How to Talk to an Evangelical . . . if you Must.

Okay, this posting has nothing to do with Ann, sorry to disappoint you. Just the title of her book seemed like a good introduction to the topic I want to talk about. Ann of course is the pin-up girl of the right (and many Evangelical men fantasize about being on a deserted island . . . just them and Ann . . . laying on the beach, her brushing her hair over in that sexy way) and of course talking about how the liberals have taken this country away from God.

A better subtitle of what I want to say, is sharing my honest thoughts on why it is hard to talk to evangelicals. I know, this sounds cruel, mean, negative and not the loving thing to do. But I think I have the right to do so because; 1) it’s an important topic with many sociological, psychological and theological implications, 2) I was a hard-core Evangelical for 20 year. I was the worse of the worse. Therefore I have the unique perspective to discuss this topic, 3) I really do like my Evangelical friends. They are good people (beware using “good” in the relative sense) and I really do WANT to talk to them and be their friends . . . but it is hard.

Evangelicals do not hesitate to talk about how important the Church is (with a capital "C"). However, if the Church were a building (speaking in metaphors) then the mortar between the bricks is the simple conversations between believers. It really boils down to that simple common denominator. So conversations ARE very important. I find it odd, that many of us, who stand firmly to support the Church, care the least about honest conversations.

So, again, I may look cynical, but I’m talking on this very basic part of Christian human behavior because it is the mortar that holds the whole building together.

I will continue in Part II