Sometimes, a person has to hit rock bottom before they will change.
This bit of folk-wisdom has deep roots in the American psyche, where we love to read and consume spectacular conversion narratives. We know the kinds of stories that the phrase sums up: a person takes to the bottle, loses their job and family, and ends up crying out to God from a ditch somewhere outside Tulsa. Or, more commonly, a young man finds himself alone in jail after a bit of stupid fun goes wrong, weeping at the prospect of being cut off from their family, work, and friends.
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Matthew Lee Anderson
Matthew Lee Anderson is an Associate Professor of Ethics and Theology in Baylor University's Honors College. He has a D.Phil. in Christian Ethics from Oxford University, and is a Perpetual Member of Biola University's Torrey Honors College. In 2005, he founded Mere Orthodoxy.
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