How to deal with postmodern people

The best way to wrap up postmodernism is to talk about how to approach a postmodern person. Talking to a postmodern person can be very frustrating. Sometimes they will be hostile to talking about Christianity, but often you can have an interesting conversation. Interesting, that is, until you realize you are going nowhere. Postmodern people love to dialogue. But the goal of dialogue is not to come to a conclusion, or to really evaluate what was said. The goal is just the dialogue. If right and wrong are just whatever my community and I want it to be, then there is nothing wrong with sharing each others' views. But if, for instance, you are talking about the resurrection and all the evidence for it and how that has an effect on what you believe, they won't follow you. They'll be interested in you experience, maybe, but they won't follow the reasoning, because they don't care.

So what do you do? Probably the best place to start is understanding sin. To a postmodern there is no such thing, and getting them to see that they are a sinner and need a savior can be quite difficult. But every once in a while a teachable moment shows up. Don Carson tells a story of how a friend of his witnessed to a very liberal lady in Washington D.C. (I'm paraphrasing here) She didn't believe in sin, or evil. Right and wrong was truly up for interpretation to her. Ideas of right and wrong are just local or personal constructions. So this Christian asked her if she thought evil existed and she of course said, no. So he tried to paint a picture of some brutal crime to see how she would react. She was of course aghast, but she really thought that this crime wasn't really wrong, it just happened to offend her own personal sensibilities, or maybe her instincts. But deep down it wasn't really wrong, or evil. But he kept at it. Every time he saw on the news that a little girl had been raped he got in her face and said, "Well, is it evil?" But she wouldn't crack. Until one day when she heard about a particularly heinous crime. I don't remember the details. But something got to her. And deep down inside she new that what had happened was wrong. It was evil. And the measure by which she judged this act wasn't just her own personal sensibility. Deep down in the heart of reality, what happened was wrong. But where did this come from? The only place these rules could come from would be from an eternal, infinite lawgiver. Today this lady is a mature Christian.

I tried this tactic once. A college student was working as a receptionist at the ER desk in Council Bluffs, and he was showing off some of what he'd learned in philosophy class. So I asked him if he thought there was such a thing as evil. Then I challenged him. Anyone can think up examples of terrible crimes. And to find real situations all you have to do is watch the news. And working in the ER provides plenty of opportunity to see sin and evil face-to-face, too. It got to him, and he got the point. I don't know exactly where he's at with his relationship with the Lord, but he's not an atheist any more. His girlfriend at the time was Catholic and they have since married and go to church. But that was at least a start.