Dual Conversion

Dual Conversion

By Dr. Frederick J. Pack, of the University of Utah

Conversion to most any cause may be thought of as consisting essentially oftwo parts. For convenience in this discussion the first may be called intellectual assent and the second personal participation. Neither, however, is really complete without the other. The writer is acquainted with a certain well-meaning gentleman who has long hoped that he himself might some day become a professional man in medicine. He has familiarized himself with many of our leading medical colleges and with the curricula which they offer. He knows something of the work required of most graduate students and is not unacquainted with the duties of the general practitioner and the specialist. The enthusiasm of this man never wanes, in fact as time passes he seems to become more and more fully converted to the belief that the medical profession offers practically unparalleled opportunities for doing good. Yet strangely, this gentleman has never made a move toward a realization of the hope he has so long cherished. He is intelligent and otherwise appears to possess the peculiar characteristics essential to a successful career in this particular profession, but for some reason, known only to himself, he has never moved. At first thought this case may seem unusual, but more careful analysis will likely show it to be very commonplace. We are all more or less converted to the desirability of following certain professions in which we have never taken the slightest part. As a matter of fact, the progress of civilization demands that we spend the greater part of our time within rather narrow limits. If it were not so we might spread our efforts over wide fields and thus accomplish little or nothing. Naturally enough, therefore, we are converted to the virtues of a great many phases of industrial and intellectual activity in which we never participate. We readily assent to more and more thorough training in music, in medicine, in banking, in engineering, in agriculture. We need no conversion to the value of these and many other lines of human endeavor. That is, we say we are converted to these things, but we all

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know that real conversion comes only with personal participation. No one is as fully* converted to a thing as the individual who is devoting his time and best efforts to it. Genuine and final conversion comes only through the thrills of knowledge derived from first-hand participation. We, of course, must not disparage the first conversion — the intellectual assent because it is indispensable in paving the way for the paramount factor, personal participation. But we can scarcely imagine the effect upon the world's civilization if men should cease to work. Without work, without activity, without personal participation the world cannot go forward, neither for the individual nor for the masses. Furthermore, the first conversion is much more easily acquired than the second. We are not slow in giving our mental approval to practically every worthy endeavor, but the real test comes when personal participation is suggested or hinted at. We readily approve a thing as good for the "other fellow," but we often hesitate when it "comes home." There can be no doubt that the great masses of all civilized peoples are converted to the desirability of living higher lives, but what the world needs most is the conversion of the individual to the fact that he himself must act and act now. Doutbless such men even as inebriates and murderers, in their saner moments, disapprove most seriously the courses they are following. In principle they need no mental conversion to the desirability of living higher lives; but what they need is a conversion, of whatsoever kind it may be, that will impel them to live the higher lives. And thus it is wherever we turn, in business, in agriculture, in education, men are converted almost universally to the value of higher ideals and higher ambitions. But of the vast number thus converted, only a small percentage are seriously striving to reach these ideals through personal participation. In our educational institutions, one of the most difficult problems confronting us is the problem of inactivity. Students in colleges are everywhere converted to the desirability of edu- cation, but the real task is to convert the student that he him- self must work. The writer of this article has just returned from delivering a lecture to a group of college students, the real burden of which was that no man can learn to swim with- out getting into the water. Thus far in this article we have avoided saying anything about religious conversion. We suspect that we may be treading on dangerous ground, but we have been wondering if a considerable part of this conversion does not really consist of the kind made up largely of intellectual assent, with a dis-

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proportionately small admixture of personal participation? We have been wondering as to what percentage of worshipers actually "take things home to themselves" and diligently strive to put the truths into practice? We have been wondering what proportion of the people who hear the message of Christ and the prophets obtain tangible inspiration for self-improvement, and what proportion go away only with theoretical values? Id other words, we have been wondering whether religious conversion differs materially from other kinds of conversion? It may be that the proportion of "doers" and "hearers" is somewhat different, yet the general situation is. doubtless much the same. Of one thing we are very certain, conversion to the necessity of personal participation is just as important in religion as it, is in music, in athletics, in surgery or in anything else. There are distinctly two aspects to every phase of human progression; we first believe that the thing is good, and then we believe that the thing is good for us. There is no reason for believing that "good intentions" will alone lead to success in religion any more than they do in other activities of life. We have learned very deeply that no matter how fully an individual may be converted to, say the medical profession, his conversion profits him but little until he makes his dreams come true. One great man has said that even the roads to hell are paved with good intentions, but not, of course, with good deeds. Even individuals who have enrolled their names in the Church of God should not permit themselves to be deceived in the matter of the security of their salvation. For plainly enough, membership in such an organization, which of itself is a most commendable thing, does not vouchsafe salvation any more than registration in a great university guarantees graduation. We are persuaded that a man who attends church regularly and who is not continuously becoming better is grossly de-; ceiving himself. The success of the man in the college or the man in the church depends primarily upon his willingness to take advantage of the opportunities afforded him. Some men who enroll themselves in colleges are never graduated, and we fear that the same may be true of many of those who are now obliviously resting even behind church membership. The man who has learned to believe the message of Christ and the Prophets has done well, but there still remains the application of these great truths in his own life. Eternal justice bars all gateways to progress except along paths of personal activity.