The music weeps, the preacher pleads, “Give your heart to Jesus. You have a God shaped hole in your heart and only Jesus can fill it.” Dozens, hundreds or thousands of people who want to get their spiritual life on track make their way to the altar. They ask Jesus into their heart.
Cut to three months later. Nobody has seen our new convert in church. The follow up committee calls him and encourages him to attend a Bible study, but to no avail. We label him a backslider and get ready for the next outreach event.
Our beloved child lies in her snuggly warm bed and says, “Yes, Daddy. I want to ask Jesus into my heart.” You lead her in “the prayer” and hope that it sticks. You spend the next ten years questioning if she really, really meant it. Puberty hits and the answer reveals itself. She backslides. We spend the next ten years praying that she will come to her senses.
Telling someone to ask Jesus into their hearts has a very typical result, backsliding. the Bible says that a person who is soundly saved puts his hand to the plow and does not look back because he is fit for service. In other words, a true convert cannot backslide. If a person backslides, he never slid forward in the first place. “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation.” (2 Cor. 5:17) No backsliding there.
Brace yourself for this one: with very few if any exceptions, anyone who asked Jesus into their hearts to be saved…is not. If you asked Jesus into your heart because you were told that is what you have to do to become a Christian, you were mis-informed.
If you have ever told someone to ask Jesus into their heart (like I have), you produced a false convert. Here is why:
1. It is not in the Bible. There is not a single verse that even hints we should say a prayer inviting Jesus into our hearts. Some use Rev. 3:20. To tell us that Jesus is standing at the door of our hearts begging to come in.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” There are two reasons that interpretation is wrong.
The context tells us that the door Jesus is knocking on is the door of the church, not the human heart. Jesus is not knocking to enter someone’s heart but to have fellowship with His church.
Even if the context didn’t tell us this, we would be forcing a meaning into the text (eisegesis). How do we know it is our heart he is knocking at? Why not our car door? How do we know he isn’t knocking on our foot? To suggest that he is knocking on the door of our heart is superimposing a meaning on the text that simply does not exist.
The Bible does not instruct us to ask Jesus into our heart. This alone should resolve the issue, nevertheless, here are nine more reasons.
2. Asking Jesus into your heart is a saying that makes no sense. What does it mean to ask Jesus into your heart? If I say the right incantation will He somehow enter my heart? Is it literal? Does He reside in the upper or lower ventricle? Is this a metaphysical experience? Is it figurative? If it is, what exactly does it mean? While I am certain that most adults cannot articulate its meaning, I am certain that no child can explain it. Pastor Dennis Rokser reminds us that little children think literally and can easily be confused (or frightened) at the prospect of asking Jesus into their heart.
3. In order to be saved, a man must repent (Acts 2:38). Asking Jesus into your heart leaves out the requirement of repentance.
4. In order to be saved, a man must trust in Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31).
Asking Jesus into your heart leaves out the requirement of faith.
5. The person who wrongly believes they are saved will have a false sense of security. Millions of people who sincerely, but wrongly, asked Jesus into their hearts think they are saved but struggle to feel secure. They live in doubt and fear because they do not have the Holy Spirit giving them assurance of salvation.
6. The person who asks Jesus into his heart will likely end up inoculated, bitter and backslidden. Because he did not get saved by reciting a formulaic prayer, he will grow disillusioned with Jesus, the Bible, church and fellow believers. His latter end will be worse than the first.
7. It presents God as a beggar just hoping you will let Him into your busy life. This presentation of God robs Him of His sovereignty.
8. The cause of Christ is ridiculed. Visit an atheist web-site and read the pagans who scoff, “How dare those Christians tell us how to live when they get divorced more than we do? Who are they to say homosexuals shouldn’t adopt kids when tens of thousands of orphans don’t get adopted by Christians?” Born again believers adopt kids and don’t get divorced. People who ask Jesus into their hearts do. Jesus gets mocked when false converts give Him a bad name.
