10 months ago

Entertainment Faith and Religion sinners prayer qna bible bibleline question answer truth prayer sin

“Hello Pastor Jesse,
I have a question concerning ”The Sinners
Prayer.” I know a lot of churches use this,
including mine, when they’re soulwinning or
giving and altar call. My question is, is it
necessary for an unbeliever to make a verbal
confession or call upon the name of the Lord
to be saved? If it is, wouldn’t that be adding works to the
gospel? If it isn’t necessary, then my next
question is: when you’re preaching the Gospel,
whether during soulwinning or after a sermon,
how do you follow up with getting the
individual to trust in Christ? I’ve been taught that after going through the
Salvation Plan or Roman’s Road, you’d always
take them to Romans 10:9-10, 13 and have
them say the ”Sinner’s Prayer.” It’s confusing
to me because I’ve heard pastors say stuff like
'The prayer doesn’t save you, but it’s the faith
in your heart that saves you.' Then they say, ‘If you really believe, then you
will pray the prayer. If you don’t pray the
prayer, then you really don’t believe. If you
don’t have an individual pray, how do you
know if they’ve believed enough?’ Proponents
of ‘The Sinner’s Prayer’ use passages such as
Romans 10:9-10, 13, John 4:10, Rev. 3:20,
Luke 18:13-14, and etc... They use these as proof texts to defend ‘The
Sinner’s Prayer.’ I know, for me personally,
this has brought me much confusion and lack
of assurance. There were times I prayed that
prayer multiple times just to make sure that I
really was saved. When I go soulwinning,
there are times I’m afraid of using the prayer
because I think to myself, what if I’m adding to the Gospel or I’m afraid of not using it
because what if I needed to lead them in the
prayer for them to be saved? This is how
confusing and concerning this is. I know this
email was REALLY long, but I deeply
appreciate you taking the time to read. I
thank God for your ministry because it really
has helped with my assurance of salvation. Don’t stop! Keep preaching the Gospel plain
and simple. Thank you, and God bless you!”