FROM THE EDITOR
Terry C. Muck
April 1, 1984
I put my son on the horns of a dilemma the other day.
"David," I said, "if you had to choose between getting rid of your dad and getting rid of the television set, which would you choose?"
My question was prompted by a study I had read the night before. A psychologist asked a group of five-year-olds to choose between their fathers and the television set. In the study, the overwhelming majority decided to keep the TV.
The study intrigued me enough to do some reading about difficult decisions. I found that social scientists call a choice between two equally attractive objects an approach-approach decision. Psychologist Leo Festinger did the most research in this area. He found that forcing a decision between two positive alternatives creates something called cognitive dissonance. Because the selectors want both objects, they are forced to fabricate reasons to accept the one and reject the other.
For example, I just bought an Apple home computer, and a friend of mine bought a Xerox. We have spent a good deal of time discussing the relative merits of our purchases. I find myself defending my Apple with great vigor-even though there is probably not a thimbleful of difference between what the two machines can do.
This whole process started me wondering if perhaps there's an insight here that can help us in the way we present the gospel to non-Christians. Too often in our evangelism efforts we demand a dramatic choice between two attractive alternatives:
The spiritual realm, which includes heaven, eternal life, and communion with God. It's also associated with a lifestyle only Jesus lived to perfection. The rest of us live like little boys dressed up in our father's clothing, longingly trying to imitate the one we adore, but finding ...
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