1st-Sunday Discussion on Conversion

Last Sunday felt like a great culmination in our ongoing 1st-Sunday lessons on the theme of Conversion.  The format was a little bit different, with 5 or so class members being asked beforehand to share a 5-minute-or-less account of either their own conversion, or that of an admired scriptural figure, family member, etc.  The resulting discussion was immensely uplifting.

One brother started off by sharing his own conversion story, explaining that he had intended to be a Methodist minister, and wanted to show the missionaries the "error of their ways" but obviously changed his mind.  He cited several examples of events that couldn't be simple coincidences that helped him to know of God's love for him as well as recognize the truthfulness of the Church.

Then another brother shared the account of Amulek in the Book of Mormon, emphasizing that Amulek never rebelled against the church, and didn't need to have a miraculous conversion like Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah in order to fully immerse himself in the gospel.  He shared of the joy he has felt when reflecting on the truthfulness of the gospel, including a vivid moment in his life when he knew it to be true.

Another class member volunteered his story which was "lame" by his own account.  On a church history tour as a youth the bus driver got on the loud speaker when they got to Adam-Ondi-Ahman and said, "OK, now's your chance to go pray and know if the church is true" (which apparently he said at most every spot they stopped at).  He went apart from his group and went off to pray and heard in his mind the answer, "You already know it's true."  He figured that by reading the Book of Mormon a few times and surrounding himself with the gospel throughout his life up to that point he had already had lots of small moments that affirmed the truthfulness of the Church.  He felt that even though the story is "lame" it shows that anyone can be converted.

One brother then referenced the previously-made contrast of Alma the Younger and Amulek, as well as the "lame" conversion story and said that he had experienced an Alma-the-Younger conversion story, which is not actually so enviable.  He cited how Alma wished the rocks would collapse in on him, so ashamed was he of his guilt before God.  This brother said he felt the shame of rebelling against the church in his youth, and even leading others astray.  But, like Alma, he said he knew of the sweetness of the atonement.

Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah are called to repentance by an angel

Another volunteer told of his story of going to a Palmyra Easter pageant as a young man and feeling God's love for him there, but then returning there some years later as an adult with some trepidation as to whether God would still accept him.  But thankfully, he said, he was grateful to once again feel that love at the same spot in the same way he did several years ago.  And, similarly, he had felt the sensation upon walking through the Arlington 2nd Ward chapel doors that he was home, whether he was perfect or not.

Lastly, the curator for the discussion wrapped it up by accurately assessing that the one thing all these conversion stories had in common was that they were all different.  (Something I agreed with, even though our intention going into the lesson was to connect all the similarities with common threads.)  He added his own account of his difficulty of just becoming an elder because that's "just what you do when you get to a certain age in the church."  He shared a story of a college roommate asking him for a priesthood blessing for something trivial (a cold maybe), but he, having the sincerity to want to make sure to do it right, excused himself to go say a "quick" prayer in the other room which actually lasted about 15 minutes -- surely to the confusion of his roommate.  He was able to observe later that his yearning to know how to do it right--to call on the powers of heaven--was a form of conversion.  He just hadn't always known how to recognize conversion; put it into familiar terms.  This class, and other similar discussions and experiences had helped to continually solidify that process for him.