[Apologetics] Jesus and the Sinner's Prayer

[Art Kelly]

Thanks, Stephen, for sending this outstanding comment
from Professor Gushee. 

He is absolutely correct. And this supports Stuart's
contention that (many) Protestants mean the same thing
as Catholics regarding justification and salvation.

As you may know, the Methodists have now signed on to
the Joint Statement on Justification by the Catholics
and Lutherans. There likely will be more.

The problem is that, as Professor Gushee mentions,
some Protestants STILL cling to easy believism.

Maybe Catholics aren't the best ones to disprove easy
believism. More Protestants need to step up to the
plate.

Art 

--- Stephen Korsman <skorsman at theotokos.co.za> wrote:

> 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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