Altar Calls?

[Tom Butler]

John, my position has constantly been to advocate for a Biblical invitation, and to criticize what I see as misuse and manipulation.

By the way, it appears to me that Peter did not conclude his Pentecost sermon with an invitation. His sermon was interrupted by those whose hearts had been convicted and wanted to know what to do about it. His reply, "repent, etc." was a response to the query, I think.

If we'll be careful with our language and terminology, I'll be satisfied. I still do not like such exhortations as "come to the altar," when there is no altar to come to. I understand the symbolism, but an exhortation to follow Christ needs to be clear and unambiguous and free of symbolic expression.

I still think there is a danger that the call to "come" is the same as being saved. And when I hear a testimony such as "I walked the aisle when I was 14," I get nervous, wondering if the he believes the walk saved him.

So yes, if we are to find invitations in the Scriptures, then let us also try to emulate them. Ouch, there goes the singing, the playing, the instruments.
Seriously, let's just exhort and then shut up and wait on the Holy Spirit to work.

 

[Jerome]

"Now, to you, this one word—You are guilty and must be punished unless you find forgiveness! There is before you, this morning, an Altar of Sacrifice in the Person of Jesus Christ! There are four horns on the altar, looking either way, and whoever touches the horns of this altar shall live and live forever! Jesus Christ is the great Altar of Sacrifice, a touch of Him at this moment will save you! It is the whole Gospel—believe, trust and live, for “whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God”—whoever trusts in Christ shall be saved! Come to the Altar, where His blood was spilt! Come, now, and lay your hands upon its horn—you can but perish there. No, I must correct myself—you cannot perish there—you must perish anywhere else! Come, then, and rest in Jesus and the Lord bless you for His dear name’s sake. Amen." ---Charles Spurgeon

 

[Revmitchell]

What in the world is this so called "manipulation" in the invitation?

 

[Tom Butler]

"Now, to you, this one word—You are guilty and must be punished unless you find forgiveness! There is before you, this morning, an Altar of Sacrifice in the Person of Jesus Christ! There are four horns on the altar, looking either way, and whoever touches the horns of this altar shall live and live forever! Jesus Christ is the great Altar of Sacrifice, a touch of Him at this moment will save you! It is the whole Gospel—believe, trust and live, for “whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God”—whoever trusts in Christ shall be saved! Come to the Altar, where His blood was spilt! Come, now, and lay your hands upon its horn—you can but perish there. No, I must correct myself—you cannot perish there—you must perish anywhere else! Come, then, and rest in Jesus and the Lord bless you for His dear name’s sake. Amen." ---Charles Spurgeon

I'm searching my memory. In all my years, I have never heard a preacher, when urging people to come to the altar, to describe Jesus Christ as the great Altar. Without exception, they have described the altar as a place--a place down where the preacher is. Spurgeon is precise. The altar is the person of Jesus Christ. He is the only preacher I have ever heard who made it a person, not a place to walk down the aisle to.

Sorry about ending a sentence with a preposition. Ordinarily, it is something up with which I will not put.

 

[Tom Butler]

What in the world is this so called "manipulation" in the invitation?

I've never seen this, but I've read about it. When the invitation hymn starts, a few people will leave their seats and start down the aisles. These are church members, who by design will step out to sort of "prime the pump." The idea is that those under conviction will find it easier to step out if they see somebody else doing it.

Does anybody have other examples?

 

[Revmitchell]

I've never seen this, but I've read about it. When the invitation hymn starts, a few people will leave their seats and start down the aisles. These are church members, who by design will step out to sort of "prime the pump." The idea is that those under conviction will find it easier to step out if they see somebody else doing it.

Does anybody have other examples?

And that is referred to as manipulative?

 

[Salty]

What in the world is this so called "manipulation" in the invitation?

After 9 verses of Just as I am, the pastor may say " I know the Holy Spirit is leading someone to come and make a decision, and we dont want to close the invitation, as long as Lord is leading...

 

[webdog]

This cannot be supported with scripture.

...hence his view is biblically condemned :laugh:

 

[TomVols]

After 9 verses of Just as I am, the pastor may say " I know the Holy Spirit is leading someone to come and make a decision, and we dont want to close the invitation, as long as Lord is leading...

That's one facet.

Some commonly heard ones that would make an atheist quiver, let alone someone who prizes the gospel:

"Jesus demands that you walk this aisle right now just like they did in the Bible" - I've heard this more times than I'd care to admit.

"You can't get saved where you are - you must walk the aisle and meet Christ at the altar" - again, I wish I'd only heard this a scant few times. Charles Stanley gave a forceful rebuke of this approach.

"If you don't respond right now, you may never have another chance" Well, that could be true. But what is meant is often "if the hymn is over, the Holy Spirit no longer is convicting." Lloyd Jones told of a man who said he wanted to get saved at a Sunday evening service the night before, but since there was no altar call like what some new preachers were doing, he didn't get saved. Well, Lloyd Jones said, here's the gospel. Will you come to Christ now? Oh no, said the man, it was last night or nothing. You're right..it was nothing, said Lloyd Jones. Salvation that doesn't last overnight is no salvation.

"We will not close the invitation till someone - anyone comes" - Again, I heard this more times than I'd care to admit.

I have heard and seen some well known evangelists use the "prime the pump" method. They deliberately say they do it to get people to walk to the front who ordinarily wouldn't do so. If that's not manipulation, I don't know what is.

I've been in churches where one or more will go to someone, lead them to the mourner's bench/altar, to try to get them to get saved or repent or get saved again or whatever. Saw this for years at one church in my childhood. Can't tell you how many would get led down the aisle, only to say after the service "Whew, glad to get them off my back for a while"

I've also heard many "If you want to love Jesus, walk to the front." Especially in children's rallies and youth events. Without naming a "decision" for Christ, these are people that took a "step towards God." Oh really? Just like they did in the book of...uhmm....er...uh....

These are just some. There are many variations of the "1-2-3, pray like me, walk down to me, in heaven you'll be" altar calls.

While we talk about abuses, we should be careful that we not base a doctrine or practice just as an anti-abuse. The abuses are real, but the real question is what is the theological justification, and what is the inherent theology of a practice. Reminder over.

And just wait til we get on the "Sinner's prayer" :laugh:

 

[Rubato 1]

In tracing (as best I can) the idea of the altar call from Finney forward, I believe we repeatedly carry 'assistance' to manipulation. For it is no debate that some are genuinely interested, yet too timid to initiate a conversation; yet the idea of manipulation to acheive results repeatedly shows itself. Often those who are following a 'pioneer' take the tactics of that 'pioneer' and miss the spirit or motivation of that pioneer.

 

[Tom Butler]

And that is referred to as manipulative?

Do I deduce from your question that you think it's okay?

 

[Tom Butler]

Seems to me that the examples cited by TomVols in his most recent post spring from a couple of presuppositions.

One, the word of God is not sharper than a two-edged sword, thus needs a little assistance. It presupposes that the foolishness of preaching is insufficient.

Two, that the convicting power of the Holy Spirit is also not quite enough; that a little human persuasion mixed in will do the trick. It presupposes that since a human soul is at stake, anything that will get him to make a decision is fair game.

Is nothing off limits?

 

[Tom Butler]

Have you ever seen this on "Christian (Charismatic) TV? I have, more than once.

After whipping his audience into a frenzy, the preacher calls all who will to the front. People start flocking toward the platform. Then, the preacher will say something like this: "If you need to be saved, pray with me. Dear Father, I recognize that I am a sinner."

At that point, every person there begins to pray. Most of them are already professed believers, but they pray the Sinner's Prayer (actually repeating what the preacher says).

If that's not manipulation, I don't know what is. Unless, of course, the preacher believes that those people were once saved, but are now lost, so they have to pray the prayer again to get saved again.

 

[Edward 1689er]

Have you ever seen this on "Christian (Charismatic) TV? I have, more than once.

After whipping his audience into a frenzy, the preacher calls all who will to the front. People start flocking toward the platform. Then, the preacher will say something like this: "If you need to be saved, pray with me. Dear Father, I recognize that I am a sinner."

At that point, every person there begins to pray. Most of them are already professed believers, but they pray the Sinner's Prayer (actually repeating what the preacher says).

If that's not manipulation, I don't know what is. Unless, of course, the preacher believes that those people were once saved, but are now lost, so they have to pray the prayer again to get saved again.

I think the "revmitchell" would love this approach. Blessings!

 

[TomVols]

Seems to me that the examples cited by TomVols in his most recent post spring from a couple of presuppositions.

One, the word of God is not sharper than a two-edged sword, thus needs a little assistance. It presupposes that the foolishness of preaching is insufficient.

Two, that the convicting power of the Holy Spirit is also not quite enough; that a little human persuasion mixed in will do the trick. It presupposes that since a human soul is at stake, anything that will get him to make a decision is fair game.

Is nothing off limits?

That goes to what I've said about the inherent theology of these practices and the ultimate theology of the altar call. And no, many would say nothing is off limits. Anything that can get someone to walk an aisle and regurgitate a prayer is fair game.

