Sinner's prayer

[1] While some Christians see reciting the Sinner's prayer as the moment defining one's salvation, others see it as a beginning step of one's lifelong faith journey.

It also is frequently found on printed gospel tracts, urging people to "repeat these words from the bottom of your heart".

There is no formula of specific words considered essential, although it usually contains an admission of sin and a petition asking that Jesus enter into the person's heart (that is to say, the center of their life).

[11][12] It is sometimes uttered by Christians seeking redemption or reaffirming their faith in Christ during a crisis or disaster, when death may be imminent.

[13] David Platt has raised questions over the authenticity of the conversions of people using the Sinner's prayer based on research by George Barna.

Some affirm that it evolved, in some form or another, during the early days of the Protestant Reformation, as a reaction against the notion of justification by means of meritorious works.

[4] Paul Harrison Chitwood, in his doctoral dissertation on the history of the Sinner's prayer, argues that it originated in the early 20th century.

It is said to happen many times every day around the world—in one-to-one conversations between friends, relatives, and even strangers; in pastors' offices; via email; in online chat rooms; in addition to both small and large worship services.

[19] An early version of what some would consider the Sinner's prayer is found in Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, published in 1678, Ninth Stage, Chapter 18: Hopeful: He bid me go to him and see.

He said, No; for I was invited to come.Mt 11:28 Then he gave me a book of Jesus' inditing, to encourage me the more freely to come; and he said concerning that book, that every jot and tittle thereof stood firmer than heaven and earth.Mt 24:35 Then I asked him what I must do when I came; and he told me I must entreat upon my knees,Ps 95:6 Dan 6:10 with all my heart and soul,Jer 29:12,13 the Father to reveal him to me.

Then I asked him further, how I must make my supplications to him; and he said, Go, and thou shalt find him upon a mercy-seat, where he sits all the year long to give pardon and forgiveness to them that come.

In Jesus name I pray Amen.The Peace with God organization, and other evangelistic organizations and preachers, messengers (delegates) to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) 2012 annual meeting reaffirmed the Sinner's prayer after some debate: We affirm that repentance and faith involve a crying out for mercy and a calling on the Lord (Rom.

A "Sinner's Prayer" is not an incantation that results in salvation merely by its recitation and should never be manipulatively employed or utilized apart from a clear articulation of the gospel (Matt.

[1]David Platt, a prominent Southern Baptist pastor in Birmingham, Alabama, has said that "Many assume they are saved simply because of a prayer they prayed.

While he affirmed that people calling out to God with repentant faith is fundamental to attaining eternal life (salvation), he said his comments about the "sinner's prayer" have been deeply motivated "by a concern for authentic conversions".

[24]Francis Chan, a well-known evangelical Christian, has made statements that contradict the Sinner's prayer and emphasizing baptism and the Holy Spirit.

[25] It has been noted that hundreds of millions adhere to a belief system and practice of salvation that was largely unheard of until relatively recent times.

The concept that one can pray to invite Jesus into their heart, and the idea that baptism is merely an outward sign, are modern developments.

However, the Baptist Greek professor Thomas Ross argues that Revelation 3:20 is about members of a church turning to the Lord, not about Christ entering into the heart of the lost.

One essay on the topic from the "Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry" asserts that "The 'Sinner's Prayer' is, today, an effective tool of Satan to dupe people into believing they are saved when they are not": Many Christians make the cataclysmic and unbiblical mistake of giving the other person a false sense of assurance of salvation, by asserting the person is saved because he prayed a prayer.

"Other opponents of the Sinner's prayer point out that no classic Christian confession of faith from any evangelical denomination in Christendom affirms that one must say the Sinner's prayer to be saved; on the contrary, Baptist, Presbyterian and other Reformed, and other evangelical groups unanimously teach justification by faith alone.

[37][better source needed] Roman Catholics, Lutherans,[38] and Orthodox churches also teach that forgiveness is received in baptism (although they practice this in the "Christening" with water of infants or adult converts).

A leading Roman Catholic authority defines "baptism" in the following fashion: A sacrament of the New Law instituted by Jesus Christ, in which, as a result of washing with water accompanied by the words "I baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost," a human being is spiritually regenerated, and made capable of receiving the other sacraments[.

]Evidence presented to advocate baptism being necessary for salvation includes the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (the Apostle Paul).

[42][43] Others see it as an example of apparently instantaneous salvation coming through repentance without water baptism or any kind of work, citing the assurance Jesus gave to the penitent thief on a cross next to him during the crucifixion.

[44][45] An opposing position here is that the penitent thief was dying under the older Mosaic law which did not require baptism (cf.