by Haruo » Wed Sep 20, 2017 3:03 pm
Actually in the case of Charles, I think "conversion" was his own term for the event of May 12?, 1738. And I'm not saying "conversion" is a term appropriate for the incremental growth in Christ that believers experience over the course of their experience of grace, but rather that even among Methodists (or at least among the Wesley brothers and those who quote them) it is the term for a sudden and seismic spurt of growth in Christ, involving a major overturning of some prior conception. It is appropriate to use of Paul on the road to Damascus, appropriate to use of Aldersgate, and appropriate to use of Charles' experience. I can't offhand think of a more appropriate term for such sudden and life-direction-changing experiences. If northern Methodists choose to call such things mere "growth", that is to their impoverishment.
Haruo = Leland Bryant Ross
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