Some Clarifications
Aaron, Thank you for taking the time to write such a lengthy comment on my blog. I appreciate the time that must have gone into that. About asking Jesus into your heart… I am uncomfortable with the phrase "ask Jesus into your heart" because 1) it is never used in scripture to describe what is necessary to be saved and 2) it does not accurately represent what scripture declares is necessary to be saved and 3) I asked Jesus into my heart sincerely when I was 7 and was not saved. About "accepting" Christ... I am uncomfortable with the phrase "accept Christ" (though it's better than the above phrase because John talks about the need to receive Christ in his gospel and "accept" and "receive" can mean very close to the same thing. I still am uncomfortable with it, however, for the same reasons as above; it is undescriptive. Perhaps if the Christian community labored a bit (a lot?) more to explain what it meant specifically, then it would not be so devoid of meaning. Right now as I see it, it is simply a catch phrase used to summarize the call to the proper response to the gospel, yet few people really know what is being communicated when it's used. I know this because (many) people don't know the proper response to the gospel, so they can't possibly be inferring it from "accept Christ." About my general concern with phrases like these… I find it utterly refreshing to hear people say things like "I repented of my sin and trusted Christ for salvation when I was…" as part of their testimony, rather than "I accepted Christ at such and such an age." It is still quick and reasonable, but at least it describes the two necessary aspects of a saving response to the gospel, unlike many other phrases used. Again, I think that if we did a better job striving to make the meaning of the phrases we use clear, it wouldn't be such an issue. Along those lines, being explicit about what the phrases don't mean is important too, because different teachers may say they mean different things, and the people listening might not pick up on the contradiction unless the teacher explicitly states what he does not believe. About the prayer… I don't mean to be nitpicky, but God does not need our prayers to have a clear understanding of the change in our hearts. Here's how I would say what I think you're trying to say. Someone who has repented and put their trust in Christ will pray to God and confess their sin and express their faith in this tangible, visible way. If they do not, that could be a red flag that heart change hasn't actually takes place. Is this condition possibly what you mean by "we need to?" Correct me if I'm wrong. I definitely think having people repeat the prayer as a kind of rite of passage into Christianity is unbiblical and probably dangerous. Emotional sincerity at the time of the prayer is not a measure of the effectuality of that prayer, so a the caveat "only if you're sincere" is not really a sufficient caveat. It led me astray when I was 7. The only authoritative lexicon we have is the Scriptures, and the "prayer" is neither modeled, mandated, nor mentioned there. About rededication… Struggling through the faith (against indwelling sin) is a necessary and inherent aspect of becoming like Jesus. If you don't struggle against your sin, if you're not fighting it, you should be hard pressed to claim to follow Christ, because each of us is desperately wicked and were forgiven much and are children of light and flee from darkness. The author if Hebrews assumes we struggle (Heb 12:4). Paul struggled (Rom 7). Christians fight their sin, and sin is not beaten this side of eternity. Therefore, they will always fight. Sometimes the turmoil is totally inward and we don't see the struggle, and therefore we cannot ultimately decide whether someone is a Christian. However, some may act like it's wrong to ever be unsure or question someone's salvation. That seems to me to be perfectly legitimate. Why should I act like I'm sure of someone's salvation when their life doesn't line up with how the Bible describes. Why should I be assured of my own salvation if my life doesn't line up with how the Bible describes Christians? Those are my thoughts. I hope it helps.
6 comments:
hey evan, awesome post. thanks to you for taking time to reply to my comment so in-depth. i really appreciate it.
after reading this post i think that we’re on the same page as far as our thinking regarding phrases and rites used in churches that don’t exist on the bible. you said that you “found it utterly refreshing to hear people say things like ‘I repented of my sin and trusted Christ for salvation when I was…’ as part of their testimony.” would you be willing to stand by this as a favored solution? i’m just wondering if you’ve incorporated it into your lexicon, and/or if you would ever openly and explicitly tell people to talk of their salvation in this way (maybe in a future post?).
i think you understood what i was trying to get at with the necessity of prayer in the process of salvation, though i’m still not sure how you personally would help somebody accomplish this. would you give them guidelines for what they should pray and leave them to it, or would you walk them step by step through a prayer of repentance and confession? because the latter seems to be the reason that the “prayer of salvation” was created in the first place.
two more thoughts. you mentioned that you asked Jesus into your heart sincerely when you were seven and were not saved. why do you think so? i also prayed along those lines at a young age, and even though i now have a much deeper understanding of my faith i would point to that event as the moment i became saved. i didn’t take charge of my faith until my late teens, and even that was a long process and not a specific decision, yet i believe God was with me throughout and that i have been saved all this time.
regarding being sure of a person’s salvation, i don’t think that my life (and if i may be so bold, yours too) will ever line up with how the bible describes christians. yet we are both still saved. living with uncertainty about our salvation runs contrary to what the bible says (john 10:28). as soon as we let the deception of uncertainty enter our lives, we begin to focus on what we need to do to match the bible’s description of christians, which is a subtle way of focusing on our works instead of on God’s grace (ephesians 2:8-9).
i know that i will never deserve salvation, it is a gift from God. i know that not all christians look the same (romans 12:6-8) or follow what the bible says (1 corinthians 3:10-15). if the bible itself says that some christians will have little to show when they go to heaven, i cannot judge whether others are saved or not based on what i see them do or not do; that would be putting my opinions above God’s offering of salvation to someone he loves. i can only encourage a better commitment to God and hope for a person's salvation, but never come to a decision about someone's salvation or lack of.
thanks again for the post. God bless!
oh yeah, if you want to find out more about how i've reconciled my faith, look back through my posts, i don't have that many and the oldest ones are my attempts to write down some of what i think. thanks!
i don't understand how you can tell if you are saved then, cause if you look at the Biblical description of Christians, i don't think anyone probably measures up, and if we have to measure up, is that a form of works-based salvation or something? I don't really know the answer, i was just wondering about it.
Aaron,
It's gonna take another blog post to respond to your comment! Let me give you a rain check.
How do you think the Bible describes Christians? I would encourage you to make that decision first, and then stick to it regardless of what people around you act like. The Bible is authoritative, not our Christian friends or youth groups or Bible studies.
I don't really have many Christian friends, and I'm kinda starting to wonder if I even am saved, because I don't live up to the Biblical model, and I know that one mark of a truly saved person would be at least a desire to eliminate the sin in their life, but I don't always want that.
-Lo
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