I’ve been reflecting much on some conversations I’ve had recently. The most noticeable is something I learnt from one of our Bristo interns, David Nemeshegyi, as we were reading through Old Testament together. In looking at Ruth 1, he commented that the conversation between Naomi and Ruth, where the former seeks to discourage the latter from going to her hometown of Bethlehem with her, is the reason why rabbis have the duty of seeking to dissuade three times any potential convert to Judaism.
Can you imagine a revival evangelist? The invitation goes out. The people come forward. And then the reasons why they should not become Christians and the persuading begins!
Which leads us to a question. When is a convert really made? Is it simply when a persons has been coming around regularly to church? Is it when they respond to the truth that Jesus died for their sins, that God loves them and that they can have eternal life? Can we make the Christian life and entry into it seem too easy?
Perhaps we should stress that there is always cost and renunciation when we become a Christian. And now I remember the reason for the title of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s classic work ….
