Sound of Silence

If you are as old as I am, or have a passion for songs from the 70s, you may remember a song from Simon and Garfunkel: The Sound of Silence. Songs of the time were meant to inspire you and awaken your passion, especially in a time when there was great unrest. There was the Vietnam War, race riots, women's rights marches, the list goes on. The younger reader will simply not understand the severity of these topics. To remind all cities were burning, protestors being shot by the National Guard, and Civil rights leaders assassinated. It was a time of great civil unrest that was not created by the media or internet but was truly organic. These songs were meant to compel us to speak out against these injustices, if we did not our, silence would just allow them to continue or worse yet spread.

Simon and Garfunkel’s harmonies made their music hauntingly beautiful and the words disturbingly true. The lyrics expound out about what happens when you are silent about events that are occurring. You’re allowing those with bigger, louder voices to overpower you and position you into silent acceptance. These injustices had a moral truth that spoke against them. Additionally, we took the time to understand why they were unacceptable and society spoke out and pushed back.
 
Christians are increasingly under attack. Our young are susceptible. They see an older generation content with their faith and silence against any opposition. Our children are being left defenseless. They go into a world that is hostile towards their faith and are armed with narratives that are meant to undermine their faith. When they are confronted, they will need skills and facts to defend our faith. What does our silence or lack of defense do? It emboldens our critics, whether their belief is in atheism, any other faith or worldview. People have come to view Christians as unthoughtful, uneducated, and ignorant about the world and what science can prove.
 
Reading a blog by Tim Barnett from Stand to Reason, his words hit me hard: “it’s not doubt that’s toxic to faith;  it’s silence!” It is our silence that speaks volumes and allows our message to be muffled and confused. That, in turn, causes our skeptics to be louder and create more skeptics, which creates a generation of doubters. Those doubters are easily turned away from their Christian faith. The end result is a weakening of our faith and the number of Christians willing to defend our faith.
 
With all that the world confronts us with, we really need to spend some time getting educated in the evidence that God has given us. The evidence that people have written down, the evidence that people have died to preserve, the evidence that Jesus Christ, God himself, became man suffered and died so that we may know. 
 
Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
 
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
 
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
 
"Fools" said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence
 
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence