Would This Prayer Be A Step Toward Salvation?

You have made some pretty outlandish claims the past few days, but this takes the cake. Equating TULIP with Scripture...man's systematic theology with God's breathed Word? Borderline idolatry!

 

Actually the prayer is more for the man than for Salvation because If the man prays this he must already believe and is already in submission. Paul wrote;
2Co 8:12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.

Think about it you might change your mind about it. Sort of like; is forgiving, for the one who forgives, or, the one who is being forgiven.

You see it's really for both. It's a declaration the man believes with his mouth and his submission is on his knees.

Don't get me wrong I'm not a RW fan but I am of the prayer. I prayed it my self. It isn't what man prays that saves the man. It's his Belief, repentance and his submission to the righteousness of God. Public confession is necessary because if your not willing to confess Him publically you can't expect Him to confess you before the Father.

MB

 

I think the prayer is someone maybe about to be saved or wanting to know truth. But "I want to make my life open to you" and "make yourself real to me" is not the same as believing in Jesus as the Savior.

I've heard people's testimonies who were saved after saying such a prayer (asking God if he is real, etc.) but this prayer in and of itself does not confess Jesus, imo.

 

My first post in this thread said the two sentences declaring the person is a member of the family of God were horrible. The next point is you can look for fruits of salvation, and that is very often a good indicator if God truly saved them, but again, back to the point, only God knows for sure. I do not recall this thread being about Rick Warren, come to think of it. I believe the first post was a generic prayer.

No one said you wee "wrong here." The fact is if you take the first post, take out the two final sentences declaring the person a member of the family of God, then there are two possibilities, either he, is chanting a prayer and may as well be saying magical words, or he has been touched (being one of the elect if that is the wording you like) by the Spirit of God. At this point, you or I do not know which.

If the man is saved, it was God who chose him from eternity past. This fact really has nothing to do with the subject of this thread.

 

Of course, the Bible knows nothing of anyone being told to pray for salvation. We should avoid declaring someone saved because they did.

There's no doubt that God will hear a sinner who cries out in repentance and faith. But I find it find it interesting that we have so little regard for the Holy Spirit that we have to tell a lost person the right words to say in order to be saved. And then we have a thread like this where we're debating whether saying certain words (sincerely) will save you. We're arguing over what the right words are.

May I recommend the words spoken by the Ethiopian eunuch: "I believe...."

 

Maybe that is because there are no right words. As pointed out above, the salvation experience does not have to include a prayer. I do not recall the salvation experience of the blind man healed in John 9 having a prayer attached to it. Jesus sought him out. I do not recall Paul having said a prayer for his salvation experience. It seems like Jesus came to him.

A prayer could be part of the joining the family of God, but then again, that is up to God, isn't it?

 

We may be getting into some semantic problems here.

Confessing with thy mouth that Jesus is Lord is not the same as praying for God to save you. Confessing is simply declaring publicly that Jesus is your Lord. Just as Jesus said Jesus said, confess before men.

This is what I'm talking about.

To his credit, MB is correct, that it's not what man prays that saves the man. Why, then, do so many Baptists will make it the only way to salvation. As, "if you want to accept Jesus, pray this prayer, or pray after me, or say these words." I have never heard anyone who has brought a lost person to that point say "if you want to be saved, here's one of the ways to do it." The Sinner's Prayer is held out as THE way. He MUST pray the prayer. So MB's view (and mine) are very much in the minority, apparently.

The other thing is, if it's not what man prays that saves, then why pray at all?

 

Like CS Lewis, he got on the bus an atheist and got off the bus a Christian.

 

I find this the hardest thing for people to understand.

 

I would respectfully disagree since TULIP is directly from Scripture it can be said in a sense that they equate.

 

No argument here. The confessing we've been discussing, however, is not about confessing one's sins to the Lord. It is related to a public identification of oneself with Christ as Lord. That's the one I'm talking about. Romans 10:9, in my view, is not a confession to God, but a confession to others about God. It is a declaration of submission to Christ as Lord. I can see where one might see it as a declaration to Christ, but I see it as a declaration about Christ.

 

As a non-cal, I also claim my view is directly from Scripture...yet I wouldn't dare put myself and my understanding on par with God's holy Word! You are much more bold than I!

 

Your impression of it is no different that an unbeliever. As if you think your your theology is not biblclical? Or do you care to elaborate on the unbiblical positions you hold to? Didn't think so.

Perhaps you just haven't seen a man take a stand on biblical truth before.

But if you think it helps your cause to try to marginalize me...carry on. lol

 

Those who know their God and truth exhibit such boldness. Your position and posturing is to me a point of weakness and compromise. Take a stand that your views are in-line with Scripture or not.

 

It's a bold, absolute stand on truth. It is offensive by modern standards.

 

He has taken that stand. He believes his view is Biblical or else he wouldn't hold them, as would you. But most of us understand that our view of what the Scripture teaches isn't infallible or inerrant.

But of course, I am just a weak compromiser. :laugh: :BangHead: