... That does not mean that every Christian can tell exactly at what moment
he was justified and born again. Some Christians, indeed, are really able
to give day and hour of their conversion. It is a grievous sin to
ridicule the experience of such men. Sometimes, indeed, they are
inclined to ignore the steps in the providence of God which prepared for
the great change. But they are right on the main point. They know that
when on such and such a day they kneeled in prayer they were still in
their sins, and when they rose from their knees they were children of
God never to be separated from Him. Such experience is a very holy
thing. But on the other hand it is a mistake to demand that it should be
universal. There are Christians who can give day and hour of their
conversion, but the great majority do not know exactly at what moment
they were saved. The effects of the act are plain, but the act itself was done in the quietness of God. Such, very often, is the
experience of children brought up by Christian parents. It is not
necessary that all should pass through agonies of soul before being
saved; there are those to whom faith comes peacefully and easily through
the nurture of Christian homes.
But however it be manifested, the beginning of the Christian life is an act of God. It is an act of God and not an act of man.
- J. Gresham Machen (Christianity and Liberalism, Chapter 6: Salvation)
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