"I asked Jesus to come into my heart"

When speeking with young people I often hear said "I asked Jesus into my heart" or when I ask them how to have your sins forgiven they say "you have to ask Jesus into your heart."I have a bad feeling in my spirit about that phrase. I don't see that to be a biblical doctrine. I am hopeing for any comments to support OR REFFUTE my suspission(please excuse spelling)Thank you matthew

Mattew, As Mike says: "Someone will be with you shortly"! :-D In Him, Chanin

I think the problem is the lack of clarity about the process of salvation. Most people want it cheap and easy and so are not willing to confront their sin. I believe there is a lot of support (scripturally) about the need for repentance before salvation. This is what is missing in our churches today and must be emphasized. I would think of asking people to clarify what they mean when they make statements like that: "I asked jesus into my heart"

I believe you it is correct to be wary of the "ask Jesus into your heart" explanation of how to get saved.1) It isn't in the Bible. If anyone knows otherwise, please let me know.2) It does not stress (or even mention) repentance, without which no one can be saved.The first (Biblically recorded) public preaching of both John the Baptist and Jesus is "Repent" (not necessarily the very first word out of their mouths, but the point is made)Matthew 31 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea2 and saying, "Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."Matthew 4:17From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."Some of Jesus words make it plainly clear:Luke 13:3I tell you, nay; but unless ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.If someone "asks Jesus into their heart" and does not repent, they are still going to perish.Luke 15:7I say unto you that likewise more joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth, than over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance.What's the joy over? Someone making an intellectual or emotional decision to request Jesus' presence in their hearts/lives (I'm not trying to mock it, by the way), or is it repentance?Mark 6:12And they went out and preached that men should repent.The situation is somewhat different since they went out preaching, but has it changed such that we need not preach repentance?Acts 2:38Then Peter said unto them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.Acts 3:19Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.Acts 17:30The times of this ignorance God overlooked, but now He commandeth all men everywhere to repent,What does He command?I think I've gotten the point across.My problem isn't so much with the preaching of "ask Jesus into your heart" (though I'd ask a Biblical justification of anyone using that phrase), it's what they generally don't preach that bothers me. Things like repentance, living right, obeying, serving, and loving God, that if we truly love Him, we will keep His commandments (John 14:15, 1 John 5:3), and if we don't keep His commandments we don't truly love or even know Him (1 John 2:3-4, 1 John 3:6).I think it's correct that we should ask Jesus to be present in our lives and in us, and to partly borrow a phrase used by someone else here, I think we should ask Jesus to sit on the throne of our hearts.

Hi Keith, you write...I think it's correct that 1. we should ask Jesus to be present in our lives and in us, and to partly borrow a phrase used by someone else here, 2.I think we should ask Jesus to sit on the throne of our hearts.I've split up your sentence for simplicity, but I'm don't think either of these phrases is any more 'biblical' than 'asking Jesus into your heart'. Can I ask you for a 'biblical justification' of these phrases?

Yeah I agree it's not scriptural, and it does tend to create apostates and backsliders, especially without the understanding that we are guilty before God and we need to repent,BUT--I think sometimes (occasionally) when people will ask Jesus into their heart, there is an unconscious understanding of the fear of the Lord and repentance, and salvation really happens.Good soil.Sometimes God makes it count...but for the most part,I wish I could go back and undo some of the flaky salvation messages I gave people, because they have long since abandoned the faith. I'm deeply ashamed of that.sermonindex.net definitely has the goods.I have COMPLETELY overhauled my Christianity because of some of the sermons contained on this site.

I've split up your sentence for simplicity, but I'm don't think either of these phrases is any more 'biblical' than 'asking Jesus into your heart'. Can I ask you for a 'biblical justification' of these phrases?Well, you can ask, but I don't have any to give you :)I didn't mean for those to be considered things worth preaching as replacements for the first unbiblical phrase, I was just stating my opinion that they're correct.I agree that the phrases, as they are, are unbiblical. The point of the second one might be Biblically justified, but I wouldn't preach it as the way to salvation.Either way, you caught me not thinking before typing :) I can't get anything past you guys...

We are dead in our sins and trespasses, until the Holy Spirit of God raises our lost soul from the dead, this is the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. Salvation; 1. God raises a lost soul from the spiritually dead state, 2. Then that risen from the dead soul repents and believes in Jesus. "Salvation is of the Lord."It is by the grace of God.In our Sovereign Jesus,(tahoe)

