Taking every thought captive for obedience to Christ (2 Corinthians 10.5)

Disciplines
Conversation
It will not surprise many of us to know that scientific research has made yet another remarkable breakthrough, this time in the social sciences. So significant and exciting is this discovery, that the report of it merited three separate articles in the 8 April 2016 issue of Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

“Wow!” you’re saying to yourself. “What is this breakthrough?”

Well, apparently scientists have now demonstrated that conversation can change people’s minds. Yeah, can you believe it?

And it can change their minds on important matters, even matters requiring a dramatic shift in thinking and outlook.

A team of scientists from Los Angeles conducted an experiment in house-to-house interviewing, trying to see whether or not they might be able to change people’s view about transgender lifestyles. Now that would seem like a pretty big challenge. After all, people tend to divide fairly sharply on such issues. And if, at the beginning of a conversation, you have identified yourself as opposed to this way of life, we might not expect a 10-minute conversation to be able to alter that view.

In fact, this is precisely what scientists from the University of California at Berkeley have demonstrated. Elizabeth Levy Paluck explains that the project “shows that a 10-minute conversation with voters in South Florida reduced prejudice against transgender people and increased support for transgender rights for at least 3 months” (“How to overcome prejudice”).

By design, the study used conversation to engage people in an understanding and empathetic manner. David Broockman and Joshua Kalla explain, “brief interventions encouraging active consideration of counter-prejudicial thoughts could produce lasting changes in attitudes toward an outgroup” (“Durably reducing transphobia: A field experiment on door-to-door canvassing”). These brief conversations actually resulted in a significant number of people changing their minds about an important social issue.

Further, Broockman and Kalla report, “Canvassers did not require extensive experience. Both first-time and experienced canvassers were effective…” The researchers want to encourage people who are campaigning to change minds: “these findings suggest that it may be in the campaigns’ own interest to place renewed emphasis on personal exchange of initially opposing views, even regarding controversial issues and across partisan lines.”

So, if you ever doubted the ability of patient, thoughtful, gracious conversation to change people’s minds, you can put those doubts to rest. Talking to people about controversial issues – even if you are a member of one of that person’s “outgroups” – can result in many of the people you talk with changing their minds. This is really great news!

But wait a second: Isn’t this what Jesus taught? And the apostles? That if we would engage people lovingly and patiently about the truth of the Gospel, many would repent – change their minds – and believe? And haven’t we witnessed the truth of this teaching for some 2,000 years now, as literally millions of Christians have engaged in scores of millions of conversations with millions of people opposed to God and the Gospel, and multitudes of those people have changed their minds and become believers?

You know, people like you and me?

As believers we should be especially encouraged to engage others in conversations about the Lord, and not just because social science has demonstrated that doing so can bring many to embrace our view and join our “campaign.” We should be encouraged because the Lord Jesus has promised to empower those conversations by His Spirit, Who dwells with us and Who is able to open the minds and change the hearts of even the most outspoken opponents of the Gospel.

Conversation works, and we are commanded to engage in it with those who do not know the Lord. It’s nice to see science once again catching up with the Scriptures, but we don’t need the assurance of science to convince us to do what Jesus did, and what He commands.

For reflection
1.  Why do you think many Christians fear to talk with others about their faith?

2.  Look at Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well (Jn. 4.1-30). What seem to have been the keys to His success in this conversation?

3.  Do you believe the Spirit of God can use your conversations to lead others to Christ? Explain.

Next steps: Make a point today to initiate a conversation with someone, with a view to talking about the Lord.

T. M. Moore

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