Many an evangelical pastor has concluded a sermon by asking
non-Christians to “ask [or receive, or invite] Jesus into their heart,”
or to pray a version of what some call the “sinner’s prayer.” But some
evangelicals, including Baptist pastor David Platt of Birmingham,
Alabama, have in recent years criticized the sinner’s prayer as
unbiblical and superstitious. Surely, Platt argued in a controversial March 2012 sermon, there must be more to salvation than saying a formulaic prayer.
Platt’s comments helped precipitate a debate at the 2012 Southern Baptist Convention meeting in New Orleans. In a voice vote, a majority of delegates, including Platt, affirmed the sinner’s prayer as “a biblical expression of repentance and faith.”
The phrase “ask Jesus into your heart” is not in the Bible, although
there are similar phrases there (“ye have received Christ Jesus the
Lord,” Col. 2.6 KJV). So where did this prayer come from? Continue at Thomas Kidd
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