Five Ways to Silence a Christian

#1. Calling a Christian a sinner will silence him or her.

This strategy won’t work for long but it does give most believers pause. It’s weird for Christians when someone tries to shout us down or shut us up by calling us sinners. Weird because it’s not only true that we’re sinners but it’s actually the first step of becoming a Christian to face that truth. Mostly, it silences us because we’re wondering how calling us what we’ve openly admitted we are somehow helps your case. Most of the time, the only come back to “Hey, you’re a sinner, too, you know,” is “Well, yes, I thought I said that when I told you I’m a Christian.”

In case you haven’t received the memo, Christians believe we are all sinners. ALL. The Bible says that often. We don’t believe we deserve to go to Heaven. We’re amazed God’s plan is to let us in. We believe that without the salvation provided by Jesus, we would deserve Hell. When we tell someone a particular act is sinful, we aren’t saying we’re less guilty. Many of us will freely tell you our sins, too. However, it’s true that you can briefly silence us by calling us sinners. We usually need a second to regroup after we realize you’ve encountered a pseudo-Christian along the way who has provided you with false information about our faith.

#2. Accuse us of being hateful.

Every Christian knows we’re called to love. God is love. Jesus is love. We’re instructed by God in His Word to love our Him, our neighbors, each other, our enemies, always, deeply, and at all times. We take love seriously so when you accuse us of being unloving, we stop talking to take stock. Most of us hit our knees and ask God to show us if there is any hate in us. We don’t want to hate or mistakenly communicate hate.

Sometimes, God shows us that we are, in fact, being hateful. But, other times, He shows us that the problem isn’t that we truly hate, it’s that we’re saying something unpleasant, something hard to hear, something true but something that goes against what everyone wants to hear. To speak that truth is to love but it’s a love that requires courage, conviction, and compassion. So, we stay on our knees and request those things from our God who never fails. We know what it’s like to hear and have to accept hard things – that was part of our process in becoming Christians and daily as we grow as Christians. So, accusing a Christian of being hateful is another way to hit the pause button but we do work our way back into conversation by His grace.

#3. Bully us.

Contrary to the popular press on Christians, most of us are meek beings. Jesus didn’t refer to us as sheep for nothing. We don’t like trouble. We’re uncomfortable making waves. We’re not interested in judging other people or being counter-cultural or speaking out on unpopular topics. Most of us would prefer to keep our heads down, our mouths closed, and focus on surviving our own lives. Seriously, Jesus makes most of us uncomfortable with the things He says. Our backbones generally come about through supernatural intervention.

So you can bully us into silence. This is a shameful truth to most of us. We know from God’s Word that cowardice is a sin so we seek remedies to our personal fears of disapproval. Many of us fall prey to your bullying for longer than we should. We rally because we believe you’re worth it. God loves you and gives us His love for you, so that helps us overcome our fear of you long enough to tell you the truth that just may save your life.

#4. Make us outlaws.

On social media and in public rhetoric this doesn’t look like it’s effective but believe me, it silences a lot of us. We believe in laws, in order, in respecting authority and we don’t defy it lightly. When aspects of our faith are outlawed, we spend hours studying God’s Word, discussing/debating our options with other believers, and praying for wisdom. We’re just humans, too, so we consider the consequences of outright defying the law. We like our jobs, our homes, the respect of our neighbors, our freedom, our reputations. We don’t sacrifice them lightly.

Ultimately, though, if we have to choose whether to obey humans or God, we’ll go with God and trust Him to walk with us through the suffering. So, this will silence us for a time but never for good.

#5. Force us into silence.

Other nations and terrorist thugs are learning that Christians can be forced into silence through brutality, imprisonment, torture, and even death. So fearful are other governments and power-seekers of the message of truth we speak they sometimes resort to violence to make us shut up. It’s pretty effective but only temporarily. Christian voices are eternal. We’ve given our lives to Jesus and received the full promise of eternal life so the moment our voices are stilled on earth, we find ourselves alive with Him, our mouths full of praise and joy that will never end.

As long as God has mercy on you, He’ll send more Christians toward your violent souls to speak truth to you again just in case you may repent and open your eyes to Him. Even if He knows you won’t, He sends us anyway so when you argue your case on judgment day, we stand as witnesses that you once heard the truth.

I guess, if you think about it, there really is no way to permanently silence a Christian. Which is amazing when you consider we’re a bunch of sinners, deserving of Hell, prone to cowardice, meekness, and fear. Jesus works miracles every day as evidenced by the fact that Christians keep telling you the truth.

Maybe you should do yourself a favor for once and really listen.