”Mitt vittnesmål: Hur Jesus räddade mig” : En studie av berättelser om religiös omvändelse i Youtubevideor

The purpose of this study is to describe a few individuals' stories about their conversion to Christianity, as well as to analyze these stories using Lewis Rambo's theory about religious conversion. The analysis focuses on four YouTube videos where four individuals share their testimonies about their religious conversion to Christianity. In this study I address the following two questions: How does different individuals describe their conversion to Christianity in YouTube videos titled "My testimony"? How can their conversion process be understood based on Rambo's theory of religious conversion? The material, namely the four YouTube videos, has been transcribed and the transcripts were then analyzed using qualitative content analysis and Lewis Rambo’s (1993) theory about religious conversion. The results showed that the individuals begin their conversion testimonies by describing their upbringing. Then they describe some sort of destructive lifestyle. All four individuals also describe that prior to their conversion they went through a phase of seeking meaning. The conversion occurs through an encounter with God for all individuals. After the conversion, they became free from the destructive elements that characterized their lives before the conversion. However, some individuals mention a tough period following the conversion. The results also showed that most individuals in the study underwent an individual conversion process that did not occur in relation to a specific church or a particular denomination. Only one of the four individuals describe interaction with a church and participation in its rituals, such as services and baptisms.