Equating an altar call to adding to God's word means that you can't have church buses, gospel tracts, etc.
I agree that Decisionism can be and often is problematic, but I just want to leave enough wiggle room to say that the notion of talking with people who are considering Christ is right, if the gospel is properly and clearly presented.
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You knew the truth about your salvation. But I've heard too many identify their response to an altar call, as a sacrament that saves, no different than the Catholics and such.
This is about the events of salvation, not about riding a bus. The biblical events are first, preaching the gospel. Secondly telling those who believe to repent and be baptized. The altar call is nowhere in scripture. It becomes a sacrament in many people's thinking, based on testimonies I've heard.Equating an altar call to adding to God's word means that you can't have church buses, gospel tracts, etc.
EDIT: I have a distaste for altar calls because of how I've seen them abused to manipulate people into false professions. I would never join another church that utilizes them.
EDIT #2: I guess I should have read the other responses before replying.
Preaching the gospel takes many forms. But altar calls are a sacrament based on testimonies I've heard.
and that is due to pastors within the various churches who have used altar calls and invitations as nothing but a mean to increase their numbers... . paying no attention to the souls those numbers represent.... but not all churches or pastors are like that and they are not all the same.... just like not all catholics or catholic churches are the same.... each denomination..including baptists... has 2 and sometimes 3 different religions operating under one institution.. including within churches of baptists who consider themselves independent.... ..fact is, not everyone believes the same doctrines even while sitting next to each other in the same pews.... ..... salvation and a persons individual call to it is between God and that person.... it doesn;t rely on altar calls... but it isn;t inhibited by them either.. .....and it is the fault of each individual pastor if someone walks away from an altar call confused.... not the fault of the altar call itself......
In the same way that gospel tracts are tools of communication, to the extent that they contain the actual gospel and not a perversion of it, the altar call is a tool for communicating directly to an individual who the Spirit may be working on. Does it have abuses? Yep. Can it be properly used? Yep. Don't do away with the tool if it is properly used, at the same time it's okay to proclaim the proper and improper ways of administration of the tool.
It's a sacrament scripture knows nothing of. It ends up promoting a false gospel when people trust in it instead of Christ directly..
Do you think that it is appropriate to speak to people about the gospel and try to persuade them through personal relationships?
From a Calvinistic viewpoint, God must save a person before they can believe. So we try to get the gospel to the born again to direct them to Christ. Free will people think they save themselves through obedience. So the altar call is one form of obedience they try to secure salvation with.
Not trying at all to be snarky, but was that a yes or no? Do you think it is theologically appropriate to talk to a person on an individual basis one-on-one and persuade them through gospel oration?
No free willy I've ever run across believed their obedience saved them. And I've seen Calvinists claim people "never really got saved' because of their lack of works.
Of course, nobody believes in salvation by works because scripture condemns it. But what would happen if they did not "accept Jesus" (a work of the flesh) when offered the chance?
We all witness to others and sometimes see it result in conversion to Christ.
I'll defer to one wiser than me:
According to Biblical warrant, this "witness" you speak of, does it ordinarily take a particular form in order to affect the salvation of the recipient, like the presentation of the gospel, or could it it be some act of kindness or other thing?
It's the gospel. If they have eternal life, they will believe and follow through with repentance and baptism. Whoever believes has eternal life.
So what is the difference in this sort of witness to the gospel and that which occurs when the gospel is presented one-on-one at any given physical space in a church building (or elsewhere)?
This is salvation by works when used as a ritual sacrament. It's something saved people do routinely every day. I know I'm saved because I do this. As a sacrament ritual, I don't think it will get you there.
