporters for standing firm, and received more donations so their work of equipping women to choose life can continue.
The same is true in our own lives. I don't know if you realize this, but Satan absolutely hates us. He will use whatever means he can to discredit us and keep us from spreading the Good News of Christ. When we resort to violence in our words or our actions, we are playing right into his hands. When we stand firm and keep doing what God has called us to do, however, we silence him. So next time he tries to provoke you, just tell him, "Not today, Satan!" and move on. He is only able to taint our witness if we let him, and with God's help, we can resist him.
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