Message & Delivery: Partners in Persuasion

If I had the time and money to collect anything, it would be throwback jerseys of baseball players who warrant shout-outs. Most of the time, it would serve as a conversation piece to witness to the historical underratedness of the jersey I’d be wearing.

“Wow, cool retro Royals jersey. Who’s that?” says the baseball fan noting my cool jersey wear.
“This is Dan Quisenberry. One of the greatest relievers of all time,” says me.
“I’ve never heard of him,” says the Quisenberry novice.
After which, I would preach the greatness of the Quiz, followed by his either being convinced or unconvinced.

Now, let’s say that instead of a relative historical no-name like Dan Quisenberry, I was wearing Ron Santo’s jersey. Santo is also historically underrated, but the average baseball fan not only has heard of Santo, but also has an opinion as to his performance’s place in history.

If I’m going to convince an unbeliever of an issue with which they already have formed an opinion, I can’t just spew the same old message. I have to present something different. I have to mention that:

a.) the Hall of Fame is behind schedule on inducting 3Bmen more than any other position,
b.) maybe four or five 3Bmen in history were considered greater than Santo at the point of his retirement, and
c.) even today, one can’t name eight or nine historical 3Bmen who were better.

The Santo-unbeliever has likely not heard the Santo case presented like that. They may still not be on the Santo-deserves-more-credit train, but they’re far more likely to join than thumping the same ol’ same ol’ (or, SOSO).

The same is true with sharing the Gospel with someone. Most culturally fluent Americans have heard some collection of the following gobble: Savior, Jesus, Bible, Mass, saved, etc. That’s all good stuff, don’t get me wrong, but it’s only going to have an effect on people who aren’t culturally fluent, or who are among cultures who aren’t familiar with Christianity. Everyone else has already formed an opinion.

We need a new delivery of the same message. That’s why I’m mega-pumped on the theology of the body. Imagine this conversation…

“So you’re a Catholic?” says the skeptic.
To which I reply, “Sure. Mass is kind of like sex with God.”

Most Catholics haven’t heard that message let alone pagans. It’s certainly not a slam-dunk path to conversion or persuasion or even further conversation. What it is, though, is an understanding that a message and the delivery of a message are equals; partners in the same task of educating the otherwise ignorant.