Eric Sammons authored a new book “The Old Evangelization: How to Spread the
Faith Like Jesus Did” and he cites 7 common myths that
deter Catholics from evangelizing.
The second myth is We Can’t Change Other
People’s Minds, Especially About Religion:
Someone might say “Why talk about your religion? You’re not
going to change anyone’s mind.” Well, it’s possible that you will annoy people,
but it’s not true that you can’t change others’ minds about their beliefs.
Otherwise, why would corporations spend billions to change people’s minds about
their products? Do you really think anyone would eat at McDonald’s if they
hadn’t been masterfully persuaded?
That said, evangelization is not mere marketing: it
has the Holy Spirit supplying the grace that can, indeed, change minds. Eric Sammons was a convinced Protestant when
some Catholic friends began to talk about their faith with him. He recalls assuring
his sister that he would never become
Catholic. A month later, he was convinced the truth was to be found in
Catholicism.
Some psychologists suggest the following strategies for
changing minds that are as pertinent to evangelizing as they are to secular
matters:
1.
When
introducing a new idea to someone, try to make them think it was theirs.
2.
Help others
let go of erroneous belief without losing face.
3.
Explore the
underlying experience(s) that may be contributing to another person's erroneous
belief.
These three strategies reinforce the merits of evangelizing
by asking questions. Getting the other
person to more clearly think through their assumptions and coming to their own
conclusion that Catholicism makes sense; offers the more reasonable explanations
for what we see in life.
