"Don't answer a fool in terms of his folly, or you will be descending to his level; but answer a fool as his folly deserves, so that he won't think he is wise." Mishlei (Proverbs) 26:4-5
There will be people that will state a foolish opinion and expect an answer, or just simply voice their folly without expecting any remark. It is a wise person's challenge to discern two possible choices of action:
1) if that person should remain silent and not give an answer.
2) if that persons needs to elaborate an answer and how it mut be done.
The risk of not answering in some occasions is that if the person has said something that is evidently wrong, that person will go on thinking that what that person has said is correct and could spread that false statement, making other individuals get lost with that falsehood. And it is our duty to uphold and spread the truth.
Another situation in which we shouldn't remain silent is when it involves our neighbor. If someone is being harrassed or being bad-mouthed, we saw in previous study that it is our duty to defend the cause of the defenseless. Likewise, we must always defend our faith in God and never be ashamed to speak of Yeshua, our Christ. For if we don't: "For if someone is ashamed of me and of what I say, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and that of the Father and of the holy angels." Luke 9:26
In other words, if what we say will help build up God's Kingdom, then we must speak up and help build and heal with our words. On the contrary, if our words will only lead to more destruction (prolonging an argument, hurting others, insulting, etc), then it's best to remain silent and allow God to take care of the situation.
