1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Sinner's Prayer

Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by Osage Bluestem, Mar 7, 2011.

  1. Osage Bluestem

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2011
    Messages:
    423
    Likes Received:
    0
    What are your views on the sinners prayer?

    Is it necessary to pray a sinners prayer to be saved?
     
  2. jbh28

    jbh28 Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2008
    Messages:
    3,761
    Likes Received:
    2
    No. Salvation is by grace through faith, not by saying a prayer. As far as someone saying a "sinners prayer" I look of it more as the first prayer as a Christian of him expressing his faith and truth to his Savior.
     
  3. Osage Bluestem

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2011
    Messages:
    423
    Likes Received:
    0
    I agree with you.
     
  4. Tom Butler

    Tom Butler New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 20, 2005
    Messages:
    9,031
    Likes Received:
    2
    The use of the Sinner's Prayer is not the problem. It's the abuse. Too often, it has been reduced to "say these magic words," or "repeat this prayer after me."

    I'm looking forward to hearing someone say to a lost person, "if you want the Lord to save you, ask him." And then SHUT UP and wait.

    Oh, the answer to the OP question is No.
     
  5. freeatlast

    freeatlast New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2004
    Messages:
    10,295
    Likes Received:
    0
    It's a man made doctrine that is totally false and has no doubt led multitudes into a false sense of security. Salvation requires repentance towards God and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. If the church would focus on what is given instead of what is not given many of the false conversions would be greatly limited.
    I think the problem is that God's grace is being offered on a level way below what He offers it.
     
  6. Baptist Believer

    Baptist Believer Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2002
    Messages:
    10,719
    Likes Received:
    781
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I've actually done this on a few occasions, especially when I was in college and was given to full-blown (and sometimes unreasonable) idealism.

    My reasoning was that if I had provided enough information regarding the gospel and the Spirit was providing the faith, then the person responding to the gospel didn't need me to feed them lines.

    The first time I did this, I had just shared the gospel with a former high school classmate who had had a long history with drugs and debauchery. I was in college then and his life had gone off into a haze of chemical dependency.

    I prayed alongside him silently, but let him form his own words to express the intent of his heart. He started praying and described his life rather vividly to God using the colorful popular expression for human manure and dropping the f-bomb to describe how wretchedly he had rejected what he knew to be the right thing. Some of the more pious church members who were praying with us were shocked and offended, but to their credit they did not interrupt that holy moment.

    For that former classmate, the moment marked the beginning of a long road of recovery and he checked himself into a substance abuse program a few weeks later because he decided he didn't want to do drugs anymore even though his body violently craved them.

    I've softened my view since then and will sometimes suggest what people might want to pray, but stress that the words aren't magic and that they shouldn't pray anything they don't completely mean in their hearts. God knows our hearts, no matter what our tongues may say.
     
  7. webdog

    webdog Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Mar 31, 2005
    Messages:
    24,696
    Likes Received:
    2
    I believe the sinners prayer is actually the first prayer said of a saint if done in sincerity.
     
Loading...