Are Altar Calls Biblical?

1689Dave said:
It only proves you are not saved. Without holiness, no one shall see the Lord.
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So, you are depending on your works to get you to Heaven. This could be a sacrament where you acknowledge the Gospel then see your works as having paid for your sins.
 
1689Dave said:
Nobody can provide scripture supporting altar calls. I proved my point many times over.
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Nobody can provide Scriptures for using power point projectors, talking to someone about Christ on a bus, or revival meetings. None of these are specifically called out in scripture, however, the general idea of a church service being the catalyst for leading one to Christ is not foreign to the Bible (Acts 2:41). So if a power point projector aides in this great. If one hears and get saved on a bus-great. If one becomes convicted in a church service and wants to get saved immediately-awesome. You don't have to look at Scripture to get explicit permission to lead someone to Christ at a particular location.
 
Maybe a better and more sincere thread question would have been "Are Alter Calls Critical?".... and give it one of those high-falutin academic lengthy subtitles:
A Quarteback's Defensive Scheme Skills at the Line of Scrimmage (AKA Audibles) Narrated by Peyton Manning
Eh?

:p
 
i have seen people get annoyed with altar calls..... it;s hard not to notice them shifting around and rolling their eyes when a pastor adds one more chorus to it while seeing someone respond and walk forward.... .i always assumed the eye rollers just wanted church to be over with so they could go home.... ...i never thought any of them might think altar calls were unscriptural..... or believe that the people going forward were being deceived as to what they should trust in.... and were walking away confused........ ....

but my take on the matter then was the same as it would be now.... .. ... if a person is that bothered by the sight of people leaving their seats to walk down to the altar at the close of a church service... he can always leave his own seat and walk the other way....... that may sound a little harsh.... but the fact is.... if someone has been in a church long enough to see a problem... and now truly believes people are being deceived and confused during an altar call .. in the way 1689dave claims they are...then why hasn;t he gone forward himself to be one of those who speaks with the ones responding to the altar call?.... and make certain none of them walked away confused?.......

claiming all altar calls are pointless because a few of them fail doesn;t make the ones that do result in conversions to be invalid.... ....and logging onto a forum to annonymously declare altar calls unscriptural while providing no scriptural evidence that would condemn them, doesn;t cut it either..... . .....in fact.... it kinda makes me think dave might have been like one of those shifting in his seat and rolling his eyes because he just wanted to the service to be over with.... and just didn;t have the courage to take that issue up with his pastor.....
 
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I have a mixed view of this question. Like others, I have seen public invitations regress to simple emotional manipulation.
I do not normally give a public invitation but have and do offer them depending on how I ‘feel’ each individual situation. So, to me, it’s not a yes or no answer…and I obviously don’t think they are ‘unbiblical’.
 
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Tarheel Baptist said:
I have a mixed view of this question. Like others, I have seen public invitations regress to simple emotional manipulation.
I do not normally give a public invitation but have and do offer them depending on how I ‘feel’ each individual situation. So, to me, it’s not a yes or no answer.
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i can undrstand that.... i know in some churches it is only done if they know in advance someone in the service was recently saved.... and intends to make a profession of faith.... ... but i also know it;s sometimes at those same services that someone witnessing what is taking place decides to go forward..... and i agree they must be dealt with carefully and not simply led through the motions to make one more splash in the baptistry..... .. ....

in my case i don;t think they had any idea i was going to walk down to that altar... i didn;t know i was going to either.... it just occured to me during the service i had been saved but never baptized... so when the opportunity presented itself i took it..... but they questioned me very thoroughly to make sure i knew what i was doing... and why.... .... ...

who knows... if they had a blanket ban on any altar calls .. as 1689dave seems to believe they should... then i might have never been baptized.... i wasn;t afraid to go foward in a public church service but i was not one to trust meeting with a stranger.... even a pastor... privately in a church office as some previously suggested... though i know some do prefer to handle it that way.... it would not have happened that way with me....
 
