Hank Smith: 00:04 Hello my friends. Welcome to another FollowHIM Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I’m here with the amazing John Bytheway. Welcome, John.

John Bytheway: 00:10 Thank You. Good to be back.

Hank Smith: 00:12 You know the drill, John. FollowHIM Favorites. We answer a single question from this week’s lesson. John, the question is from Luke 22. There’s a verse where the Savior says to Peter, “I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthened thy brethren.” Now we know that Peter has a testimony. He’s borne his testimony many times, and yet here the Savior is saying, when you’re converted. So the question for this week is what’s the difference between those two things? What’s the difference between having a testimony and being converted? What would you say?

John Bytheway: 00:48 You know, we all have used a voltage converter maybe when we travel or a catalytic converter on our car. It kind of changes something into something else. So I wonder if it’s part of you’re becoming a different person, a new creature like Paul might say, to be converted. My dad used to say there’s a difference between being convinced and converted. Maybe when you’re converted, you start changing and becoming something different than you were. How does that sound?

Hank Smith: 01:18 Yeah. In the Book of Mormon how often it talks about, and they, whatever group of people were converted unto the Lord, converted unto the Lord. And I take that to mean that something inside of them has changed.

John Bytheway: 01:31 The idea of a convertible, a car that changes.

Hank Smith: 01:34 That can change.

John Bytheway: 01:35 Versus a testimony which a testimony is very knowledge based. It’s things that I know. Whereas conversion is something like you said, is something I become.

Hank Smith: 01:45 Yeah, I like that you used the Book of Mormon idea. It never mentions in the Book of Mormon converts to the church. We say that sometimes, but the object of our conversion is the Lord, Book of Mormon teaches us. So trying to become like Jesus, a lifelong thing, and please don’t think conversion is… It’s a mighty change of heart, but it doesn’t mean an instant change of heart.

John Bytheway: 02:09 Absolutely. Yeah. President Henry B. Eyring said, “the change, conversion, will be renewed again and again as we unselfishly continue over a lifetime to act in faith to strengthen others with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Conversion will not be a single event or something that will last for just one season of life. It’s a continuing process.” So maybe having a testimony is something that you can say, I have that. But conversion is something that you’re continually reaching for, that’s going to take the rest of your life to become more and more converted. As the Doctrine and Covenants would say, that light will grow brighter and brighter until the perfect day.

  02:50 It’s like I know what to do. Now I’ve got to do what I know and when I do what I know, I’ll start to become what the Lord wants me to become.

Hank Smith: 02:58 When I get back to heaven. I just don’t want to know something and I even don’t want to just have done good things. I want to have become something. We hope you’ll join us on our full podcast. It’s called FollowHIM. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts and then come back next week. We’ll do another FollowHIM Favorites.