The Culture of Convenience
The western world created it as a way of life where products and services are reinvented then offered to make things easier and quicker for customers. Fastfood, 24/7 stores, breakfast cereal, remote controls, microwave oven, online shopping to name a few were all born due to the demand for convenience. In that regard, so too is vegetable stock simply because we're overly laid-back to make them ourselves. This culture sadly crept into the Church and men, possibly with good intentions but with bad theology, crafted a scheme and began offering salvation to people like it's a conveniently packaged product. They'd say; just pray this prayer, mean it from your heart, repeat it after me, and voila! You're born again! They then proceed in assuring those who prayed they're now children of God and are sure of heaven. I'm not denying the fact that people who prayed such a prayer have been saved since I'm one of them. However what I'm saying is that I got saved not because I prayed that prayer but because God graciously ordained to make me a new person (regenerated) even before the moment I trusted in His Son. The prayer was simply a verbalized expression of my faith. If you understand John 1:13; "who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." then you must concur that saving is solely an act of God, therefore any prayer or the absence of it has nothing to do with being born of God. In this divine intervention, the human response is to humbly repent and believe providentially. On the other hand, if you're still with me, then you must agree that the opposite is also true; that not all people who prayed the so called sinner's prayer get saved. If so, then don't you think that men who make a blanket declaration - that those who prayed are saved - are guilty of false assurance? Search the Holy Scripture. Is the sinner's prayer found in its pages? If it is truly indispensable for the salvation of souls then why didn't God decree to have it included? Answer; because it is not required. Yes, it can be used as a tool to lead people in prayer nevertheless it is not foolproof. Not everyone who prays it is guaranteed converted. And if ever you still decide to lead someone then I caution you to avoid haphazardly confirming the eternal security of the person because you cannot see his heart. You are not God. In Jeremiah 17:9 it reads; "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" There is only One who can make such redemptive pronouncements and affirm the justification of men for in verse 10 He proclaimed; "I the LORD search the heart and test the mind". Only God has the power and right to declare and secure those who are His. + jourNics
