Conversion

In the early church, conversion came through an experience that changed people from the inside.  The original apostles saw the risen Jesus.  The martyrs of the first three centuries had such a conversion that they would lay down their lives for Christ.  The desert monks had interior conversions through their silence and solitude.  They literally changed the way they lived, their whole value system.  Then things changed.  Rulers would accept the faith in such places as Ethiopia, Georgia, Armenia.  Then the people would follow.  The shift was one of rules, dogma and worship, none of which requires any deep interior change.  Again, without the experience sufficient to change ourselves from inside, mediocrity will reign.  I suspect it is the same with all the religions.