Introduction
If
there were ever a notion both inexplicable and offensive to the postmodern
pluralist, then that of conversion would be among the most foul. For some,
the very word "convert", when taken in a religious context, conjures images
of the kind of radical religious fundamentalism that has racked the Middle
East and threatens to ruin the religious freedom of the West. What's more,
if we're all simply products of our cultural environments, then we cannot
effectively rise above the milieu in which we were raised to swap one worldview
for another. If every religious opinion is as valid as any other, then conversion
from one religion to another is simply a pragmatic lateral move. And if all
world religions are really just different ways to the same ineffable religious
ultimate, then how arrogant to think of conversion to your own religion as
absolutely necessary for the eternal well-being of others!
But in a non-committal culture where religious worldviews are most commonly leased with an option to buy, our understanding of true Biblical conversion needs to be overhauled like an engine with a cracked block. What is conversion? Is it simply trading in a worn out worldview for a newer, shinier model? Is conversion just something that we do when we're bored or discontent with a religion or subjective "truth set" that no longer seems to work for us, or give us what we want, or justify our predilections? And what exactly does it mean to be converted in a Biblical sense? Is it simply giving cognitive assent to a certain set of propositions and rejecting others? Is it praying a prayer? Perhaps conversion is a vivid and touching experience of the transcendent? Do we convert ourselves? Or are we converted by Another? Let's think about it together - what is Biblical conversion all about?
