Featured Alters In The Baptist Churches

The way I have always viewed it is that in the OT, an altar was a place of sacrifice. In most Baptist churches, it is a place where a person sacrifices his own will to be in obedience to God, hence an apt metaphor.

 

Thus it is a humbling experience if one truly goes there for that purpose. The problem is when the preacher gives an altar call and says stuff like, "some of you need to come and pray for lost loved ones," etc, etc, and makes people feel like they have to come or they aren't interested in evangelism. I don't like invitations to goad people into coming when the word of God preached and the Holy Spirit did not get them there. I have heard converstions from preachers about how many got saved and how many came to the altar, as if those things make the service a success or failure. I have been an Independant Baptist since I have been saved and this has always been a pet peeve of mine. You want to know when I know it is real? One service a man that had been under conviction, visited by the preacher, etc., stopped the service before it had hardly gotten started and said he needed to get saved. His wife and everybody else were weeping and praising God. Now he did not have to wait till he got to church, but I guess we give that impression. If the Holy Spirit is doing a work, you don't have to beg.

 

Out of curiosity Greg, what made you say & think its a Dispensational point of view? Note that I dont support either Dispensational or Covenant Theology as I see flaws in both....however I am curious as to that conclusion of yours.

 

Didn't Billy Graham close all his services asking people to come forward saying that all Jesus Christ called He called publicly..

The best invitation I have heart goes something like the following: The doors of the Church are open to receive any who believe that God has performed an act of Grace in your lives.

 

Because....

EWF...I'm not sure exactly why I did that except that it just came out that way when I was posting because it is obvious from the context that Jesus was addressing law-keeping Jews who were still under the dictates of that (dispensation)....it just struck me that way. I don't wish to derail this thread but just for the record, I am a dispensationalist so I tend to view the scriptures and what they teach through that "lens" although I recognise there is other legitimate criteria that can be considered when discussing the interpretation of scripture. That was just the one that came to mind at the time.

Bro.Greg

 

Altars although referred to frequently in the OT are a tradition more then Spiritual in the Church today. I have no objection to them as ornamental or furniture but off hand find no referral to them in the NT. This is my opinion and welcome comments or your opinion. Alter and altar are not synonymous.

 

I been going to a Baptist all of my life and I've never seen any alter at the front of the church. There is a raised stage with a pulpit but no alter. No place to Kneel and pray except the floor. We have no need of an alter we have Christ. He was sacrificed once for all our sins. No further need of an alter. Doesn't make sense to me to call the pulpit an alter. It's just a podium from which we hear God's word. It isn't an alter that changes us. That is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit.
MB

 

Thanks for the explanation Greg.

 

That is exactly what I was trying to say Bro. Greg. Thank you!

 

I agree about the altar call / "invitation" goading. I am sure we all have been in church where a preacher has the congregation sing some mournful hymn ad nauseum until somebody goes to the front just to put an end to the insanity.

 

Oh I know your sure you have a good hold on reality but what about your own? MB

 

I believe the public part of one's confession of Christ as Lord is one's baptism.

 

The idea of having a church altar is an issue I've been struggling with in our local assembly. The first time I heard a preacher invite people to pray at the “altar” I was floored. I immediately felt convicted in my spirit that something wasn't right with this practice. Growing up in a Baptist church we always had an invitation for people to get saved but inviting people to pray at a man made altar takes it to a whole new level. Here are a couple questions I have. If I walk down the aisle and pray at the “altar” is God more likely to hear and answer my prayer? Also, does praying at an altar in front of the congregation go against the command of Jesus to be not like the hypocrites who love to pray in public but instead pray in our prayer closets? I’m not accusing people who like to pray at an altar of being hypocrites but I just find the whole practice a little disturbing and unscriptural.

 

Altars aren't automatically bad and neither is going forward to pray at one.

When Jesus talked about praying public the public praying was not the issue. The issue was the heart of the person. When we want to make a show of it and prove how holy we are then we have an issue.

Keep in mind that Paul wrote some of his prayers in his letters. People knew he was praying and they knew what he was praying. When Jesus taught about the pharisee and tax collector praying they knew what we was being prayer. The issue was not that the prayer was public, but the heart behind it. The Pharisee was proud and lound, the man who went home justifies was humble...and loud.

Luk 18:10 "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
Luk 18:11 "The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
Luk 18:12 'I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.'
Luk 18:13 "But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'
Luk 18:14 "I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." (NASB)

The altar is used as a pragmatic way for people to come forward to get prayer. It's more efficient than the pastor trying to make his way to each person in a crowd.

Walking up to an altar can also be an act of submission. God may prompt me to walk up there. It isn't about being public, it's about being obedient.

Does this get misused and abused? Yes. No doubt that it does however it does not mean it is automatically bad.

How many of us as kids, or as parents have our kids, kneel beside the bed to pray before crawling into bed at night? It wasn't necessarily bad. It was a way to be intentional in prayer, making a point to separate the act out of a busy day and spend time focused on talking to our God.

Do people get wrapped up in ritual? Yes, and anything we do is in danger of that. Be on guard. Not going to the altar can be just as much of a trap.

 

Yea.... how so?