An objective look into "the sinners prayer"

[Alithis]

I have no gentle approach when confronting Obvious issues with the rcc.
But being raised from a small child in penticostal circles -where i heard many a claim but saw little of action-
Im not shy to confront penticostal/evangelical issues of error with the same vigor .i dont care what denomination it originates from.. I have no preference .if it smacks of falshood ,lets call it out.

One area is the topic of "the sinners prayer" as to its teaching ,its use,its claims,and its non biblical existance and dangerously partial truth leading to a false security.

First the question that must and always arises..does or can God use the sinners prayer to lead to salvation.? Of course he can and does.
He can use a donkey.but ultimatly he will lead them..not to the sinners prayer..but tothe gospel as preached in the book of acts. For in it are the instructions on how to be saved.

Next question. - does God instruct to preach the sinners prayer... No. Not anywhere is it taught in Gods word.

Others will be more knowledgable but to my memory it was popularised by the billy graham crusades . and has hung around since in varying forms .

It seems to center or revolve around one central premise ...i should know,i heard it allmy life....
-ask jesus into your heart to be saved-
Thats its nucleus mostly.

So..lets start there.. Where is its scriptural basis and is it correct or based on sunday school verses ripped out of thier context like so many other evagelical single verse based traditions ?

Where in scripture are we taught by the lord Jesus or the apostles to preach..."ask jesus into your heart tobe saved"

Apply objectivity before replying .

 

[psalms 91]

Romans 10:9-10 to me says it all

 

[Lamb]

I have no gentle approach when confronting Obvious issues with the rcc.

By saying rcc do you mean the Roman Catholic Church? They don't believe in the Sinner's Prayer as far as I've ever heard and I knew an entire town of Catholics and went to many different masses.

The sinner's prayer is not going to save anyone. God saves. He gives us faith to believe in the Savior and the forgiveness won at the cross. If anyone feels compelled to pray anything for salvation, they already have faith given by God in order to do so. No one can confess God as Lord unless first given faith and we are saved by grace through faith and that faith is in Christ Jesus who died for us.

 

[Rens]

Just saying it won't save you of course, otherwise parrots would also get saved. I got saved that way and saw a lot of people get saved that way. Also saw a few who just said the prayer, but nothing changed.

 

[MoreCoffee]

By saying rcc do you mean the Roman Catholic Church? They don't believe in the Sinner's Prayer as far as I've ever heard and I knew an entire town of Catholics and went to many different masses.

The sinner's prayer is not going to save anyone. God saves. He gives us faith to believe in the Savior and the forgiveness won at the cross. If anyone feels compelled to pray anything for salvation, they already have faith given by God in order to do so. No one can confess God as Lord unless first given faith and we are saved by grace through faith and that faith is in Christ Jesus who died for us.

I think, after carefully reading @Aithis' post, that he is not referring "the sinner's prayer" to the Catholic Church but only presenting his credentials as a writer who has no respect for anything that he deems unbiblical. Only what he deems biblical is to be entertained as true. Others see matters quite differently I think.

 

[Alithis]

By saying rcc do you mean the Roman Catholic Church? They don't believe in the Sinner's Prayer as far as I've ever heard and I knew an entire town of Catholics and went to many different masses.

The sinner's prayer is not going to save anyone. God saves. He gives us faith to believe in the Savior and the forgiveness won at the cross. If anyone feels compelled to pray anything for salvation, they already have faith given by God in order to do so. No one can confess God as Lord unless first given faith and we are saved by grace through faith and that faith is in Christ Jesus who died for us.

No .. Re read.. Im showing that im not afraid to take on any traditional falsehood ..even ones within denominations i grew up in , i dont prefer one over the other .
If something is being held to traditionally..but is not truth as recorded in scripture im happy to call it out .
My mention of the rcc is showing i measure all denomination by the same measure i do the rcc. I love truth. I contend for it. Thus if a openly speak against the false teachings of rome..its only fair i do so for all denominations .

