Sinner's Prayer

[TK]

One of the things that has always "frustrated" me is that I dont really have a conversion experience, or testimony. I was raised in a godly home and I have always believed. i do remember a specific time when i was 8 or so when I actually prayed a "sinners prayer" but i am sure there was not a dramatic change in my llife. i was a pretty good kid.

My greater testimony is how the Lord has always hounded me, especially during my prodigalized college days and for a period in my late 20s. He just wouldn't let me be.

TK

[SteveF]

One of the things that has always "frustrated" me is that I dont really have a conversion experience, or testimony. I was raised in a godly home and I have always believed. i do remember a specific time when i was 8 or so when I actually prayed a "sinners prayer" but i am sure there was not a dramatic change in my llife. i was a pretty good kid.

My greater testimony is how the Lord has always hounded me, especially during my prodigalized college days and for a period in my late 20s. He just wouldn't let me be.

TK

One common thread I’ve heard in the testimony of those who grew up in a Christian home is at one point the faith became their own. It could have been a tragedy they needed to trust God through or the need to overcome difficult circumstances etc… The bottom line was there were still points in their life where they realized, “hey, this isn’t my parents faith, I need to believe”. TK, I hope you realize that you may not have a classic conversion testimony but you do have a testimony. It is God’s work and faithfulness in your life and that’s what you should testify to. When you talk to non-Christians they don’t even know what a conversion testimony is anyway.

Just want to add….

I became a Christian alone at home in my bedroom while reading the bible. I definitely had an experience. The best way I can describe it is the presence of Christ came in my room (even though I’d never experienced anything like this nor even expected anything like it, strangely, it seemed like something very natural). I realized I had spent my entire life doing what I wanted, when I wanted and how I wanted with no regard for his Lordship. My “sinners prayer” consisted of weeping and saying “I’m sorry Lord, I’m so sorry” over again about 3 or 4 times. I realized it was the first time in my life I was weeping, not because I was hurt, but because I had hurt someone else by my actions….the Lord Jesus.

There is more to what happened that day but I’ll get to the point of this thread. The Lord spoke a few things to me that day, one of which was He wanted me to go to church (he didn’t say which one). Hence, 4 days later I found myself in a Church and a girl (who I knew from my high school) asked me if I wanted to pray with someone (she may have used the term Elder, but I wasn’t familiar with these terms at the time). I said sure. The Elder then led my in what I later recognized as the “sinners prayer”. After he finished he started saying things like “Now, you may not want to play pinball and such like you used to with the guys” (they were a legalistic church). What quickly dawned on me was he was equating that prayer with what happened to me days earlier. They were not the same at all in my mind. Understand that I was ignorant of everything at the time but it was hard for me to digest how repeating a prayer after someone was congruent with my experience of conversion days earlier.

In the first couple of years I was a Christian, if I heard of someone who became a Christian by repeating a sinners prayer, I always made a point of asking them to explain their conversion in more detail. I wanted to see how it worked for them (oh the simplicity of new Christian!!). Years later I’ve seen that a sinners prayer can be somewhat helpful at times but there is nothing magical about it. It’s the state of a persons heart that matters, not necessarily how or what they what they say. As Keith Green said “Jesus never said to anyone “repeat after me”, He said “Follow Me””.

Steve

[darinhouston]

I have read of people back in the "revival" days about 200 years ago who were put under great pressure to have a "conversion experience" and yet, as much as they sought it, it never came. And many are said to have given up in despair, convinced by the teaching they heard that they were not part of the elect. This is contrary to Jesus' teaching that He will never turn away those who seek Him.

God bless, Homer

It's sad, of course, but I think many Calvinists would have to respond that these folks must have not been really seeking after Jesus, but something else.

[Homer]

Hi Darrin,

About 200 years ago in this country, the idea of "experimental religion", or "Christian experience" was popular in this country, and I believe the practice of giving a "conversion testimony" at baptism, rather than a simple confession of faith, has descended from the old Calvinist practice.

John Mark Hicks writes "Experimental religion, then, referred to that experience of the sinner which assured him he was regenerate and produced faith in him, and it is the testimony of this experience which assures others of his regenerate status."

God bless, Homer