First Post: Conversing With Evangelicals

I've always heard about evangelicals coming to your door and preaching the good word, but never actually experienced it. Until today.

I always imagined it would be a painful and annoying experience where I tried my best to disguise my disinterest in their preaching until they got on their way. Instead, I engaged in an actual conversation that was interesting (I think) for both sides.

The conversation that ensued was one of mutual exploration. They found out that I study anthropology, and asked me about other religions and the significance of what they described as mankind's "Desire to worship". Looking back, I wish I had been less worried about offending them because I'm sure they could have taken it in stride. I should have pushed that I didn't agree that men "Desired" to worship so much as they desired to explain the world around them. I find it interesting that he used the word "Worship" instead of "Believe" or something similar. I'm not exactly sure what he meant by worship. He could have meant something similar to believe, but it seemed to me that he was inquiring why men had a desire to appreciate and bow before something greater than themselves.

His next argument came with a quote from Jesus, whom he described as the best teacher who ever lived, and assured me that we could probably agree on that. Again, I didn't press my disagreement but I think that was wise since it was a petty thing anyway. The quote stated that you cannot be happy without accepting your need for spiritual fulfillment. To him, this meant accepting Catholicism. I thought it was interesting that he didn't seem to think there were other ways to reach that spiritual fulfillment, and I described to him to a quick overview of cultural relativism.

What I enjoyed so much about this conversation was the couple's willingness to listen and appreciate what I was saying, rather than simply trying to convert me. For their part, they focused on the bigger questions and how they felt the bible answered them compared to other ways they have been answered. They were genuinely interested in what I had to say on the subject, and how I felt about different answers to the same questions compared to the bibles interpretation. I carefully stayed away from physical anthropology since I was sure it was something we'd fundamentally disagree on with no recourse, and therefore run into a roadblock.

I really enjoyed talking to this couple. I like evangelicals a lot more than I like salesmen.