There are probably many people who experienced genuine conversion to Christ that went through these rituals. But I was always troubled by the number of people that walked an aisle or said a prayer and never experienced any change in the way they lived. Were the Scriptures inaccurate? Paul taught, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17.
The most troubling part of this for me is that as I reflect on my own life, I walked an aisle to receive Christ at 7 years old and was baptized twice if I remember right. Once soon after I was "saved" and then later as a teenager. I don't remember having a lot of interest in the things of faith until my freshman year of college. It was at this point that I found myself longing to know more about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Bible. But there were many sins that I rationalized and continued to embrace wholeheartedly. I had no sense of true surrender to the commands of Christ to turn from sin and follow Him.
Of course, I don't believe a Christian is ever free from sin in this life. But I have become convinced that one of the marks of true conversion is a hatred of sin and an inward warfare to love truth, purity and holiness because it is only through holiness that anyone sees the Lord- Hebrews 12:14. JC Ryle and Jonathan Edwards both had a big impact on my understanding of the salvation process.
In Religious Affections, Edwards describes the conversion/salvation process as occuring in three steps:
- Enlightenment- God starts to draw the thoughts of men/women towards Him. We start to become aware of spiritual things.
- Awakening- at this point, we develop a conviction that we are sinners and need a Savior- Christ. Many modern churches teach that this is the point of salvation. A person confesses their need for Christ and then makes a public commitment to Him.
- Conversion- Edwards taught- rightfully so in my view- that a person is not saved until they surrender their hearts completely to Christ. This means a lifelong effort to make progress in becoming more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled- Galatians 5:22-23. It means to love God and His revelation. And to hate sin and all of its destructiveness that it causes this world.
JC Ryle taught a similar understanding of salvation. Ryle explains in Holiness that we must be born again- regenerated- by God the Father. We must have our sins forgiven by Christ- justified. And we must strive for holiness- sanctification- through the power of the Holy Spirit. In my own experience, this actual conversion process where I desired to follow Christ and actively declare war on my greed, gluttony, pride, sexual lust and apathy to name a few did not occur until well after I had made a public profession to accept Christ.
Once again, I want to emphasize that no works could ever earn salvation. Salvation is an unmerited gift that I owe only to the radical grace of God. I also continue to sin, but I now am engaged in a warfare against sin and was not before conversion. Would I have gone to heaven if I died before surrendering my life to Christ in my early 30s? I believe most churches today would have thought so. I attended Bible studies, gave money to the church and even showed some signs of commitment. But ultimately my life was a contradiction to the gospel and I was a miserable reflection of Christ for many of those years. According to the word of God, I was still in a lost state. Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven.." Matthew 7:21.
If you are confused about whether you have become converted, I urge you to read Holiness by JC Ryle and Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards. They will lay a clear, scriptural path on what the Bible teaches about salvation.
For the Glory of Christ,
Ashley Hodge
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