Do Actions Really Speak “Louder” Than Words??!! – Part 5

Now that we have looked at the theological perspective of this popular quotation and have established that it is unbiblical, we will delve in to the philosophical aspects of such a stance in this post. I hope it would be of use in defending the gospel as an adjuvant.This quotation may appear in any form during the debate. It is the duty of the apologist to be shrewd enough to discern it.

One important pitfall of the philosophy that “actions speak louder than words” is that it is a self-refuting stance. It makes the person who says it to be an inconsistent person and the philosophy itself self-destructs. This can be understood from the very fact that the person who affirms that “actions do indeed speak louder than words”, had to verbally proclaim the very same sentence to us. If he is consistent he should have shown that very sentence to us by his actions instead of reciting it to us. So, such a person can be asked to continue the debate with us using only actions and with no words!! Since, according to him, the actions are better than words, why should he use a lesser effective tool such as “verbal proclamation” to convey his thoughts to us rather than a more effective tool “actions” !!! That should be a sufficient reason to end the debate, at least verbally !!!

Moreover the philosophy (that actions speak louder than words) itself should not be put into words (!!!) because its claim is that actions are much more effective than words.

In a Christian context it may appear in the form of “The greatest part of our witness is through our life”. It would contain a hidden implication that words are not an important part of our witness. This again is self-refuting and self-destructing. I say this because the person who says such a statement to me unfortunately could not witness his very staement through his life. He had to verbally proclaim it to me !!! Why take a support of something that is not so important (words) when the greatest (actions or witnessing through life) is available to him.

If actions do indeed speak louder than words, why spend time teaching a language to a child, or have lectures where a professor has to come and “speak”, etc. etc. Why write articles and publish in journals, and why write books (and that to on the topic that actions speak louder than words) ??? Why not have a universal language of actions and have lectures on theory of relativity or calculus as a mime ???

My point is that words are inevitable and are still the most effective form of communication. This is because God has providentially fore-ordained it in such a way. The very nature of the Bible gives enough support to this. The Bible is written in words and the law was given to Moses as written words on a stone tablet. It did not come with any imagery (though there are verbal descriptions of images) or with any actions. God appeared to Moses in a bush and spoke with him (by words) and did not dance or make any actions to convey His plan to him. One can add on and on and on.

Some may say that if we don’t live up to our actions then the words we preach won’t be effective. Now it may be agreed that if we don’t practice what we preach then some unbelievers (and weak believers) would stumble. But that doesn’t refute Christianity or the Gospel that was preached. An illustration would be helpful here. If I teach that 2+2=4 and when i go out into the market and add 2kg+2kg=5kg, how does that prove Mathematics wrong. It can only prove that I’m inconsistent and that I don’t know how to apply mathematics in daily life. If somebody has to cease learning mathematics because I, a teacher, could not apply it correctly then that person has to be insane, isn’t it ? So if an unbeliver rejects the gospel or if a believer ceases to walk in the faith because of some Christian being inconsistent in his life, then, both the unbeliever and apostasizing beliver are insane, isn’t it ? So we should not allow these irrational arguments to torment us or let the unbeliever live his own way.

 So this is my conclusion from all these posts and this is what I urge all Christians to know. That 1) Actions don’t speak louder than words 2) The greatest part of our witness is not through our lives but through the faithful verbal preaching of the Gospel 3) Our actions are important because God says it is important for our sanctification and not because it can somehow bring people to Christ even without words. So the bottom line of all these is that “PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH” (rather than “preach everyday, if necessary use words).