Convinced Is Not Converted

I have an odd intolerance for certain foods. I’m not allergic to them, but I’ve also discovered it’s more than mere pickiness. Unfortunately, the foods I am intolerant of are the ones I most need to be eating for health and nutrition. While I am working on overcoming this problem, it never fails someone learns of my eating habits and begins to lovingly lecture me on the necessity of eating better than I do. I nod patiently as I hear for the umpteenth time the basics of nutrition we all learned in grade school.

Recently, when someone began this lecture, I quickly interrupted them and said: “Oh, I agree! I’m convinced, just not converted.”

This off-hand turn of phrase has stuck with me ever since. Let’s briefly look at the terms in question here:

Convinced: To be moved to believe, through logic, argument or evidence, that something is true.

Many Christians, especially in West, have come to faith through being convinced—that is, we have been moved to believe differently about something through a compelling argument, presentation or even relationship. This ushers us into active relationship with God as we make a choice to identify as His follower. Growing up, this is what I was taught about what it meant to be converted. While there is overlap, I think we have confused being convinced with being converted.

Converted: To be changed from one form, substance or state, to another.

Without question, being convinced is a significant part of the conversion experience (at least for many).

That being said, we can see by the definition that conversion is far more than simply being convinced—it encompasses and surpasses it. To be converted is to be transformed—to be changed from one thing to another. It is holistic and all-encompassing. The emphasis of rationalism in Western Christianity, while bringing us many gifts, has all too often led us to understand belief primarily (and at times exclusively) as cognitive.