I wasnt saying rome taught the sinners prayer..
They have an equally sinister version in regard to having to belong to thier institution. Buts thats not the topic here.

 

[Lamb]

So this thread isn't about the Sinners Prayer as the title suggests?

 

[Alithis]

Romans 10:9-10 to me says it all

Ok lets look at that then..

Is that all he wrote?

Did he sayanything leading up to that?

To whom is he writing ,the saved or the unsaved?
The saved . he is expounding on the topic ,explaining more about the workings of grace ,faith and salvation. He is not preaching to a gathering of unsaved people.
Nor is he telling them .."i want you to go out and tellpeople to confess christ to be saved "... Why would he when he himself preached ardently ..repent,be baptised and recived the holy spirit.. As the way to salvation .
That is to say ..thecontext is absolutely Not an instruction on how to preach the gospel .

Which returns us to the question ..where does the lord Jesus ,or the apostles or scripture ever tell us.."preach that people must ask jesus into thier hearts to be saved" ....?

It excludes repentance, it excludes death inbaptism ,it excludes the promised Holy Spirit..who is eternal life. In short..it exclude the gospel instructions on how to be saved.

But it is a very ear pleasingly comfortable meassage. Much nicer then one that points out isin and challanges you about it .then requires death to self...

If iv made you- think- on this, its a good thing.

 

[Alithis]

So this thread isn't about the Sinners Prayer as the title suggests?

Yes it is. What its not about is rome..

Now..., Whats your take on the sinners prayer? Where is it taughtin scripture that itshould be preached as the way to be saved?

 

[Rens]

Ok lets look at that then..

Is that all he wrote?

Did he sayanything leading up to that?

To whom is he writing ,the saved or the unsaved?
The saved . he is expounding on the topic ,explaining more about the workings of grace ,faith and salvation. He is not preaching to a gathering of unsaved people.
Nor is he telling them .."i want you to go out and tellpeople to confess christ to be saved "... Why would he when he himself preached ardently ..repent,be baptised and recived the holy spirit.. As the way to salvation .
That is to say ..thecontext is absolutely Not an instruction on how to preach the gospel .

Which returns us to the question ..where does the lord Jesus ,or the apostles or scripture ever tell us.."preach that people must ask jesus into thier hearts to be saved" ....?

It excludes repentance, it excludes death inbaptism ,it excludes the promised Holy Spirit..who is eternal life. In short..it exclude the gospel instructions on how to be saved.

But it is a very ear pleasingly comfortable meassage. Much nicer then one that points out isin and challanges you about it .then requires death to self...

If iv made you- think- on this, its a good thing.

It's just one of the things. Someone can repent, get baptized etc., but if they don't confess their sin and say He's Lord and confess His Name it won't work either.
And it shall come to pass that anyone who shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved.

 

[Lamb]

Yes it is. What its not about is rome..

Now..., Whats your take on the sinners prayer? Where is it taughtin scripture that itshould be preached as the way to be saved?

I gave my thoughts in post 3. We are saved by grace through faith and that faith grasps onto Jesus the Christ. Prayer isn't what saves. Prayer can only be brought about because faith to believe first was given. We cannot call on God as Lord unless He draws us first to Him.

 

[Nes]

sinners prayer is garbage. like all these people think the prayer saves them. lol you got another thing coming

 

[psalms 91]

It is a tool to be used but you are right it doesnt save you but rather the heart and the intent which only God can judge

 

[Lamb]

Does anyone have an example of what they are considering to be the sinner's prayer?

I have no problem with believers praying to God and thanking him for His great mercy and forgiveness because of the Savior. A prayer does not convert someone into a believer.

 

[Rens]

Does anyone have an example of what they are considering to be the sinner's prayer?

