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Is the "altar call" Biblical?

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by michael-acts17:11, May 4, 2011.

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  1. JohnDeereFan

    JohnDeereFan Well-Known Member
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    I'm not a fan of altar calls. I used to give them. In fact, I was a professional musician for many years and I know how to work a crowd. I could get anybody to do anything.

    I truly thought I was doing the right thing because I bought in to the Finney-ist idea of altar calls. But then I realized that what I was really doing was just making false converts.

    It's kind of ironic, really, when you consider that the altar call is one of the reasons I spent so many years as a false convert, myself. I must have walked the aisle a thousand times, thinking that saying a canned prayer and participating in this ritual would save me and that it would finally "stick" this time.

    What I do now is tell them to go home, get alone with God, close the door, pull the curtains, and cry out to God in repentance and faith for their salvation. I tell them that if they don't know how to do that or they need prayer, to come and find one of the pastoral staff after the service and we would be thrilled to pray with them and counsel them.

    Altar calls are still very common, but I am hearing of more and more churches who aren't doing them.
     
  2. Tom Butler

    Tom Butler New Member

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    Allan, we're on the same side here. The preacher should exhort. Every Christian should be ready to call men and women to Christ. I say again, I am not against the use of the invitation. I am against the misuse.

    Remember Paul's sermon on Mars Hill? His exhortation was "God commands all men everywhere to repent." Now it wasn't a separate part of his message, nor an appendage. It WAS his message. And there was a response. Acts 17 says "some believed." And others left.

    We're not talking about not calling men and women to Christ. We're discussing methodology.
     
  3. MamaCW

    MamaCW New Member

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    I did not read the article but just from MandyM's breakdown, I can already see its bologne... Altar call does not mean salvation, does in no way replace baptism,etc etc..Anyone who responds to an altar call at my church is taken somewhere quiet by a soulwinner so that they can be shown what the bible says about how they can be saved....absolutely nothing wrong with that, thats how I got saved, thats how my sister got saved, etc etc..
     
  4. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
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    Why didnt your Pastor or someone from a bible study group show you the scriptures? This just appears gimmick like
     
  5. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
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    WOW.... that must of taken a lot of humility to admit to that JDF.....God bless you for that testimony.:thumbsup:
     
  6. Old Union Brother

    Old Union Brother New Member

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    The only announcement that we make at the close of service is "If anyone has been praying and they feel that God has forgiven them, the church door is open for recieving members by experience and baptism." If someone responds we ask them to tell the church what God has done for them. We offer no canned prayers. If they cannot tell anything then they are counseled to continue praying until they have something to tell the church. We often say that the church is not a saving machine but it is a home for the saved.
     
  7. Tom Butler

    Tom Butler New Member

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    This is an improvement from a scene I have seen more than once.

    Here comes somebody down the aisle, weeping. The preacher reaches for his Bible, sits down on the front row and starts flipping through pages, reading (probably in Romans). Meanwhile, the choir and congregation are singing, verse after verse, of some invitation hymn. Suddenly, the preacher grabs the inquirer, and they both get on their knees. Congregation still singing. Eventually, they stand up, the enquirer sits down on the front row and the pastor ends the invitation--sometimes. Sometimes, he'll extend it for another verse or two.

    Most of the time, the pastor will announce that Jack has been saved and wants to be baptized. He'll ask Jack, "is there any doubt in your mind what happened to you today?" There never is.

    Then we vote him in, and all go by and shake his hand after the service.

    At my church, when an inquirer walks the aisle, my pastor will motion for a deacon to join him. The deacon will take the inquirer out of the auditorium to counsel him. No hurry, no pressure, and it allows for a thorough understanding of where the inquirer is spiritually.

    One Sunday, the pastor motioned to me to counsel two young girls (9 or 10 years old) who had come forward. It turns out all they wanted to do was get baptized, like some of their friends. They had no clue about sin, repentance and faith.

    On other occasions, particularly with young children, the pastor will want to spend more time with them until he's convinced they understand what's happening. He is quite sensitive to how easily young children can be manipulated.

    We just need to remember that the Holy Spirit is not a potted plant here. He has a key role in whole process. We ought not to act as if it's all on us to close the sale.
     
  8. sag38

    sag38 Active Member

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    If a person comes down the aisle during an invitation that I don't know or have not previously talked to and they present themselves for baptism or church membership I will not make a recommendation to the church for them to join or announce that so and so has made a profession of faith. I or a deacon will talk with them after the service or arrange a time to meet with them during the week. That way I can be better informed as to why a person wants to join our church or that they understand what it means to be a Christian, about baptism, and the responsibilities of church membership. If there is a problem it can be worked out in a timely manner. Afterwards, I or a deacon will invite them to present themselves before the church the next Sunday. Only then will I introduce them to the church and make a recommendation for membership through baptism, by statement, or transfer of letter. This has ruffled a few feathers from the old guard but this is one area that I'm not easily going to back down on. This is a hill worth fighting over as far as I'm concerned.
     
