How then shall be saved Pt 2

     So let's think twice about the sinners prayer.  I'm not saying anything about it is wrong with it in particular.  I only question whether or not in fact we are fulfilling the Great Commission  by getting as many people as possible to repeat those words.

     So this brings me into new territory, openly wondering if a statement of belief given at one point in time regardless of what change it actually brings about in someone's life is in fact enough to ensure one's eternal destiny.  In order for you go understand why I question this, lets consider this.  A hypothetical situation in which a man comes to the end of his rope attending a revival meeting and is moved to walk down the aisle and is led in the Sinners prayer.  A year later he murders a man.  The next year he murders again.  At his trial where he is sentenced to five consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for a total of 12 brutal, cold blooded murders.  He serves his sentences and dies in prison.  Whatever happened to his confession of faith?  Does it still hold true?  Despite his complete and utter disregard for that emotional moment will he somehow be welcomed into eternity?

     I'm communicating my struggle more than anything else here.  My point is not to invalidate this method of evangelism based on my own experience and some armchair theology.  Since I am the father of two rambunctious boys under the age of  two and I have every intention of raising them in the faith that I hold dear.  Therefore I have a personal interest in figuring this out.  How am I to present the gospel to my kids?  What's a proper age where they can adequately understand it?  So theoretical questions become personal real fast.  

    But enough questions, do we have any solutions to this dilemma?

It is my opinion, that belief in God must be fostered from the very beginning of life.  Its not something that is separated from everyday life and reserved for certain moments and times.  One or two days a week is no way to treat such an all encompassing thing like faith.  If it is possible to raise your children in you faith you should do so, not with the intention of leading them at some point into one single moment where they will commit themselves to God, but with the intention of leading into a life committed to God.    Don't get me wrong, it has to start somewhere, but a vision for multi-generational faith that is passed on by example as well as by words is essential if these crazy ideas we have about God and his plan for the world are to be passed on with any effectiveness.  And most importantly this faith must be geared toward a life in service of God and his people. 

     Just as your faith in God should not be reserved for certain days or seasons of the year, so also our achievement of salvation shouldn't be be tied to a specific time or place.  The spirit of the matter is not that we said a certain prayer at some point in our lives, but that we have chosen the life that God intended for members of the his family and we live it, day in and day out.  Not perfectly, but with our whole heart, walking, falling, repenting, walking again. 

How then shall we be saved?

     Recently I've been giving a lot of thought to the traditional way through which we are ushered into the Christian faith.  I don't intend to get into huge theological issues here, I mainly want to talk about the methodology of becoming a believer.  For instance when I was about 8 or 9 years of age, as a result of a conversation about a member of our church who had recently passed away; my father led me in the sinners prayer.  We sat down on a log in the backwoods of Northeastern Pennsylvania and I repeated the words after him and I was for all intents and purposes considered a Christian at that point.  I wasn't baptized until much later, so perhaps some would not consider me a full fledged member until then, but I think most would agree that my eternal destiny was decided at that moment.
     Now generally, although I know of some exceptions, regardless of what brand of Evangelical Christianity you identify with now whether it be Baptist, Pentecostal, Charismatic etc.. This is how you began,  a short formula, a declaration of intent, a series of words that conferred upon you the immediate status of being a member of the Family of God.  This methodology is used  in Christian evangelism the world over and is popular in large part I think because it fits the motif of the gospel message being simple.  Jesus died for us and all we need or can do is make a verbal statement accepting that fact. This secures for us a place in heaven where we will live eternally, period of discussion.  This inherent simplicity of the gospel makes it easily packaged and unpackaged in the hopes of reaching as large demographic as possible.  I'm not going into a lot of detail or exploring a lot of background information here purposely because I assume most of my readers will understand, perhaps even better than I what I am referencing.
   Now here is the good part, the part where most people will think they know where I am going with this and either check out or are still with me.  So I will come clean and say I am not a big fan of the sinners prayer, I know that sets me apart from normative Christianity and perhaps raises red flags about me in some people's eyes, but the good thing is I'm kind of used to that.  I don't really fit in that well with normative Christianity, I disagree with a great deal of it and some of it downright embarrasses me.
      However, and this is a big however because regardless of how much I disagree with Christianity I haven't abandoned it.
     So I disagree with Christians on this issue, so what?  What else is new?  Everyone disagrees, why should this disagreement matter?  It matters to me because it is a well recognized problem within the church and I have talked to pastors who testify to the pews being filled with insincere believers. . .  Believers who profess faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ, but when it comes down to brass tacks can't seem to be bothered to so anything much about it.
     And that is something to be concerned about.

To be continued.