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tmjbog said:
Nobody can provide Scriptures for using power point projectors, talking to someone about Christ on a bus, or revival meetings. None of these are specifically called out in scripture, however, the general idea of a church service being the catalyst for leading one to Christ is not foreign to the Bible (Acts 2:41). So if a power point projector aides in this great. If one hears and get saved on a bus-great. If one becomes convicted in a church service and wants to get saved immediately-awesome. You don't have to look at Scripture to get explicit permission to lead someone to Christ at a particular location.
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That's what this troll can't seem to understand. for the peace of the forums, I've put his butt on "ignore"!
 

Tarheel Baptist said:
I have a mixed view of this question. Like others, I have seen public invitations regress to simple emotional manipulation.
I do not normally give a public invitation but have and do offer them depending on how I ‘feel’ each individual situation. So, to me, it’s not a yes or no answer…and I obviously don’t think they are ‘unbiblical’.
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So back in my first church (conservative Wesleyan) alter calls were probably a part of the morning service 50-60% of the time but didn't seem as long as the IFB ones. Other interesting thing was they were always with eyes open. They would say if you aren't willing to walk an aisle with people watching your not ready to do business with God. When I started with the IFBs I was always trying to figure out when I was supposed to open my eyes-a few of the pastors I was under weren't real obvious about when it was over. Finally we just got a system down where my wife would whack me when my eyes were supposed to be open. It helped me and allowed her to get a little aggression out.
 
tmjbog said:
Nobody can provide Scriptures for using power point projectors, talking to someone about Christ on a bus, or revival meetings. None of these are specifically called out in scripture, however, the general idea of a church service being the catalyst for leading one to Christ is not foreign to the Bible (Acts 2:41). So if a power point projector aides in this great. If one hears and get saved on a bus-great. If one becomes convicted in a church service and wants to get saved immediately-awesome. You don't have to look at Scripture to get explicit permission to lead someone to Christ at a particular location.
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Witnessing is part of the believer's calling. Making sacraments (altar calls) is adding to God's word. They turn faith away from Christ towards a person's own self as the savior. With Billy Graham, we call it "Decisional Regeneration" which is similar to the Catholic "baptismal Regeneration". Once you see it is not a part of scripture, a clear view of the gospel should emerge.
 
tmjbog said:
So, you are depending on your works to get you to Heaven. This could be a sacrament where you acknowledge the Gospel then see your works as having paid for your sins.
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The New Birth results in a new Holy nature. It is not acting saved to be saved (hypocrisy). It is a newly saved person acting according to their new nature.
 
Ransom said:
No, it's clear you aren't a serious person, and I'm not wasting any more time on your filibustering.
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It is a sin to judge me. You assume I think as you do, and my reactions are what you would do if you were me. You only expose your own heart in this matter.
 
Hey Dave, have you ever participated on this forum before under a different username?
 
1689Dave said:
Witnessing is part of the believer's calling. Making sacraments (altar calls) is adding to God's word. They turn faith away from Christ towards a person's own self as the savior. With Billy Graham, we call it "Decisional Regeneration" which is similar to the Catholic "baptismal Regeneration". Once you see it is not a part of scripture, a clear view of the gospel should emerge.
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Kind of like "proof of work regeneration" where you can't really be considered part of the saved crowd until you show your works.
 
1689Dave said:
The New Birth results in a new Holy nature. It is not acting saved to be saved (hypocrisy). It is a newly saved person acting according to their new nature.
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Sure but just like an altar could be misused and a person can believe they paid for their own sins by walking to it, under your system a person can believe their part of the in crowd and start living a little better and believe that these works pay for their sins. Seems like removing altars doesn't really solve the problem you think you're solving.
 
tmjbog said:
Kind of like "proof of work regeneration" where you can't really be considered part of the saved crowd until you show your works.
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It's like this if you have not experienced the new birth. The flesh can do nothing but sin even in the best of works. But the New Birth is a new person with a new nature that acts according to the new nature. Holiness is a condition of the new heart.
“And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” Deuteronomy 30:6 (KJV 1900)
 
1689Dave said:
No. What's your beef?
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I have no beef, just talkin' wit ya. From various other comments recently from our forum regulars to you it appears that your writing style and persona have caused quite a stir and led some to believe you're being less than intellectually honest at minimum, or serving the inane purposes of a sock-puppet/troll of a recent forum poster who also was accused of such behavior. Just a coincidence maybe?
 
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