We are dead in our sins and trespasses, until the Holy Spirit of God raises our lost soul from the dead, this is the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. Salvation; 1. God raises a lost soul from the spiritually dead state, 2. Then that risen from the dead soul repents and believes in Jesus. "Salvation is of the Lord."It is by the grace of God.This is where I would disagree with the calvinist. The spirittual death analogy is taken too far in saying that if someone is dead in their sins then they, being dead, cannot obey the gospel and repent. If a person, being dead, cannot accept and believe the gospel, then it would logically follow that that same person could not reject it either, niether could they sin or disobey. Now following with the topic of the thread, I have no problem with a person saying they asked Jesus to come into their heart. The Bible lays down no formulas for salvation. On SI as I would expect to see, there is a leaning in the direction of repentance. Forsaking sin is essential, but so is accepting (trusting in) Christ. We repent away from sin and toward God. My problem is with the preachers. Asking Jesus into your heart is relative to which Jesus you are asking in. A major country music star at the last awards show thanked Jesus Christ. One of his hit songs is titled "I Love This Bar." I would venture to say that the Jesus that has been preached to him is a very liberal one. One that makes no demands. This is a far cry from the Jesus that cleans up prostitutes and drug addicts that are saved in churches like Brooklyn Tabernacle. If a person from there says they have asked Jesus to come into their heart, I tend to believe them. If we are not preaching, or living for that matter, the whole counsil of God, then we are portraying a different Jesus than what is in the Gospels.If a person comes to me and says that they asked Jesus into their heart I will believe them at face value. The fruit of their life will prove whether or not they are speaking the truth or are deceived.In Christ,Jeremy Hulsey

Jeremy writes If a person comes to me and says that they asked Jesus into their heart I will believe them at face value. The fruit of their life will prove whether or not they are speaking the truth or are deceived.Me too, although if the question has arisen for pastoral considerations I may well say "just tell me what really happened to you".

Is there not difference between "accepting" and "trusting in"

Being that this is a recurring theme in my mind along with the whole predestination and 'Once saved always saved' topics thought I would bring this up here as well.I do pray that others will read what our brother Carlos (KillerTonedotcom){Incidentally his member name has to do with a guitar effects pedal} wrote in this thread Once saved, always saved?This kept me up late last night and was my first thought this morning. This brother's faith is slipping away and it is because of the extremes of these man made 'doctrines'....Sigh. I am extremely agitated, I am hoping that some of our wiser brethren will come to our brothers rescue with encouragement and prayers, here is some of what he said;If Calvinism is true, then you can study me as one pathetic example of someone that "God was not pleased to save"...go home and give thanks that you were not me.Right now, I want to believe...but I can't---seems like its over.Jeremey, I completely agree with you. At the sake of being redundant is it not the cart before the horse?Are we not moving into the building and then going back to check and see if the foundation is O.K.?It seems we can be really misleading people by the order in which we present these truths.This came up just a couple of weeks ago. After reading Andrew Stroms '9 Lies' article where he delved into the 'it's not biblical' aspect not shortly after I went to a baptism service of I think, 34 people, all walks, lot's of kids, family's. It came up often "Have you asked Jesus into your heart?" right before going under the water. Being that this was fresh in my mind, I sat and prayed that they really knew what it all meant, that they had not been given a man's "let's not be offensive" gospel. It is the parts that are left unsaid. I felt that I left there unsure of what had really transpired and that is troubling. It is a modern, progressive type of church and I will not make assumptions about them. What I wonder about is the impression it leaves on the unbelievers that were in attendance...Where I agree with Mr. Strom on this is in laying the foundations. Counting the cost. Repentance. Forsaking of your sins...I am a little bit torn on this 'phrase', in one sense you better 'ask Jesus into your heart' because if He is not there, then we have no part with Him. But I think we may very well be better off without it the way it is being used, same with 'Calvinism', same with 'Once saved, always saved'.The devil has done a fine job of meddling in all this and men with their cleverness have been easily duped into using catch phrases and the opposite error of spinning endless genealogy's of words to nobody's profit.Lord help us.

I wanted to tell all that I greatly appreciate their input...

Boy this keeps getting more interesting by the minute. Apparently there is another one that comes into play here, just read this excellent post judgingAfter a discussion with my lovely wife and it was a bit heated at first, this subject came up as well. I do want to clarify my comments a bit. I cannot judge and hopefully never intended to imply what the state of someones heart is. I cannot know by a cursory evaluation as it relates to the recent baptisms, should have added this at the start. There certainly is much to be said about 'come as you are', but I guess what I wanted to say is 'know what you are coming to.'All of this seems to be just unfolding right before our eyes, it may not be anything relatively new, it is certainly well tread ground. Just find it interesting how it all ties together...

Ahhh,And then along comes Mr. Tozer with his economy of words, one of these days I hope to be able to summarize this well. From today's (May 6th) devotional:Renewed ~ Day By Day ~ DevotionalI am done now. Please keep our brother Carlos in prayer.

This phrase, which you distrust, has become 'Christianese' for "I told God that I accepted Jesus as my salvation."Note that this does not mean that He is Lord of their lives. This is why so many are nominal Christians.But, I do not think, on the whole, that this practice, this phrase, is a bad thing. Even though it typefies a coming to Christ because of a selfish motive ("I don't want to go to Hell"), I believe God will take us anyway. If God waited until all of us had the perfect motives behind our coming to Him, none would be saved. We are selfish human beings and we will continue to be that way until we are finally rid of these broken-down earth bodies.I am certainly looking forward to it.