20 Hinderances of Conversion

 What follows are twenty human impediments to coming to Christ identified by Richard Baxter (1615-1691). This list is by no means exhaustive:

1. the willful neglect of the means of grace
2. bad company
3. gross ignorance of biblical truths
4. unbelief
5. thoughtlessness
6. hardness of heart
7. great esteem & interest in the world
8. habits of sin subduing the mind
9. foolish self-love &presumption
10. counterfeit conversion
11. living among strong temptation to sin
12. scandal & division in the church
13. the poor education of children
14. striving against the Holy Spirit
15. half-heartedness in religion
16. delay
17. failure to follow through on good beginnings
18. misunderstanding some Scriptures
19. pride & unteachableness
20. willful obstinacy

Richard Baxter, A Treatise of Conversion, in The Practical Works of the Rev. Richard Baxter, in "The Puritans on Coming to Christ," chapter 32 of A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life, Joel R. Beeke & Mark Jones, p.519.