Do I Have to Ask Jesus into My Heart to Be Saved?

Most of us who grew up in the Church have heard the message of salvation pitched like this, "All you have to do is ask Jesus into your heart and you will be saved." Let's get one thing straight, God is omniscient (all-knowing) and omnipotent (all-powerful) and He knows when a person is placing their faith in Him. And if anybody said, "I ask Jesus to come into my heart" He would know whether or not the person was expressing their faith in Him. That is to say, people can be "saved" (i.e. Go to heaven when the die) if they said these words.

We must ask ourselves a question: If the Bible does not teach Children or people in general to, "Ask Jesus into their heart" why do we hold to it so strongly? I was one who "asked Jesus to come into my heart." I am not saying people cannot be "saved" by saying, "Jesus I ask you to come into my heart." All I am trying to point out is the tendency that we Christians have in holding firmly to some teaching that we have learned having never though of whether or not it is validated with Scripture. We do this all of the time and when questioned, notice how defensive we become.

I'll never forget my friend, Bret Turecek, who questioned me when I was throwing out Christianese terminology and phrases (i.e. Holy, righteous, praise the Lord Brother, Hallelujah amen, sanctified...). Bret asked me, "What does that mean?" I had no answer for him, I had just become accostomed to using those words because it's what we used in the Church. I had never thought of what they meant according to the Scriptures. Feeling embarassed, I became defensive and mad at Bret. After that embarassing lesson, I made it a point to study a passage or scriture before I used it in conversation. I began to realize how much I didn't know. I also realized how many verses I had been pulling out of context. Shame on me.

Looking back, I thank Bret every chance I get for the wake up call he gave me years ago. Christians ought to be diligently and objectively stud the Scriptures. We should not be afraid to tell people, "I dont' know what that Scripture means, but i'll get back to you when i've studied it."

Question: Rather than holding ignorantly to some teaching, why not stick to a clear passage or scripture from the Bible? Are we afraid to let the text speak for itself?

In closing, if believers and Christians alike want to share the the "J.O.E.L." (Jesus' Offer of Eternal Life) then they a ton of verses to share. I'll share just one of many.

16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son (John 3:16-18).