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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Persuasion (not about the book) (09/01/11)
The word itself means to sway or convince. Now we all can think of times when someone tried to sway or convince us that their way of thinking was right. With friends and family it usually is of something not life altering or harmful, but borders more on the everyday stuff such as who makes the best pizza in town or who will win the world series. But what about society as a whole?

Looking at our troubled world today we can see many instances where the art of persuasion has sent our country into a tail spin where it is hardly recognizable as a Christian nation any longer.

For instance, the abortion issue – in the 1970s and 1980s the country allowed the thinking of some agenda driven sources to change the course for women and thus led to the ending of life of many innocent children. What about family and the destruction of that through the persuasion that marriage is obsolete?

Maybe these are extreme cases, but trying to convince someone or sway them in a direction that is harmful for themselves and others is never a good use of this art.

However, when trying to save someone from harm or helping them to overcome an addiction or brave through a serious illness, then the art of persuasion can be a powerful tool for good.

Now I want to ask you something when you’ve used the art of persuasion has it been for self gain or for the good of the other person?

When we use the art of persuasion to convince someone there is a way out of their pain or to convey God’s love, then we’ve used this very interchangeable art for the right purpose.

Perhaps we need to remind ourselves of this the next time we are tempted to persuade someone to our way of thinking.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
C D Swanson 
09/09/11
Nice concise messages packed into this short but good piece. One should always ponder and consider the real purpose of persuasion... God should always be at the center of all our behaviors. Nice job, God Bless~
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
09/15/11
You make a good point about how persuasion can be used for good or bad. There's definitely a difference between persuading and manipulating. You did a nice job on this essay.