Update: Congratulations to our winners, Yvonne, Judy, Jean, Cynthia, and Tiffany!
When I was a child, adults used to tell me, “Don’t swallow your gum or a gum tree will grow in your stomach.” As silly as that sounds now, it was a driving force behind why I wouldn’t swallow my gum. The few times I accidently did swallow my gum, I could feel it like a pit in my stomach beginning to plant itself. However, that gum never did produce a gum tree. The adults’ warning just wasn’t true. Yet, as a child, I never took the time to find out if the adults were telling me the truth.
When people hold to misconceptions or false beliefs about the Christian faith, those beliefs can plant themselves in their mind and gum-up the process of clearly thinking through Christianity. These misconceptions can also create a sticky situation for Christians who want to discuss their beliefs with others.
We face many challenges when responding to others verbally or in written form. The loaded words pervasive in our language form one of the greatest challenges. However, “persuading others” can mean a myriad of things such as persuading in a strictly negative fashion through inadvertent name-calling or finger pointing. For example, the conversation below:
Person A: I’d really like to believe Christianity is true, but I don’t want to check my brains at the door.
Person B: Wow. You really don’t know anything about the Christian faith.
Person A: I’ve seen enough to know that only a fool believes there is a Spirit Daddy living in the sky.
Person B: You are just ignorant. Christianity cannot be reduced to such an absurdity. Have you even read the Bible?
Person A: You people are all alike. You put up your blinders as soon as someone challenges what you believe.
Person B: I can’t even talk to you. Your heart is too hardened. You’re just committed to your lifestyle of selfish desires. You lack a moral compass. It’s no wonder you don’t see God for who He really is.
Compare Proverbs 18:21 and Proverbs 12:6. Both passages talk about the power of words to speak life or to speak death to others. The Scripture isn’t saying our words have magical power. Think rather about the healing one can experience from talking with a counselor. Our words have great power because they influence both ourselves and others.
The Creator spoke the world into being by the power of His words (Heb. 11:3). Though we do not have the creative power to make universes, our words can destroy or build up lives. Our words are so important that the Lord taught us we will give an account of what we say when we stand before Him in judgment (Matt. 12:36-37).
Another challenge we face in responding to others—one that is not so obvious—comes from not what we say but how we say it. Our timbre of voice and inflection of words powerfully impacts our communication. This challenge is so rampant that logicians have named an error in reasoning the fallacy of inflection. You can be misunderstood by just changing the sound of your voice or the way you emphasize your words.
Timbre (pronounced “tamber”) is the color or tone we use when speaking. All musical instruments have a musical “color” to their sound. We say that an instrument sounds happy, bright, mellow, sad, brassy, brash, strident, and so forth. Voices have the same thing. We can give our words a different meaning by a bright timbre (usually perceived as happy) or by a mellow timbre—perceived as thoughtful or sad or even sarcastic, depending on the situation.
Try saying the sentence below out loud with a bright voice:
Did you pick up the groceries?
Say it again out loud with a brash or harsh voice.
The bright timbre reflects the expectation that you believe they have already done what you asked. The brash timbre conveys a sarcasm that you really don’t believe they did what you asked. A vast chasm separates the meaning of these two timbres of voice.
Let’s use the same sentence and choose to emphasize one word. Using a mellow, even-toned voice say the sentence out loud, and put emphasis on the word you: Did you pick up the groceries?
You might convey the idea that you are suspicious whether or not the person was the actual person that got the groceries. It is akin to saying, “Did you pick the groceries up yourself or did you have someone else do it?” By accenting the word you in the question you can imply an entirely different meaning.
If this wasn’t your intended meaning, you’ve just committed the fallacy of inflection. The recipient of your question could quite possibly become defensive because the inflection has a residual effect of sounding accusatory and mistrusting. You might rapidly find yourself in a heated argument over the groceries.
What is a person to do when responding to misconceptions about Christianity? Are we supposed to sound like a robot, with even-toned voices that have no trace of inflection? No. That would be awkward and maybe even construed as inappropriate. We can, however, give our timbre and inflection some purposeful attention for the sake of ministering to others.
Remember, our goal is to begin responding to some false beliefs and misconceptions about Christianity. The purpose of responding to these challenges is to help others open up to the truth.
Let’s take a moment to reflect on how we’ve utilized our tongues—including emotionally charged words, timbre, and inflection—to give life or to destroy it. Use Jesus’ words from Matthew 15:10-11: “Listen and understand: It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”
This is an excerpt from Mary Jo Sharp’s Living in Truth Bible Study. Click here to see another sample or to order a copy.
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By entering today’s giveaway, you acknowledge Lifeway Christian Resources’ official promotion rules. Today’s giveaway starts at the posting time of this blog and ends Friday (09/04/2015) at noon (12:00pm) CST. You must be 18 to enter, and you may only enter once. The winner will be selected at random. Only participants who live in the United States or Canada are eligible to win. For questions about the rules and regulations of this giveaway, please contact Heather Warfield at One Lifeway Plaza, Nashville, TN 37234-140.
