Ten Reasons To Not Ask Jesus Into Your Heart
By Todd Friel of Wretched Radio
Article at: http://www.wretchedradio.com/pdf/ten_reasons.pdf
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.” (II Cor.5) 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.
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:48 pm
I asked Jesus to come live in my heart at age seven. I grew up really hard; days without food, nights not knowing where we were going to sleep. But that prayer set me aside, and as I watched my family grow more in despair, I found myself holding on to the Love of Christ. It isn’t the simple request of asking him into your heart that saves a man, but brings the man a step closer to a relationship with Christ. We need to trust him, to seek him, and to love him. These desires start from the heart. This is why I think it is foolish to convince a man that accepting Jesus into your heart is meaningless. Instead, help a man build a relationship with Christ by leading him to accept Jesus into his heart. It is the relationship that makes a man want to live a christian life. And in order for a man to want a relationship, he must desire it in his heart. I wouldn’t feel so strongly by this if I had not experience this myself.
It is disheartening to see a man turn away, but we mustn’t give up and blame it on the ways we lead a man to christ. Instead, seek the holy spirit in guiding you to redirect the man back on his path with Christ.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Crystal,
We must also be very careful how much we follow our heart. It is clear in scripture that the heart is desperately wicked. It is only after regeneration – God giving us a new heart – that we can seek and please God.
The main thrust of Mr. Friel’s article is to ensure the precious message of the Gospel is not distorted in any way. He is trying to make sure that people understand the Gospel without clouding it with our own cliches. He is merely pointing out the problem with this specific phrase, because this specific phrase misleads and inoculates people to salvation.
November 13th, 2009 at 10:46 am
I agree with this article as far as debunking the myth that “ask Jesus into your heart” is in the Bible. It simply is not a concept that God taught us. It never will be and it never has been.
But where this article falls short is when it offers it’s own explanation of how a person can be saved. It is true that “asking Jesus into your heart” is not in the Bible/New Testament. But it is also true that this article does not use the whole New Testament for it’s instructions on how to be saved. So, you can either use something that’s not in the Bible, or you can use only small portions of the Bible, but neither accomplish the “big picture” view that God taught us in the New Testament.
Yes, repentance is required. (Luke 13:3) Yes faith is required (Heb. 11:6) But to stop there is to sell Jesus Christ short. It is to ignore other statements that Jesus Christ Himself made. That isn’t fair to Jesus, or anyone else.
Why not accept what Jesus said about confession? (Matt. 10:32,33) Confession of Jesus before men is required…well, unless you want Jesus to deny you before God in Heaven.
Why not accept what Jesus said about baptism? (Mark 16:16)(John 3:5) Baptism is the one part most people want to leave out, but Jesus did NOT leave it out. Why would we leave out something that Jesus listed as part of our walk to Salvation? If Jesus said it, who are we to disagree with Him about baptism? HE taught that PART of our instructions to be saved involve baptism. No one can say Jesus did not teach that, unless they are dishonest.
All of these things work together, they combine, they mesh because they are ALL teachings of Christ. To leave any one of them out is a huge dis-service to Jesus Christ our Lord, and to anyone reading/listening.