I have no problem with believers praying to God and thanking him for His great mercy and forgiveness because of the Savior. A prayer does not convert someone into a believer.

https://www.stevehill.org/about/about-you/need-forgiveness.html

 

[Alithis]

It's just one of the things. Someone can repent, get baptized etc., but if they don't confess their sin and say He's Lord and confess His Name it won't work either.
And it shall come to pass that anyone who shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved.

sure , and why do they beleive in the heart and why does what is in the heart come forth ? because having repented ans been baptised ,having been buried with him into his death they are raised up again a new creation, they receive the holy Spirit who fills their heart .from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks .
and as we see paul is speaking to those already saved .. he is not saying .
"go and tell people to recite some words to be saved ", he is saying because they are being saved, that which truly fills their heart comes forth from them .. its not a means by which to be saved but an evidence that they are being saved . continually .

(as a side note , you will observe that back sliders cease from certain things .. from praise from speaking the name of jesus , from praying out from within the spirit (tongues)
you will also observe that those who are not born of water and Spirit , rarely mention the name of Jesus in conversation of any kind anywhere at any time , his spirit does not fill their heart ,so such words do not flow easily from the mouth , they are contrived from the intellect ,(those who are baptised in the holy Spirit with the evidence of tongues will understand what i mean by that )

but when a person's heart is filled with the spirit of god ,words of life flow from them as a river of living water springing up unto eternal life - this is just another wording of "believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth that Jesus is lord ..)


so in the context of the topic , we have no directive from scripture to be "preaching " ask jesus into your heart and you will be saved .

for in it there is no call to repentance as the scriptures state . in fact the first thing Jesus ever preached when he came out of the desert was .... "REPENT ........

 

[Alithis]

Does anyone have an example of what they are considering to be the sinner's prayer?

I have no problem with believers praying to God and thanking him for His great mercy and forgiveness because of the Savior. A prayer does not convert someone into a believer.

ok we have covered this point .. can god use a sinner's prayer format to save some one ..yes of course . its not about that

it about what are we told to preach when we are told to preach the good news of Jesus and how the sinner's prayer format matches up and thus far it doesnt . its never listed in any instructions in scripture .

its a bit of a sacred cow ,so to speak ,in evangelical circles . its very ingrained in out teaching of leading a person to chrsit .. yet it is also the basis by which many who say that prayer and then start attending a church .. also fall away just as easy, having no depth of transformation take place in their heart .. they are not taught anything else , so they are not born again of the Holy Spirit .

then , when we measure it against what Jeuss preached and taught his apostles to preach .. it never figures in at all .. they all preach repentance ,baptism and receiving the holy Spirit as the instructions on how to be saved .

the central nucleus of the typical sinners prayer = jesus please forgive me for my sin and come into my heart - amen .. "you are now saved you are now a christian -scriptural FALSE. (IF- preached by itself without the full gospel being added )

 

[Josiah]

I"ve found what "Evangelicals" mean by "full gospel" is "no Gospel - just a LOT of OUR hoop jumping, a LOT of Law, a LOT of guilt, a LOT of making self the Savior. It usually means the elimination of the Gospel.

But that's probably another discussion for another day and thread.





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[MoreCoffee]

The sinner's prayer appears to be okay on the whole. The theology that is behind it for some people is bad theology but the prayer itself seems okay. It says something like this, right?

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Name.

Amen​

It is vaguely reminiscent of an act of contrition which goes something like this.

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because they offend Thee, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace to amend my life. Amen​

 

[Alithis]

I gave my thoughts in post 3. We are saved by grace through faith and that faith grasps onto Jesus the Christ. Prayer isn't what saves. Prayer can only be brought about because faith to believe first was given. We cannot call on God as Lord unless He draws us first to Him.

confused .. whats that got to do with "the sinners prayer " ?

we are saved through those things .. and how / not by the recital of a prayer ... a person can recite a prayer until their face turns blue .but if they dont turn away from their sin and stop doing it they become guilty of it over and over again .