{"id":308,"date":"2011-01-28T19:26:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-28T19:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/01\/christian-conversion-and-pagan-initiation\/"},"modified":"2011-01-28T19:26:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-28T19:26:00","slug":"christian-conversion-and-pagan-initiation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/01\/christian-conversion-and-pagan-initiation.html","title":{"rendered":"Christian Conversion and Pagan Initiation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Sometimes when you get on a roll the inspiration just keeps coming. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another interesting piece, this time by Briallen Hopper at Huffington Post Religion<\/a>. It\u2019s titled \u201cAmazing Grace: How Conversion Really Works<\/a>.\u201d It\u2019s fairly short \u2013 go read it now, but as you do, substitute \u201cinitiation\u201d every time Hopper says \u201cconversion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did it occur to you that a conversion experience is a Type 3 initiation \u2013 \u201ca method for transferring spiritual knowledge and power\u201d? Or at least that\u2019s what I was led to believe growing up in a small Baptist church. <\/p>\n

I was eight years old when I had my own conversion experience. I still believed what my parents and the church taught me. I didn\u2019t have enough life experience to realize that there were other opinions on religious matters and I hadn\u2019t started contemplating the implications of exclusive, orthodox Christian doctrines \u2013 contemplations that would make me a universalist long before I set foot in a UU church. My father and the preacher told me I \u201cneeded to get saved\u201d and I believed them. I walked down the aisle, knelt at the altar and asked Jesus to forgive my sins. <\/p>\n

It was a rather emotional experience, but there was no flash of light, no feeling of being \u201cstrangely warmed,\u201d nothing that matched the Damascus Road experience that was preached over and over again. And after the initial excitement wore off, I didn\u2019t feel any different. <\/p>\n

I was led to believe I should have had an ecstatic religious experience, though no one in that church would have described it in those terms. I didn\u2019t. That disconnection caused me great distress while I was trying to be a Christian, and although it isn\u2019t the reason I left, it certainly pushed me in that direction.<\/p>\n

Back to Briallen Hopper\u2019s essay.<\/p>\n

The problem with the conversion narrative is that most people have lives that don\u2019t fit the classic before-and-after plot. When we insist on the standard story, we fail to appreciate the varieties of religious experience. In focusing on sudden change, we can forget that most transitions happen slowly over time. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is as true for Pagans as it is for Christians. Initiation can be a wonderful experience, but even if you prepare diligently there\u2019s no guarantee it will be electric. That\u2019s one of the main reasons I\u2019ve always been skeptical of Type 3 initiations \u2013 maybe that power will get transferred and maybe it won\u2019t. In my experience, power is almost always gained \u201cslowly over time.\u201d Do all the work before the initiation and the ceremony simply confirms what you\u2019ve already achieved. Do the initiation up front and your commitment may be strengthened, but you still have to do the work. <\/p>\n

Perhaps the reason I didn\u2019t have an ecstatic religious experience at age 8 was that I wasn\u2019t supposed to \u2013 if I had, I might never have questioned the concept that some are saved and some are damned and would never have found this path of Druidry, Paganism and Unitarian Universalism. A Calvinist would probably say that means I was predestined for damnation\u2026 which would be yet another reason I could never be a Calvinist. <\/p>\n

In any case, this is one of the reasons I emphasize setting appropriate expectations for initiations<\/a>. It may be a mind-blowing all-at-once experience, but more likely it will be one small step on a spiritual journey that takes a lifetime.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes when you get on a roll the inspiration just keeps coming. Here\u2019s another interesting piece, this time by Briallen Hopper at Huffington Post Religion. It\u2019s titled \u201cAmazing Grace: How Conversion Really Works.\u201d It\u2019s fairly short \u2013 go read it now, but as you do, substitute \u201cinitiation\u201d every time Hopper says \u201cconversion.\u201d Did it occur […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nChristian Conversion and Pagan Initiation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sometimes when you get on a roll the inspiration just keeps coming. 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