Saturday, April 6, 2013
Why do Pastors and other well meaning believers tell unbelievers to say a sinners prayer?
I am sure you have all seen a tract, or heard a preacher say it. "If you want to have eternal life, repeat these words after me" or "pray something like this" or "ask Jesus to forgive you for your sins" Where did this heresy come from? How many people think they have their "insurance" paid up because they said some words? Many religions around the world have "magic" words or mantra's, but Christianity is not one of them. You don't ask Jesus into your heart.. (maybe I should do a post just on this) or ask him to forgive you for your sins.. (Great for believers, but this does not give you eternal life either.) Jesus Christ gave one condition for eternal life over and over. Believe in him for it. Why do we have to make it more complicated?If you don't believe in him for it, it does not matter what you say, and if you do, then just thank him for what he just gave you and what he has done for you!
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8 comments:
Have you ever heard a preacher you thought sounded pretty good and then he gives a poor gospel presentation? So much for him being good.
Yep.. more then once. Christian Traditions screw us up all the time though. :(
Unfortunately, this is all too common. I have seen great tracts that are good up until the point where they tell you how to be saved..and then they make it complicated..like, "1 Admit youre a sinner, 2 Turn from your sins", 3 Be willing to turn from your sins" 4 Receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, 5 Believe Jesus died for your sins, rose from the dead"
HUH?! The Bible says again and again, BELIEVE IN, BELIEVE ON, BELIEVE BELIEVE BELIEVE! =)
Well Said Case!
From GES --- Here is Luther on the danger of making salvation depend upon saying a special prayer:
"If God's grace toward me would depend on my praying one single Lord's Prayer perfectly, I could not be sure of God's grace, but I would always remain in doubt whether my Lord's Prayer met the divine requirement." (Quoted in F. Pieper, Christian Dogmatics II, p. 432.)
This same thought can be applied to using the Sinner's Prayer in evangelism. When we invite people to say the Sinner's Prayer at the end of a Gospel invitation, it risks giving people the idea that their salvation depends upon saying the prayer correctly. And since they can never be sure of that, that person will always be in doubt, and be robbed of their assurance. And what's worse, they may think that their eternal salvation actually depends upon something other than simple faith in the promise of everlasting life. If a Sinner's Prayer is used, it should be phrased in such a way that it gives thanks to God for the everlasting life already received by faith in Christ's promise, apart from our works, including our prayers.
Trent, I agree! I am always troubled when I hear testimonies that say "I prayed the sinners prayer" or "I walked the aisle" or "I let Jesus into my heart" or "I made Jesus my personal Savior". When have you heard someone simply say "I believed in Jesus"?
Yet I Am thankful that God sees faith even when we muddy the waters.
You might want to look at my post "WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED? (6/30/09)
I will check it out!
It was actually 7/1/09 :) but I found it. As I mentioned there, why do people think they can evangelize better then Jesus Christ? I love Jn 3:16
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