Conversion
by LewisA fellow preacher asked me today about conversion, and I was pretty sure he wasn’t referring to weights and measures. Turns out I was right, he was talking about a person giving up a life without Christ for a life with Christ.
Sometimes those folks are referred to as “converts.” Anyway, I started to say, “I think conversion is a process” but I left it alone. Then my friend said, “I think conversion is [pause] a process.
And of course I said, “That’s exactly what I was going to say” following which we also agreed that most people think of conversion as an event rather than a process.
Unfortunately we didn’t have the opportunity to continue that discussion. Fortunately I can ask you what we think. Are my friend and I crazy, or are we right?
Tags: Christianity, conversion, Life Change
January 9th, 2008 at 9:42 am
“Are my friend and I crazy?” Is this a loaded question, a trick question or what?
Or are you referring specifically to the conversion thing?
Not surprisingly, I am inclined to disagree with the ‘conversion is a process’ thinking.
Surprised?
I didn’t think so.
It’s a process that leads to conversion, followed by a long growth process after it happens.
But conversion happens. A step is taken. (more precisely a dip) Not a convert, now a convert, a clear line is drawn.
And hopefully there is no turning back, no turning back,…la la la.
A pertinent question to me, - why is it important to distinguish between conversion being a process and conversion being a step?
Does it make a difference?
January 9th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
You ask “why is it important” to consider this. That depends, as has been famously stated, what the definition of “is” is.
My point is that words mean things, and when we talk about conversion and converts we ought to know what we mean.
For instance, someone who has used a PC exclusively buys an iPod. Are they now an Apple convert? No? How about if they buy and start using a Mac? Does that make them a convert?
I know very little about the process of becoming a nun in any particular order, but it seems to me that a woman doesn’t just show up at the convent, declare herself a nun and then don the full habit.
The question of conversion is, I hope, important to all ministers. People may express an initial belief in Christ, and those who think of those folks as converts may then leave them alone and not help them in the process of conversion.
I agree, conversion happens. But it usually happens long after the event that many people call conversion.
Kind of like my becoming “not crazy” is a process…