9. The cause of evangelism is hindered. While it is certainly easier to get church members by telling them to ask Jesus into their hearts, try pleading with someone to make today the day of their salvation. Get ready for a painful response. “Why should I become a Christian when I have seen so called Christians act worse than a pagan?” People who ask Jesus into their hearts give pagans an excuse for not repenting.
10. Here is the scary one. People who ask Jesus into their hearts are not saved and they will perish on the Day of Judgment. How tragic that millions of people think they are right with God when they are not. How many people who will cry out, “Lord, Lord” on judgment day will be “Christians” who asked Jesus into their hearts?
So, what must one do to be saved? Repent and trust. (Heb 6:1) The Bible makes it clear that all men must repent and place their trust in Jesus Christ. Every man does have a “God shaped hole in their hearts,” but that hole is not contentment, fulfillment and peace. Every man’s heart problem is righteousness. Instead of preaching that Jesus fulfills, we must preach that God judges and Jesus satisfies God’s judgment…if a man will repent and place his trust in Him.
If you are reading this and you asked Jesus into your heart, chances are good you had a spiritual buzz for a while, but now you struggle to read your Bible, tithe, attend church and pray. Perhaps you were told you would have contentment, purpose and a better life if you just ask Jesus into your heart. I am sorry, that was a lie.
(Taken from http://www.wretchedradio.com/pdf/ten_reasons.pdf.)
For a more moderate critique of the phrase "Ask Jesus into your Heart", see: http://saidatsouthern.com/mohler-on-asking-jesus-into-your-heart/.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
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12 comments:
Jeff, could you elaborate on #4?
It seems to me that "asking Jesus into one's heart" presupposes faith in His existence, at the very least.
In case there was confusion, I didn't write this article, so these aren't my own words. But I do agree with them, so I'll do my best to respond to the points raised.
Michael - the faith that saves a person from sin is not simply believing in Jesus' existence.
Josh -
1. This illustrates perfectly Todd Friel's second point, that "Ask Jesus into your heart" is a saying that makes no sense. I'm not quite sure if your comment that the "label has been used for a variety of situations" is actually verifiable, but at any rate, it does underscore the problem with using extrabiblical language to rephrase biblical commands. "Asking Christ to forgive your sins" and "being filled with the Holy Spirit" are not only biblical, their meaning is clear. What virtue is there in replacing perfectly serviceable biblical language for ambiguous Christian-ese?
2. This point is the most troubling to me. Specifically, when you say:
"Some people, though misunderstanding certain parts of salvation, may still be regenerated. Thus, while it is not the "asking" that saves then, it is an expression of faith simultaneous or after the actual regeneration of the holy spirit."
This begs the question - which parts of salvation can a person misunderstand and still be a Christian?
More importantly, I think you need to consider that the Holy Spirit produces faith of a particular kind. And the particular kind of faith expresses itself in a particular way. So if the asking does not save (which you already conceded), then it really isn't part of a regenerative experience. And, if "asking" doesn't save, then reducing our gospel call to "asking Jesus into your heart" really does produce false converts, as Todd asserts they do.
3. and 4. - Taken individually, I can see how these are problematic. But taking them together, I think, solves it. I believe Todd's thinking here runs something like this:
a )True believers misrepresent Christ and the gospel by calling people to ask Jesus into their hearts;
b) when true believers misrepresent the cause of Christ, it ultimately brings mockery to the cause of Christ
c) Therefore, calling people to "ask Jesus into your heart" ultimately brings mockery to the cause of Christ.
And also:
a) "Asking Jesus into your heart" produces a false convert
b) False converts ultimately bring mockery to the cause of Christ.
c) Therefore, "Asking Jesus into your heart" ultimately brings mockery to the cause of Christ
So I don't think that Todd either assumes that born again believers aren't misrepresenting the cause of Christ (this was an article written for Christians), nor that it is the sole cause of immorality or of mockery to Christ. But to assert that when Christ's cause is mispresented, his cause is shamed is not an unwarranted conclusion.
