Conversion

What does it mean to convert? To be converted? Well, it turns out that there is no simple answer to that question. It can mean lots of different things. Getting some clarity about conversion becomes an important issue for many people who are recovering from abuse. There are at least a couple of reasons for this.

First, is not uncommon to feel like a complete spiritual failure during recovery from abuse. We have internalized an enormous amount of shame. And, if we have experienced spiritual abuse in addition to whatever other kind of abuse we have experienced, then we probably feel terrible about our spiritual condition. This can lead us to fear that we are not converted at all. In some Christian traditions, conversion is understood to be an instantaneous transformation–and there doesn’t seem to be anything instantaneous about the recovery process. So maybe I’m not converted after all. That’s the fear.

Second, in some Christian traditions there is a conviction that if you are converted, everything should be working right. Before conversion, problems. After conversion, no problems. Simple. As we used to sing when I was a child, after conversion “every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before.” But is that true? Is it? It seems to me that not even Jesus himself could live on this planet and have every day with Jesus be sweeter than the day before. Why we think we should have it better than Jesus escapes me. But this kind of unrealistic, unachievable expectation becomes a very heavy load for people recovering from abuse.

Finding a more biblical understanding of conversion might lighten the load a bit and help us focus our effort in a more productive direction than obsessing about whether or not we are ‘converted.’

For an overview of my instincts about different understandings of ‘conversion’ and some insights into which views are likely to be most helpful for people in recovery, I encourage you to view the two-part video which begins here.