Wise Words on Wednesday: Not needing to shout
“[R]emember that abortion is shocking in and of itself. We don’t have to run through the streets shouting, ‘Abortion is murder!’ in order to make it shocking. A gracious defender of the pro-life view knows that the facts speak loudly so we don’t have to.”
– Trent Horn, Persuasive Pro Life
We need it all, Pilgrim. We need facts, we need shouters, we need pictures, we need ultrasounds, we need people sneaking in to uncover the ugly details and most of all, we need prayers.
Have you ever read the story of Bernard Nathanson? He was a doctor who aborted his own child. Do you think he wasn’t aware of the facts?
I’m afraid I disagree, at least in terms of what I associate with shouting. Someone typically starts to shout when they’ve lost an argument, when love is little and hate has begun to grow. Speak loudly, sure, but we don’t have to shout. As St. Augustine said, “The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself”
I think that angry shouting hurts our cause. The pro-choice side says that we hate women. Pictures of angry Christians pointing at pro-choicers at demonstrations only serves to reinforce that message.
You limit the time for shouting to very specific things. People also shout for help and they shout to be heard over the din. They also shout in righteous anger. And they shout when people pretend they have won an argument but have actually offered only straw men and lies.
There’s a time for everything in this world. There is a time to shout.
There is also a time for righteous anger.
People can twist any message. They can twist pictures just as they can twist words. Its our job to straighten them back out.
We don’t need to remove any weapon from our arsenal. As long as it isn’t sinful. There is no sin in shouting.
In and of itself, sure.
I’d put it this way, particularly in personal encounters, who are you more likely to listen to, the person shouting or the person who is talking in a normal voice?
Also, if I may paraphrase an old, wise, celibate monk, “Shouting leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering”. At least speaking for myself, if I’m shouting, anger isn’t far off and, as St. James says, “Let every man be…slow to anger, for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God”.
In real terms, the person shouting. Because that usually means that he is passionate about his message. Which preacher do you listen to, the one you can barely hear or the one who is shouting from the rooftops?
The assumption there is that anger is always sinful. It isn’t. Otherwise, Our Lord would have sinned.
John 2:Cleansing of the Temple. 13 [j]Since the Passover[k] of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 [l]He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves,[m] as well as the money-changers seated there. 15 He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, 16 and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” 17 [n]His disciples recalled the words of scripture, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
Anyway, I guess we’ve beaten up this idea, enough.
Keep up your good work!
Sincerely,
De Maria