Josh,
To add to what I said about your second point: I wanted to research this a bit more before I attached this label to it, but my research does suggest that this is apropos - that is, the response you give in point number 2 borders (I repeat, borders)on hyper-Calvinism. That is, it suggests that the sovereignty of God in regeneration supercedes any responsibility on the part of the sinner to believe the right gospel or, in this case, to respond to the gospel in the right way.
This would be my main concern with it, and it accurately (I think) sums up what I wrote above.
"What I meant was that regeneration is a REAL thing that happens in the spirit, and not the result of a particular EXPRESSION."
The problem with that is that in the New Testament, the EXPRESSION is what is specifically commanded of people when they respond to the gospel.
In Acts 2, when Peter convicts the Jews of their sin in killing Christ, verse 37 says "they were cut to the heart, and said...'Men and brethren, what shall we do?' Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
The gift of the Spirit WAS tied to the particular expression they gave. Peter COMMANDS the right expression from them.
The point is, the true gospel ends with the command to repent and believe. I'm not sure how you can say that regeneration is not the result of a particular expression. The Spirit works through the hearing of the gospel and the command to repent and believe.
This is not complete theological knowledge here; this is most basic truth. "Ask Jesus into your heart" is not the true gospel call - there is no repentance, there is no faith. Perhaps our disagreement stems from our approach - I'm looking at it from the point-of-view of those who preach; you're looking at it from the point-of-view of those who hear and respond. But I think your thinking totally overlooks the gospel preacher. You talk of the Spirit and the response, but not of hearing the gospel. I still think the hyper-Calvinism is there. You leave out the human responsibility to respond to the right gospel in the right way.
As for the two passages you quote: In Philippians, the wrong reasons Paul speaks of are personal spite against himself. Some were preaching the true gospel with wrong motives. "Asking Jesus into your heart" is NOT the true gospel. Paul never rejoiced in the preaching of a false gospel. He had harsh words for everyone who preached a gospel other than what he himself preached: Gal. 1:6-9.
In quoting Ephesians, you misunderstand the criticism here. "Christ living in your hearts through faith" (said to believers) makes sense. "Ask Jesus into your heart" (said to unbelievers) does not. If you are going to quote Scripture, try finding a verse in which the gospel call is described as "Asking Jesus into your heart". There are none. It is not described in the New Testament. I think you are using Biblical-sounding arguments to justify a tradition of man which has no biblical precedent.
The only verse which might be reasonably quoted is John 1:12: "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name". But a quick survey of the surrounding verses shows that this is a very different thing from "Asking Jesus into your heart". The receiving is the antithesis to the rejection of Christ by the Jews ("He came into his own, and his own did not receive Him"), and receiving is coupled with faith ("believing in his name").
So overall, I think you are wrong to make the response to the gospel a matter of subjective experience which can reasonably differ among people. In conversion stories in the New Testament, the response is always the same: conviction of sin, repentance and faith. The expression is not subjective; it is an objective reality.
"I think he is too hard on the specific PHRASE and not on the false gospel with which it is often associated. I guess I think that "Asking Jesus into you[r] (sic) heart" is used in a much wider context than the easy-believism that the author argues against."
Alright, that makes sense. I'm not quite in agreement with you on this, but I understand better where you are coming from.
Some more interesting reading on this subject: http://saidatsouthern.com/mohler-on-asking-jesus-into-your-heart/
FYI, I added the link I just mentioned to the footnotes of the post for your viewing convenience.
FYI Mark II: I also read and commented on your blog post on Limited/Unlimited Atonement, despite its age. Would love to discuss further, and I'm wondering whether your understanding has evolved at all in the last year (i.e. Do you still consider yourself a "4.5 point Calvinist"?)
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