THE GRAPHIC COMPOSITE BELOW reminds me of our conversation last night, as Dory, Lana, and I were driving to Bible study. We were discussing how to witness to someone who is not a believer, or to someone who is involved in one of the world religions.
I suggested that we should never begin witnessing to that person by telling him (or her) that he is wrong, or that his religion is wrong. Why not? Well, the moment someone tells us we are wrong, our natural human tendency is to defend that belief, to stiffen our backs - and that makes it ten times harder to win the person to your point of view.
Example: Many years ago, in the late 1960s, I was trying to sell computers into a government sponsored educational project in a state which had a large number of blue collar families. The goal of the project was more from asociological perspective rather than having an academic goal. This was a predominantly blue collar area, where most of the young people would not attend college.
Yet, realizing that computers were fast becoming a major presence in our daily lives, the goal of that project was to help these young people become familiar with computers so that when they were in their adult daily work world, they would not have an overpowering sense of "big brother" watching them.
The lady in charge of that project had previously worked on a project with a college professor who had a government grant to develop a computer and software for the middle school and high school educational market. She had helped develop the computer I was competing against for her project.
Obviously she felt a level of "ownership" toward that computer. So, how do I convince her that mine was better for her project? As we were eating lunch, I began to tell her why my computer was the best for her project. Right away I sensed her back stiffening - and in the wrong direction.
Mentally I stopped and decided on a different approach. I looked her in the eye and said, "You are right. That computer is the best one for your project." She thought for a minute - and then, out of a sense of fairness, she began to offer her thoughts about the good points of my computer. I said nothing, just listened.
To make a long story short, she bought eight of my computers and none of the other. Did I trick this lady? No, she was much too intelligent for that. Did I lie to this lady? No, she would have caught that right away. I let her go through the mental process of sorting out all the pros and cons - and she chose what she decided, from that process, was the best solution for her project, my computer.
Over the years, as I have watched mature believers witness to non-believers - I have seen them, instead of quoting or reading Scripture verses to the other person (often seen as "beating them over the head with my Bible") - instead show them the Scripture verses in the Bible and LET THEM read it themselves. Let them do the mental process of deciding pro or con - just as my Project Director lady had done.
Often, after reading the Scripture verse or passage aloud themselves, that person will have questions. That is the time you can help him focus in more detail on the message God has caused to be written in His User's Manual, the Bible.
To summarize: Don't Confront! Lead by walking beside the person, as together you both explore the wonders of God's Word.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
I suggested that we should never begin witnessing to that person by telling him (or her) that he is wrong, or that his religion is wrong. Why not? Well, the moment someone tells us we are wrong, our natural human tendency is to defend that belief, to stiffen our backs - and that makes it ten times harder to win the person to your point of view.
Example: Many years ago, in the late 1960s, I was trying to sell computers into a government sponsored educational project in a state which had a large number of blue collar families. The goal of the project was more from asociological perspective rather than having an academic goal. This was a predominantly blue collar area, where most of the young people would not attend college.
Yet, realizing that computers were fast becoming a major presence in our daily lives, the goal of that project was to help these young people become familiar with computers so that when they were in their adult daily work world, they would not have an overpowering sense of "big brother" watching them.
The lady in charge of that project had previously worked on a project with a college professor who had a government grant to develop a computer and software for the middle school and high school educational market. She had helped develop the computer I was competing against for her project.
Obviously she felt a level of "ownership" toward that computer. So, how do I convince her that mine was better for her project? As we were eating lunch, I began to tell her why my computer was the best for her project. Right away I sensed her back stiffening - and in the wrong direction.
Mentally I stopped and decided on a different approach. I looked her in the eye and said, "You are right. That computer is the best one for your project." She thought for a minute - and then, out of a sense of fairness, she began to offer her thoughts about the good points of my computer. I said nothing, just listened.
To make a long story short, she bought eight of my computers and none of the other. Did I trick this lady? No, she was much too intelligent for that. Did I lie to this lady? No, she would have caught that right away. I let her go through the mental process of sorting out all the pros and cons - and she chose what she decided, from that process, was the best solution for her project, my computer.
Over the years, as I have watched mature believers witness to non-believers - I have seen them, instead of quoting or reading Scripture verses to the other person (often seen as "beating them over the head with my Bible") - instead show them the Scripture verses in the Bible and LET THEM read it themselves. Let them do the mental process of deciding pro or con - just as my Project Director lady had done.
Often, after reading the Scripture verse or passage aloud themselves, that person will have questions. That is the time you can help him focus in more detail on the message God has caused to be written in His User's Manual, the Bible.
To summarize: Don't Confront! Lead by walking beside the person, as together you both explore the wonders of God's Word.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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