Evangelism starts best with clear soup

I ran across a thoughtful article from another blog. It begins like this:

A hiker emerges from the wilderness. He's rail-thin, having survived for weeks on what he could forage. Well-meaning greeters urge him to share in the rich, delicious meal they themselves are eating: sixteen-ounce steaks with sauteed mushrooms and onions; baked potatoes with butter and sour cream; and chocolate sundaes with whipped cream. Accustomed to leaner fare, however, the hiker manages to get down only a bite or two before his stomach rebels, and he has to turn away from the table. He would have been better served if his greeters had recognized his condition and started him out on just a little clear soup.

Unfortunately, some Christian evangelists are like the well-meaning greeters. They offer non-believers a rich meal of theological doctrines — delicious to those accustomed to them, but hard to digest for those who aren't, especially those brought up in the West's culture of rationality. Some evangelists dismissively label anything less than the full meal as cafeteria Christianity; they tell their listeners that true faith is an all-or-nothing proposition. Sadly, a lot of thoughtful non-believers respond to this challenge by choosing the nothing option.

I encourage you to read the full post. Many readers of this blog will not agree with his talking points, as they're quite liberal. Nevertheless, I think his point is well taken. Wherever we are on the theological spectrum, we do well to begin near those with whom we are conversing. I think Paul had something to say about that.