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Colorado Christian University *

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INT-212A

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Feb 20, 2024

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Session 4 Discussion Subscribe Click on the Session 4 Discussion link and then scroll down to start a new thread to respond to the discussion prompt. After posting your initial response, please comment on your classmates' responses. Respond by making constructive responses or by raising other questions that will promote further discussion and learning by all of us. Participation Requirements You will be graded not only for the quality of your posting but also for the level of your participation in this discussion. Your initial post is due by Wednesday at 11:59 P.M. (MT) of the week in which the discussion is assigned. A minimum of two (2) additional response posts are due by Sunday at 11:59 P.M. (MT). Participation is required on at least three days throughout the session. Participation includes your initial post and two additional response posts. These are minimum requirements. Be sure to follow any additional guidelines posted by the instructor. Review the rubric available for specific grading criteria. Discussion Prompt: Living a Transformed Life In chapter 1, Smith (2011) presents the three callings: the call to be a Christian, the vocational calling, and the immediate call. Though the book focuses specifically on vocational calling, our biblical perspective this week lends an interesting view of calling in general. Consider how the call to be a Christian leads to a transformed life and informs your perception of the other two callings (vocational and immediate). Continuing our discussion in this class regarding the relevance of Scripture, contemplate how being able to use and understand Scripture can add depth to your understanding of the three callings, applying the concepts from this week's assigned reading and Biblical Perspective. Rubrics  OND1 Discussion Rubric - Biblical Integration & References 20 pts. Start a New Thread Reading

Please complete the following before this session: A calling is always a demonstration of the love and initiative of God, but through vocation we also come to an appreciation that God takes us seriously. (Smith, 2011, p. 9) Smith, G.T. (2011). Courage and calling: Embracing your God-given potential (opens in a new tab) .  Chapters 1, 6, 8 Note: This book is provided to you through the CCU Library. You will be prompted to sign-in to your CCU account to access this book. Biblical Perspective A critical aspect of evangelicals’ understanding of conversion is that it is a faith transaction. In session one we discovered that Christians were first called such back in first-century (AD) Antioch. However, evangelicals first received their handle much, much later in Christian history. “Evangelical” first became a group moniker back in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther used the term to distinguish a biblical understanding of the gospel from what he considered to be the corrupted teachings about salvation within Roman Catholicism. Not surprisingly then, Lutherans were first called “evangelicals” (Elwell, 2001, p. 407). The word is actually derived from the Greek euangelion (which shows up over 100 times in the New Testament) and its Latin version evangelium . Both words refer to the “good news” of the gospel – “glad tidings…of Jesus who appeared on earth as the Son of God to accomplish God’s plan of salvation for needy humans” (Noll, 2003, p. 16).

This is where David Bebbington’s characterization of conversionism comes into play. Evangelicals place great emphasis on the converting experience of the gospel. Bible verses like Acts 2:37-39 and Romans 10:9-10, 13 make it clear that human beings must experience a life change in order to enter into God’s good graces. This change is necessary because, again based on Scripture (verses like Romans 3:23 & 6:23), humans are born sinners, and everything they eventually do – even good stuff! – is tainted by various degrees of sin. To be honest, the pervasiveness of sin is almost as verifiable by human experience as by the Bible. A conversion, or radical change, is necessary for humans to shift from being dominated by sin to being in God’s good graces, or “saved,” “redeemed,” a Christian. A critical aspect of evangelicals’ understanding of conversion is that it is a faith transaction. God converts people by His grace and through His Holy Spirit. Humans are not only incapable of changing themselves, they also can’t earn salvation by their good deeds. Conversion itself is a gift from God (see Ephesians 2:8-9) and can be either instantaneous or protracted, over time. An example of evangelicals’ emphasis on conversion can be seen in the famous Great Awakening of the mid-eighteenth century. Occurring primarily in Great Britain and the U.S., this significant spiritual event – or revival – produced thousands of conversions. People flocked to hear famous preachers such as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, John Wesley, and Gilbert Tennent, and many of them responded to the gospel message they heard. Those commitment responses to God resulted in conversion – true life change! Though CCU does not require students to sign a statement of faith or otherwise affirm that they are converted, we do hope and pray that all of our students will experience conversion someday. CON References

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Bebbington, D. W. (1989). Evangelicalism in modern Britain: A history from the 1730s to the 1980s . Routledge. Elwell, W.A. (2001). Evangelical dictionary of theology (2nd ed.). Baker Academic. Noll, M.A. (2003). The rise of evangelicalism: The age of Edwards, Whitefield, and the Wesleys . IVP.

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