The Lost Art of Persuasion
There is a common thread that runs throughout fallen human history—trying to get one’s way by threat and force. Just this week, the people of Venezuela voted, it seems, to oust Nicolás Maduro, but he is claiming victory and threatening and arresting anyone who says otherwise. The ayatollahs in Iran have religious police who enforce their strict understanding of Islam, as do the Taliban in Afghanistan. Narendra Modi has continually pressed for laws favoring Hindus and putting Christians and Muslims at a legal disadvantage in India.
I’ve been thinking about this over the past few months in the midst of our own nation’s election cycle. Many Christians are frustrated by the way they see the nation declining. They see immorality on the rise in their kids’ schools and being embraced as good. They are appalled at what is now acceptable behavior in our culture. They are looking for a solution.
And many have jumped on the bandwagon of political activism. The thinking goes that the way to change things is to get Christians in positions of leadership so they can craft laws more in line with Christian principles. That is all well and good if you have a vast majority agreeing with you, but what do you do when the nation is as polarized as it is today?
Imagine these activists get their wish and a majority of Christians are elected to office, national or state. Suppose then laws are passed banning abortion, same-sex marriage, transgender medical assistance, and laws are passed requiring prayer in schools, teaching only Creation in science classes, and requiring the Bible be taught in literature classes. What would happen? Would everyone just accept them? Likely not, except by threat and force. Exactly what the Iranian ayatollahs, the Taliban, and others do to get their way and make everyone comply.
As believers, is this what we really want? I doubt it. But for more than 40 years, there has been a significant contingent of Christians who believe the way out of our moral morass is through government and law. Yet, one of the main tenants of Christianity is the Law didn’t work to save us; only Jesus could do that. Jesus can change hearts; laws cannot. And if we insist on forcing laws on people, even what we might consider good laws, there will always be resistance unless people are persuaded.
And here is where the Church for decades has fallen short. We no longer seek to persuade people that following Jesus is the way to joy and peace. Rather, we find it much easier “to own” the other side, to speak derisively of them, and look down on those we see as immoral. Similar to the Pharisees. Jesus, however, sought to persuade through love and compassion; they sought to condemn and shun.
When I was still a campus pastor, I went weekly and sat in the middle of campus where a lot of students passed by and offered “free prayer.” I didn’t say anything to students passing by. I let my sign do the talking. If they stopped, I would talk to them and pray for them. One day, as I was sitting there in my usual spot, some men began setting up a speaker about twenty-five yards from me. I knew what they were about to do. They were “preachers” who spoke in what we might call Old Testament “hellfire and brimstone.” They are regular figures on campuses across the nation, and their stated goal is to call students to repentance. They do that by condemning them, threatening them with hell as their eternal destination, and with the harshness of a Pharisee.
That day I had several students comment to me they were glad I was there setting a different example. I wasn’t condemning students, just praying for them. These men thought they were doing the right thing, but the students just thought they were a joke. Over my nearly four decades on campus, I heard of very few who actually gave their lives over to Jesus due to their preaching. They were condemning rather than persuading.
We believers have such a great story to tell, but we so rarely tell it to those who really need to hear it. I’m afraid we have found it much easier to act like many of the Pharisees who spent most of their time criticizing those who didn’t act the way they thought was proper. That was a barrier for them in reaching the people who really needed a relationship with God. Jesus had no such problem.
We believers have a choice to make: Do we want people to live according to our views of moral living by forcing them to do so? Or are we willing to live amidst the immorality, and seek to persuade them through love and compassion like Jesus did? If you were in their shoes, which approach would be most effective in changing your heart?
© Jim Musser 2024