I think it is telling that I can name many churches right now off the top of my head that have jettisoned altar calls for this very reason. I've seen one do so in order to be "seeker-friendly," but the overwhelming majority do so because they just cannot theologically justify it. And yet in the ones I'm immediately thinking of, they're seeing more people come to Christ than they did before with altar calls.

 

[John of Japan]

John, my position has constantly been to advocate for a Biblical invitation, and to criticize what I see as misuse and manipulation.

By the way, it appears to me that Peter did not conclude his Pentecost sermon with an invitation. His sermon was interrupted by those whose hearts had been convicted and wanted to know what to do about it. His reply, "repent, etc." was a response to the query, I think.

Point taken. But we could always expand our definition of the invitation to include such situationsS!

If we'll be careful with our language and terminology, I'll be satisfied. I still do not like such exhortations as "come to the altar," when there is no altar to come to. I understand the symbolism, but an exhortation to follow Christ needs to be clear and unambiguous and free of symbolic expression.

I'm with you on this one. I've never seen a real altar in a Baptist church. Now maybe those Lutherans have one, but we don't!

I still think there is a danger that the call to "come" is the same as being saved. And when I hear a testimony such as "I walked the aisle when I was 14," I get nervous, wondering if the he believes the walk saved him.

Exactly. In giving an invitation we must be quite careful that the listeners understand what they are doing.

So yes, if we are to find invitations in the Scriptures, then let us also try to emulate them. Ouch, there goes the singing, the playing, the instruments.
Seriously, let's just exhort and then shut up and wait on the Holy Spirit to work.

I think the term "exhort" is an excellent Biblical term to describe the invitation. The Greek verb occurs in 104 verses, with some of these appearing to refer to what we think of as an invitation. Here is the Anlex definition:

παρακαλέω impf. παρεκάλουν ; 1aor. παρεκάλεσα ; pf. pass. παρακέκλημαι ; 1aor. pass. παρεκλήθην ; 1fut. pass. παρακληθήσομαι ; from a basic meaning call someone to oneself; (1) call to (one's side); (a) summon, call for (AC 28.20); (b) invite (AC 28.14); (c) call on (for help), summon to one's aid (MT 26.53); (2) as speaking with persistence earnestly ask for, implore, beg (AC 16.9); (3) as speaking authoritatively exhort, urge, encourage (AC 27.33); (4) as speaking to relieve sorrow or distress comfort, cheer (up), encourage (2C 1.4)

 

[Jerome]

"There are a great many ways of engineering souls to heaven; but the only one that is worth considering is this:—Draw a straight line to Christ at once. Did I hear one awakened soul say, "I should like to talk to Mr. Cuff"? By all means talk to him, but do not stop at that, nor stop for that. Go to Christ first. "Oh, but I should like to talk with a good woman—a dear Christian lady." I recommend you to go to Jesus Christ at once, and see the lady afterwards. It is all very well to have an enquiryroom, and I have not a word to say against it, but the best enquiryroom in the world is your own bedroom. Go and enquire of Christ straight away. We may make our Christian workers and leaders into little priests if we do not mind what we are at. There must be nobody between a soul and Christ. Blind souls will never get their eyes opened by all the kind hands of all the good people in Shoreditch, or in all London. Christ's hands can give sight, and only his; and you may get to Christ to-night. "Which way?" say you. By no movement of your body, but by a motion of your mind. Turn your thoughts towards him, your desires towards him, your trust towards him. Look to him and live. May the Holy Ghost lead you to trust him now, and he will save you." ---Charles Spurgeon

 

[saturneptune]

If I had it in my power to stick every one of you into a church that had no "altar call," and the order of worship was the end of the sermon, a short prayer, and a dismissal, you would be begging for a return of the "altar call" with all of its flaws. I doubt anyone here grew up in a church that showed about as much concern for salvation or other business with the Lord as a brick wall. It is cold, mechanical, or devoid of any love or caring. If you happen to feel a conviction from the Holy Spirit, or being chosen for salvation, then the process to make it public would be just as mechanical. Try to get in to be examined by the elders, then take communicant's classes, and upon passing that, several weeks or months later, be called up in the middle of a service for the pastor to ask you a set of man made questions, and you answer yes, and voila, you are saved.

If you had to observe such year after year, I doubt most of these posts would be here.

 

[Revmitchell]

Do I deduce from your question that you think it's okay?

I didn't say that but that doesn't mean I think it is manipulative.

 

[Johnv]

Twelve pages, and still, aside from personal objection, nothing scripturally concrete that opposes the altar call. Yet lots of people claiming that altar calls are unscriptural. You'd think it would be a lot easier for them to make their point if they could just provide scripture to support their assertion.