{"id":2407,"date":"2009-01-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/contentfeeds\/2009\/01\/bible-qa-for-june-2.html"},"modified":"2009-01-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-22T00:00:00","slug":"bible-qa-for-june-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/contentfeeds\/2009\/01\/bible-qa-for-june-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Bible Q&A for January 22"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it actually said that every believer must have a conversion experience, that is, something that really happened to bring about repentance? In my own case, I don’t have any, other that I grew up hearing and loving the way of Christ and have never had any unnatural experience. It’s been two years now since I formally gave my life and apart from God’s intervention in many cases of my life nothing of note has really happened to me. What do you think is my problem? I am not convinced that I am a child of God though people who know me think otherwise.<\/b>
\nYou seem to have been misled by someone who suggested you had to have some particular kind of experience to be a born-again Christian. This is not true. There are as many different ways to come to Christ as there are believers.
\nConsider, for example, the story of C.S. Lewis’ conversion, in his book “Surprised by Joy.” He says that he had no joyful experience or mountaintop experience or anything like that. Rather for him it was just a matter of giving in, and accepting that God had set him apart. He added, “I became the most reluctant convert in all of Christendom.” Yet, as his writings show, he was one of the most profoundly Christian ones.
\nIf you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, as 1 Cor. 12 makes clear, no one can truly and earnestly do that unless they are indeed saved, as this requires already having the work of the Holy Spirit within you. The fact of your conversion should not be mistaken for some particular kind of experiential response to the work of God in your life.
\n—Ben Witherington III<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is it actually said that every believer must have a conversion experience, that is, something that really happened to bring about repentance? In my own case, I don’t have any, other that I grew up hearing and loving the way of Christ and have never had any unnatural experience. It’s been two years now since…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":235,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-qa"],"yoast_head":"\nBible Q&A for January 22 - Content Feeds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/contentfeeds\/2009\/01\/bible-qa-for-june-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bible Q&A for January 22 - Content Feeds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Is it actually said that every believer must have a conversion experience, that is, something that really happened to bring about repentance? In my own case, I don’t have any, other that I grew up hearing and loving the way of Christ and have never had any unnatural experience. 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