Silence Isn’t Golden When You’re Sitting On Satan’s Fence

When two sisters show their dad their latest works of art and ask him which piece he likes most, the wise dad will not choose a side. It is wiser and more loving to refuse to take a side in such instances.

When it comes to moral issues, however, one who chooses to straddle the fence and not take a stance isn’t showing wisdom. He or she is being cowardly.  Christians must choose a side in matters having to do with right and wrong.

A sin is not just when a person choses to perform an act that goes against God, like lying, cheating, or taking the Lord’s name in vain.  An act of omission can also go against God and be just as sinful. Failing to act by refusing to speak out against evil is a sin.

During the Penitential Rite at the beginning of Mass, the faithful sometimes recite the Confiteor. In doing so they are expressing their contrition for sin and asking for God’s mercy.  They say, “I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in WHAT I HAVE FAILED TO DO.”

It was the Apostle James who wrote, “So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin” (James 4:17). Similarly, Saint Paul wrote, “Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them (Ephesians 5:11). 

Silence Is Compliance

A major problem with modern society and many lukewarm Christians is they don’t want to acknowledge a moral issue as being either black or white. Instead of putting their necks on the line and taking a stance, they would rather stay in the safe gray-zone. And Satan’s favorite color is gray.

Cowards are those who won’t say whether a moral issue is either black or white, right or wrong, virtuous or sinful. By instead choosing to remain gray (neutral), they are straddling the fence. You know who else is sitting on the fence with them? It’s Satan. The evil one loves to have people sit silently and cowardly on the fence while evil runs rampant all around.

There is a story of a man who proudly took his seat on the fence and declared his principled stance of not judging the immoral acts of others who were engaging in sin. He thought it unkind to judge and hurt the feelings of others. As he patted himself on his back for being so nonjudgmental and remaining neutral, suddenly the devil came up to sit on the fence next to him. Satan whispered in the man’s ear, “Thank you so much for joining me. Come along now and follow me.” The man protested, “I don’t belong to you. I’m on the fence!” The evil one replied, matter of factly, “Oh, but you do belong to me. I own the fence.”

The Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, “Too many people get credit for being good, when they are only being passive. They are too often praised for being broadminded when they are so broadminded they can never make up their minds about anything.”

The soon-to-be Saint is also is quoted as saying, “The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The Tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.”

Tolerance Is Not a Virtue

A large portion of people these days refuse to actively and loudly take a side regarding our culture’s vital, contentious, moral issues. Some remain neutral because they believe it is virtuous to be tolerant and open-minded. Some sit on the fence because they are afraid to speak out. They fear getting shunned by the secular society or of getting called names like “bigot,” “hater,” or “[insert a variety of words here]-phobe.”

These cowardly people who stay quiet or put their heads in the sand are actually choosing. They are choosing to sin through omission. They are choosing to comply with the immoral world. They are choosing to abandon a Biblical worldview so as to be seen by today’s godless culture as politically correct and progressively tolerant.

The Bible recounts a time of widespread apostasy and faithlessness among the Jewish people around 850 B.C. The Prophet Elijah appealed to the people of Israel by saying to them, “How long will you straddle the issue? If the Lord is God, follow him; if Baal, follow Him” (1 Kings 18:21).

Baal was a false god of the Canaanites (there were actually more than one Baal). True faith in God was being suppressed and false ideologies connected with Baal were being promoted by the ruling political leaders. So it was safer, yet cowardly, to be faithful to Baal than to be faithful to the Lord God.

Elijah’s question to the lukewarm Israelites is appropriate today for lukewarm Catholics and other Christians.  How long will you straddle the issue?  Will you choose:

• The safety of not speaking or acting out against political correctness?
• To bow down to the powerful forces that have created our immoral culture – i.e., corrupt government officials, a dishonest news media, vile social media, a depraved entertainment industry, a so-called LGBTQIA2S+ movement, and an untrustworthy public education system?
• To sin through omission by failing to take stance or vacillating against the evils of abortion, euthanasia, homosexual acts, and so-called transgenderism?

Will you choose Baal?

In Elijah’s time, the people did not want to answer. Scripture says that they just stood there, silent. But silence does not make the choice go away.

Silence to a basic question about choosing God or making other moral choices becomes an answer in itself. When it is so obvious the answer is either black or white, it can be a sin to choose to be gray, to stay silent, and to sit with Satan on his fence.

When You ‘Go Along to Get Along’ You Distance Yourself From God

Many will justify their reasons for not speaking out due to simply wanting to get along with society. To this inaction, Saint James rebukes, “Unfaithful creatures! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4).

Authentic Christians realize they cannot remain indifferent in moral issues else they will be offensive to the teachings of the Lord. Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against ne” (Matthew 12:30). Being neutral on matters of faith and morality is not actually being neutral at all. It is choosing to separate oneself from God.

Lukewarm Christians who stay silent on moral matters, refuse to decisively choose either good or evil, and straddle Satan’s fence, are complicit in sinning. As difficult as it may seem, it’s time for Catholics and other Christians to stop being afraid of cultural blowback. They must remember that with their Lord, they can do anything!

“Be strong and steadfast; have no fear or dread of them, for it is the LORD, your God, who marches with you; he will never fail you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

Ponder the Prophet Ezekiel’s account of when the Word of God came to him about the wrong of neglecting one’s duty to act out and speak out:

“If I [God] say to the wicked, You shall surely die – and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade the wicked from their evil conduct in order to save their lives – then they shall die for their sin, but I will hold you responsible for their blood. If, however, you warn the wicked and they still do not turn from their wickedness and evil conduct, they shall die for their sin, but you shall save your life” (Ezekiel 3:18-19).

Christians have a moral duty to actively promote Jesus’s truths. They will be genuinely demonstrating a love of their neighbors when they help them see the errors of their ways in promoting abortion, euthanasia, homosexual acts, or so-called transgenderism.

It is worth sticking one’s neck out if it means one’s neighbor will repent and get to Heaven. God’s grace will be with you when you get off the fence and share His Word.