On three occasions, twice in 1980 and once in 2001, some of the local churches and others filed lawsuits to obtain relief from defamatory writings, all coming from the same source but disseminated nationally and even internationally. Some have wrongly claimed that these lawsuits were filed to silence critics of our teaching. Others have claimed that the New Testament prohibits a Christian from appealing to a secular authority to adjudicate any issue with another believer. The following article from Shepherding Words considers these two important issues in light of the facts of the lawsuits and the Scriptures.