READER ERIC ENLOW WRITES that my admittedly highly unsympathetic description of “blessed assurance,” below, was unfair and uninformed. That may well be true–I was basing my understanding of the idea on what a very sweet, very devout, but not very theologically-inclined woman told me about it. I may have misunderstood her words, or she may have been misunderstanding it herself. I stand by the claim that lots of people do in fact hold the belief I described, and that it can provoke real despair once the initial glow of the altar call has worn off and people return to sinful habits; but there may very well be a much better way to understand the concepts of “blessed assurance” or assurance of salvation. I don’t really understand the explanation that Enlow gave in his email, so I think what I’ll do is reread it, work out what my questions are, and post more on this later in the week. For the moment, I’ll just note his sharp disagreement.