  9. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    Two excellent answers :thumbsup:
     
  10. Zenas

    Zenas Active Member

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    This is an interesting thread and it caused me to think back to my youth. I was 12 years old and had talked to my parents about being saved and the pastor came out for a visit. Among other things, this is what he said: “We as Baptists believe it is necessary to make a public profession of faith.” I did that soon afterward on a Sunday night during the invitation.

    At the time I just assumed the pastor knew what he was talking about, so I never questioned him about the necessity for a public profession. About 40 years later, I realized I had never heard anyone else say that so I did some checking and came up with these three verses of scripture.
    So, I guess my old pastor from the 1950’s, who had never been to seminary, knew his stuff after all. I recognize you don’t need an invitation in order to hear someone make a public profession of faith, but at the same time these passages provide clear justification for doing so.
     
  11. Tom Butler

    Tom Butler New Member

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    Or, one could reasonably take the position that the public profession of faith, his "confessing before men," comes at one's baptism, not at his walking the aisle.
     
  12. michael-acts17:11

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    At the foundation of this discussion is the question, "what is the Biblical example of evangelism?" Are we told to invite the lost to a religious meeting so that salvation can be lectured to them from a vaulted pulpit? NO! We are to win them in the world & then God makes them a part of the Body of Christ. We are never commanded to evangelize the believers. Our culture has this thing so screwed up & turned on its head that Satan must laugh himself silly at us.

    It is not the lost who consistently use the altar; it is the saved. How many times do the same persons go down to pray at the altar no matter what the pastor lectured about. He could have been preaching on the most mundane & irrelevant topic possible & still there would be people going down out of guilt or habit. If a person's relationship with God is what it ought to be, there will be no need or reason to prayer before the congregation. My children don't talk with me about personal issues in public, why would we treat our heavenly Father any differently? Because it has become different in our priestly-pastor lead "houses of God" where many believe we must go in order to hear from the Person who died to eliminate(in part) the need for human intermediaries between God & man.

    Try as you like to explain the need of an altar call into the Word, it is still an unScriptural addition to Biblical doctrines, and we all know what God thinks of our little additions to His designs.
     
    #32 michael-acts17:11, May 5, 2011
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  13. michael-acts17:11

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    :thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:
     
  14. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    So the example of Peter and the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost is not a worthy example to follow?

    14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.

    [..sermon about salvation follows..]

    37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
    38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

    40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.


    Practiced by Peter and you call it unscriptural without providing any scripture to back up your point.
     
  15. Zenas

    Zenas Active Member

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    Did you say anything at your baptism? I have seen a few where the candidate was asked about his salvation experience but the majority are not.
     
  16. michael-acts17:11

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    Excellent example; now read the previous verses for the context. What church building were they in? This was not an organized church meeting, & where does it say that believers came to "rededicate their lives", etc? They were preaching in a public place to the lost, and it was obviously not a one-way lecture. This is a great example of Biblical "preaching". It is evangelizing the lost, not lecturing to the saved. Also, unlike in the "sanctuaries"(I've always hated that term) of our churches, those to whom they were speaking were free to respond openly & to question them. Kinda sounds like 1 Peter 3:15; doesn't it? Also, this was a one-time event that marked a singular event in history.
     
    #36 michael-acts17:11, May 5, 2011
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  17. michael-acts17:11

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  18. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    So in the next chapter of Acts, when Peter preaches a salvation message again, and when they preach a salvation message to the Sanhedrin in Acts 4, etc. etc. And when many people were added to the ranks of the believers in Acts 5, I'm going to assume that a salvation message was delivered. And when Paul preached in Acts he gave a salvation messages. The whole book of Acts is a history of the establishment of the church and is about either Peter and Paul giving salvation sermons.
     
  19. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    Your assumption appears to be that everyone that is inside a church building is saved and those outside are not. That is a false assumption.
     
  20. michael-acts17:11

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    You nailed it with "the whole book of Acts is a history of the establishment of the church" He was establishing the church through proclaiming the Gospel to the lost; not by lecturing to a small group tucked away in a building somewhere. He was out in public telling them that Messiah had come. To win the lost, preachers need to go to where the lost are. This is common sense. Once you have some in the lifeboat, you don't keep throwing the lifeline back into the boat. You go to those who are drowning. Most of our baptist churches are a farce. It's just the same people going to the same place & doing the same things week in & week out, year in & year out, decade in & decade out. It's no wonder why the pews are full of spiritual babes.

    Here's my favorite passage of Scripture that should be taught & obeyed in every congregation:

    For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection(maturity); not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
    (Heb 5:12-6:2)
     
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