"Accepting Jesus into your Heart" in the Bible???

[amanda_nicole82]

For me, accepting Christ into my heart was a deeply spiritual thing, and the most important thing I have and ever will do in my life. Phil was right when he said that accepting Christ into one’s heart is believing in Him. For me it went even deeper than that. I accepted Christ into my heart when I first believed in Him, when I decided to leave my old sinful ways and give my life to Him. By recieving Him into my heart I took on many responsibilities, such as living my life for the Lord, serving Him in all I do, living my life in a way that can be a good example for others - both believers and non believers. Ever since I accepted Him into my life and into my heart my life has been the best it can possible be on this earth! He healed me of a lifelong disease through surgery, and he brought me a wonderful Christian man to spend my life with !!!
Well, I guess you just got my own personal testimony! It’s just that sometimes when I start to think about how the Lord has blessed my life I get on a role and have to let people know that God is so good!!! I’m sure that you guys have your own personal testimonies as well about how the Lord has blessed your lives. Please feel free to share them, I love to hear about how the Lord has blessed fellow Christians!
Blessings in Christ,
Amanda

 

[E.E.N.S]

John 6
32 Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say to you; Moses gave you not bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life to the world. 34 They said therefore unto him: Lord, give us always this bread. 35 And Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger: and he that believeth in me shall never thirst.

36 But I said unto you, that you also have seen me, and you believe not. 37 All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will not cast out. 38 Because I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 Now this is the will of the Father who sent me: that of all that he hath given me, I should lose nothing; but should raise it up again in the last day. 40 And this is the will of my Father that sent me: that every one who seeth the Son, and believeth in him, may have life everlasting, and I will raise him up in the last day.

41 The Jews therefore murmured at him, because he had said: I am the living bread which came down from heaven. 42 And they said: Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then saith he, I came down from heaven? 43 Jesus therefore answered, and said to them: Murmur not among yourselves. 44 No man can come to me, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up in the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets: And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me.

(44 “Draw him”… Not by compulsion, nor by laying the free will under any necessity, but by the strong and sweet motions of his heavenly grace.)

46 Not that any man hath seen the Father; but he who is of God, he hath seen the Father. 47 Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in me, hath everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die.

51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. 52 If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world. 53 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 54 Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. 55 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.

(54 “Eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood”… To receive the body and blood of Christ, is a divine precept, insinuated in this text; which the faithful fulfil, though they receive but in one kind; because in one kind they receive both body and blood, which cannot be separated from each other. Hence, life eternal is here promised to the worthy receiving, though but in one kind. Ver. 52. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh for the life of the world. Ver. 58. He that eateth me, the same also shall live by me. Ver. 59. He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever.)

56 For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. 57 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him. 58 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me. 59 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever. 60 These things he said, teaching in the synagogue, in Capharnaum. 61 Many therefore of his disciples, hearing it, said: This saying is hard, and who can hear it? 62 But Jesus, knowing in himself, that his disciples murmured at this, said to them: Doth this scandalize you?

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

WhiteDove:

Is the concept “Accepting Jesus into your heart” Biblical?

Is the concept “the Immaculate Conception” Biblical ? ?​

As is well known, Romans is by far the longest of Paul’s letters because he spent the first 53 chapters explaining the theology behind the IC - the complete letter can be found in the

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on the

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[blackstone]

The gospel of John chapter one “But as many as have recieved him (Jesus) to them he give the power to become the sons of God”

 

[sara888]

**Hearing and accepting Jesus into your heart is Faith , however we must FOLLOW him if we truly have a changed heart and real Faith in Christ.

Sara**

 

[PaulDupre]

Christian4life:

Seriously the major reason I remain Protestant is I find more Catholics not to have that personal relationship at all.

From what I have observed, this is not true at all. The difference is not one of relationship with Jesus, but of culture and mannerisms.

Evangelical/born-again culture mandates that when one considers herself “saved” she must smile all the time, speak in a lilting sing-songy voice and pepper her speech with saved-isms like “praise the Lord” and “thank Jesus”. These are cultural cues to signal others at your church that you are a member of the saved group.

