I know this is going to sound “new age” and not a teaching I have read, although Jesus did say, “Let the little children come to me.”
Some of you will laugh at this or nay say me, but I have observed this in many people. For those of you familiar with the different forms of therapy there is one kind which talks about the parts of every person’s personality (sorry I can;t remember the name of the therapy). These parts consist of the little child, the critical adult, and about four other parts, which sad to say, I don’t remember either. Been a long time since I darkened the door of a University. Anyway, when we are hurt, our child is the one feeling the hurt. When we feel small and useless it is the critical adult and so on.
I guess to make it short, I think if we could approach another person while seeing that little child within who feels threatened when approaced by the critical adult, we may have more of a chance to communicate and dialogue. If we could keep this facet of our personalities in mind when we try to evangelize, perhaps we would come across as less pedantic and self righteous to the other person. Usuallly we don’t say to a little child, " You are wrong, wrong, wrong"?. No we use a much more gentle approace, such as giving the other person the opportunity to “save face”. ie. “Yes, I know you don’t believe as I do, but please listen to what I say about what I believe”. Discussions with families can really get out of control and are dangerous ground if the topic is not an agreeable one. There is so much history in families, also with friends. It isn’t easy to remain calm and detached. It isn’t easy to accept the hurt. We want so much for them to see as we see. Sometimes this just isn’t possible in OUR time. Peace.
