Second, I still have no idea what is going on in your mind.
Third, it still appears to me you are claiming Steven's position requires a "Cultural" conversion prior to a "Religious" conversion.
Fourth, I am not interested in carrying on with the Culture/Religion discussion. It is going nowhere.
Fifth, you have raised a new question. Please explain, "No, I am actually saying that cultural conversion can be mistaken for a religious conversion (in the case of Pentecostals in S. America)..."
Are you claiming the so-called "conversions" to Pentecostalism in South America are false?
Fifth, you have raised a new question. Please explain, "No, I am actually saying that cultural conversion can be mistaken for a religious conversion (in the case of Pentecostals in S. America)...
Are you claiming the so-called "conversions" to Pentecostalism in South America are false?
I don't know that "false" would be the correct way to describe it. I think that if the person's object of faith is correct, then the rest of the theological dancing we do is, while not always unimportant or irrelevant, much ado about nothing. That is to say, if the person's faith is in Jesus and the wholeness he offers, then whether they have converted to a certain culture or not is irrelevant. Thus, attempting to "convert" people to a culture is an accretion to the Gospel. An accretion which we see denigrated in the New Testament, and an accretion which can harm a person's focus on the object of their faith and distract them from the true goal. And the true goal is the transformation of the self into a "little Christ" and a subsequent transformation of the culture around the person as he/she becomes salt and light.