Catholic culture has no such behavioral expectations. We know that only God knows our hearts. We don’t expect a lot of show, but do expect quiet and sincere service to our fellows in Jesus’ name and for His sake.

Paul

 

[Singinbeauty]

You have to realize that when one says ‘invite Jesus into your heart’ they aren’t talking literally. The ‘heart’ is the seat of the emotions in Western Culture just as much as the bowels were the seat of the emotions in ancient times. To say that you are inviting Jesus into your heart is like saying that you are giving YOU to Jesus. For Him to inhabit YOU and work within you.

When you want to tell someone that you love them and it’s the ULTIMATE love you tell them that you love them with all your heart. Now, does that mean that because your heart is just the size of your fist that you only have enough love for them as what can be held in your fist? No. You are saying that ‘with all I have and know, I love you’.

So to say that you are asking Jesus into your heart is about the best thing you can tell Jesus in today’s western culture. It’s another way of saying that you are asking Jesus into your life and to live in the very life pumping areas in your world. The blood pumped from your heart travels all over you and there is nothing that isn’t touched. So by the metaphore of inviting Him into your heart you are inviting Him to touch every area in your life… Does this make sense?

This is from another thread on this subject in another forum… I thought it was good insight…

You guys have drifted far from scripture here and are trying to rationalize what salvation is.

1. The “gospel” is the good news that Christ died for sin, 1 Cor 15:1-4. We are not saved by the gospel.

1. The “new covenant” establishes the relationship between God and men. It is the point at which God says, “I will put My spirit in your HEART.” Jer 31:33, Ezek 37:14, Matt 26:28, etal. So where would you suspect we would want Jesus to enter?

Asking Christ to come into one’s heart (per Rom 10:9-10) is merely the summation of repentance, surrender and the acceptance of the new covenant whereby, yes, Christ the Holy Spirit will come in and abide in us! We actually call this last the “baptism of the Spirit” and it occurs immediately upon faith in Christ!

This new covenant “arrangement” is made by one party for acceptance or rejection but not for alteration by the other parties. It does not anticipate any ability on the part of the person receiving it to “contribute” to his/her own salvation in the ways some of you have suggested because, think about it, most of us don’t KNOW where God will lead in such a relationship!

Therefore, water baptism could well not even be mentioned in the salvation message – physical water has no salvific properties, people. Water baptism is merely a follow-on testimony representing what happened to you at salvation.

skypair

 

[MariaG]

Singinbeauty,

The concept of a personal relationship with Christ and “accepting Him into your heart” are not foreign to Catholic Christians. Although those words are not used, heart knowledge of Christ is there.

One of the points of this thread is Catholics gets bashed for “Where is that in the Bible” all the time. Catholics have many pronged arguments and one of them is, it is not explicit, but the concept is there.

So where is it that the Bible says “accept Him into your heart”? Although I would agree that it is implicit in Scripture, you can’t find it explicitly anywhere.

Each and everytime a Catholic Christian receives communion, we believe we are not only accepting Him into our hearts, but physically into our bodies as well.

There are so many misconceptions you have. It is impossible to address them all here. But if you read this again, consider starting threads on these subjects or doing your own research in the CA Library catholic.com/library.asp

Baptism - What does the bible say, what did the Early Church Fathers say,

Born again - How did the Early Church define Born again?

When did born again historically come to mean accept Christ into your heart? How long did it mean baptism?

Sacrament - What does that mean?

If you truly wish to look, you will find that Catholic teachings are so “Biblical” your only question is whose interpretation do you wish to believe?

Truly, I challenge you to look into Scripture about baptism, born again and not only what Scripture says, not what your pastor says, but those who walked and talked with the apostles say about it. Heck, look and see what Luther thought about it.

Here is a start for you. catholic.com/library/Born_Again_in_Baptism.asp

God Bless,
Maria

 

[Singinbeauty]

There are so many misconceptions you have. It is impossible to address them all here. But if you read this again, consider starting threads on these subjects or doing your own research in the CA Library catholic.com/library.asp

I am confused… You do realise that I am not the one who started this thread, right? What ‘misconceptions’ do you see addressed in my post? I really don’t understand why you are coming at me with this…

 

[MariaG]

I am confused… You do realise that I am not the one who started this thread, right? What ‘misconceptions’ do you see addressed in my post? I really don’t understand why you are coming at me with this…

Yes, I realize you did not start this thread. In fact if you had I would not have worried about addressing the issues in your post.

