[Apologetics] Jesus and the Sinner's Prayer

[Stephen Korsman]

Hi

An interesting article relating to the salvation discussion - http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/march/29.72.html

  Jesus and the Sinner's Prayer
  What Jesus says doesn't match what we usually say.

  [ ... ]

  In my Baptist tradition, especially, we direct people to "invite Jesus into your heart as your personal Savior," an act undertaken using a formula called the "sinner's prayer." Or we simply say, "Believe in Jesus, and you will be saved."

  But Jesus never taught easy believism. Whether he was telling the rich young ruler to sell all and follow him or telling a miracle-hungry crowd near Capernaum that to do the work of God was, yes, to believe on him (John 6:28-29), he called people to abandon their own agenda and trust him radically. Radical trust calls for both belief and action.

  I suggest that we tend to confuse the beginning of the faith journey with its entirety. Yes, believe in Jesus-that's the first step. Yes, invite Jesus into your heart as your personal Savior. Then, empowered by God's grace, embark on the journey of discipleship, in which you seek to love God with every fiber of your being, to love your neighbor as yourself, to live out God's moral will, and to follow Jesus where he leads you, whatever the cost.

  [ ... ]

David P. Gushee is Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy at Union University, and is a Baptist.

God bless,
Stephen
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