I listed some of the misconceptions you have as concerned in Catholic teachings and the Bible.

“Coming at you” I hope you do not feel threatened. That is not my intent. Sorry if you felt that way.

Therefore, water baptism could well not even be mentioned in the salvation message – physical water has no salvific properties, people. Water baptism is merely a follow-on testimony representing what happened to you at salvation.

You think this is insight, I think this is just so completely wrong and so completely denies God and His miracle of Baptism. I (and others) can show you in the Bible and in the writings from the ECF where this is completely wrong. But needs its own thread.

I would encourage you to read the link I provided on being Born again before you started one, or found one already started.

But either way, I was not “coming at you”, I just was trying to start a dialogue. Again, sorry if you felt that way.

God Bless,
Maria

 

[Singinbeauty]

Oh, ok… whew!

I figured that that part probably would have been addressed on here but because I wanted to make sure that person got their full dues in what they wrote I put all of it on there. I was talking about how they had insight pertaining to the ‘heart’ issue which is what this thread was on. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[MariaG]

Singinbeauty:

Oh, ok… whew!

I figured that that part probably would have been addressed on here but because I wanted to make sure that person got their full dues in what they wrote I put all of it on there. I was talking about how they had insight pertaining to the ‘heart’ issue which is what this thread was on. Sorry for the confusion.

Glad we could straighten that out. I understand about wanting to give a person’s quote context.

John Paul II also refered to the heart issue. I can’t remember his exact words, but said more Catholics needed to have a heart conversion and not just a professes belief but a life changing one.

 

[gryskull]

Christian4life:

It’s not that we don’t have those things it’s just that we don’t think they are as important as other things.

When Windmill was talking about the sacraments I think that he meant having the sacraments the way we do. You may have a counterpart of the sacrament of the Eucharist but it is not treated the way we do. Your communion is symbolic while ours, we believe, to be the whole being of Christ. Although we do have some similiarities, like in baptism. To us sacraments are are outward signs of inward grace, instituted by Christ for our sanctification and there are 7. No more no less.

Seriously the major reason I remain Protestant is I find more Catholics not to have that personal relationship at all. And it really does affect how you think and act

Why do you make the nominal catholics your basis of truth. f this is your primary reason then I think you shouldn’t be a christian at all since all the apostles left Christ. We should be in a church where we can find the fullness of the truth of Christ. And if the not so good catholics stop you from being one then I think you are stopping for a very bad reason. Do the members of the body of Christ stop you from entering HIS church? I think we should enter HIS church even if it meant having only HIM. Remember, we claim the church to be holy not because of the members but because of the HEAD.

Like for example my church doesn’t have a set pro-life doctrine but people are constantly raising awareness and getting volunteers/donations within the church for pro-life causes out of the goodness of their hearts. So yeah that is a huge difference. Catholics may do more, but only because they are told they must.

I think you are being very judmental here. You know not the hearts of the people. I know so many who do such work because they just love doing it. Is it fair to say that you read the Bible because you are told by your pastor to do so or because you emphasize so much on the bible. I think that would be an unfair statement. I know many catholics who do work for the church just because they want to and out of the kindness of their hearts. They follow the teachings of the church because they believe it is true and it will lead them closer to God. I just think that you went overboard with your critcism.

 

[kneebarstar]

FYI

John 14:6
John 17:20
Acts 10:43
2 Corinthians 3:14
Galatians 2:16

That’s a start.

I’ve heard from Catholics that Catholics are Christians. In fact, one Catholic once told me that Catholocism was the first Christianity. To be a Christian you have to believe in the fact that man has total depravity and has no hope of salvation save through the one and only saving faith of Jesus Christ. Either a person believes in the scripture completely or none at all. There are some (there are more) scripture verses to chew on. Have a blessed day.

Completely in Christ,
kneebarstar