Asking Jesus into your heart???

[SteveVH]

Laura,

Are none of the adults Catholic?

Sometimes people confuse non-denominational Christianity with interdenominationalism, or ecumenism.

Most non-denominational groups do not believe in the Sacraments; and may lean towards a watered down-version of the Gospel, an example being a “prosperity gospel.”

Since this is a day camp, is there a way to contact, or meet with, your Priest for some guidance?

Peace,
Anna

Hi Anna. We’re running into the same thing in my parish, I think. We are participating in “Vacation Bible School” with the Methodists across the street and any and all denominations are welcome. I have not stuck my head in the door yet to see exactly what is being taught, but the only real conclusion I can come to is that it must be a watered down version of Crhistianity. Who’s principals prevail when a pertinent question is asked. If a little Baptist kid wants to talk about passing around the grape juice and crackers how are the Catholics to respond? If a Catholic kid asks about the true presence how are the non-Catholics to respond?

I’ve never really understood this and have just stayed away from the issue, but this thread has motivated me to bring up the point to our Pastor and I plan to do just that this week.

God bless.

Steve

 

[SteveVH]

To ‘ask Jesus into your heart’ means to become a Christian, and to make a personal commitment to follow Him. Obviously, the decision to follow Jesus is a very important one in a person’s life, which is why they will be giving it such emphasis. I never prayed that prayer myself, because I didn’t have the kind of ‘conversion experience’ where you would do that. I grew into my faith slowly, from when I was a very young child, and since I was baptised as a baby in the Anglican church, I didn’t feel the need to. (It’s not in the Bible, either, that I’ve seen. ) I know lots of people that did, though, at one point or another in their lives, and it was often a significant moment for them.

I will leave my Catholic brothers and sisters to say how you should respond to it.

Just wondering if you can point out a Scripture verse that says that asking Jesus into your heart equates to “becoming a Christian”. Jesus instructed his Apostles to "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. I have yet to find one of His commandments that said “Ask me into your heart”. There is, obviously, nothing wrong or improper about asking Jesus into one’s heart that I can see, but that, in and of itself, is not what constitutes a Christian.

 

[PbloPicasso]

Laura,

Are none of the adults Catholic?

Sometimes people confuse non-denominational Christianity with interdenominationalism, or ecumenism.

Most non-denominational groups do not believe in the Sacraments; and may lean towards a watered down-version of the Gospel, an example being a “prosperity gospel.”

Since this is a day camp, is there a way to contact, or meet with, your Priest for some guidance?

Peace,
Anna

Yes, that’s what I was thinking too. and I DON’T mean to hurt your feelings on the matter. You guys will be okay, just know your faith and realize that in the future you might want to check it out better. What I can say is that many of the children you are dealing with come from parents that are actually fallen away Catholics.

 

[Anna_Scott]

Hi Anna. We’re running into the same thing in my parish, I think. We are participating in “Vacation Bible School” with the Methodists across the street and any and all denominations are welcome. I have not stuck my head in the door yet to see exactly what is being taught, but the only real conclusion I can come to is that it must be a watered down version of Crhistianity. Who’s principals prevail when a pertinent question is asked. If a little Baptist kid wants to talk about passing around the grape juice and crackers how are the Catholics to respond? If a Catholic kid asks about the true presence how are the non-Catholics to respond?

I’ve never really understood this and have just stayed away from the issue, but this thread has motivated me to bring up the point to our Pastor and I plan to do just that this week.

God bless.

Steve

Steve, I do pray for the unity of all Christians and I believe ecumenical dialogue is important; but I think we can actually confuse our children in certain settings.

How does a VBS work with Catholics and Methodists, if Catholics and Methodists don’t share the same beliefs?

Anna

 

[Godith]

Just wondering if you can point out a Scripture verse that says that asking Jesus into your heart equates to “becoming a Christian”. Jesus instructed his Apostles to "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. I have yet to find one of His commandments that said “Ask me into your heart”. There is, obviously, nothing wrong or improper about asking Jesus into one’s heart that I can see, but that, in and of itself, is not what constitutes a Christian.

I can’t, and I did say that in my post you are quoting. I was mearly trying to explain what the phrase is used to mean in some Christian circles. I totally agree with you that it’s not enough to pray a prayer asking Jesus into your heart. A Christian is a disciple of Jesus, who does what He asks us to do, and follows Him in their lives.

 

[hn160]

Hi Anna. We’re running into the same thing in my parish, I think. We are participating in “Vacation Bible School” with the Methodists across the street and any and all denominations are welcome. I have not stuck my head in the door yet to see exactly what is being taught, but the only real conclusion I can come to is that it must be a watered down version of Crhistianity. Who’s principals prevail when a pertinent question is asked. If a little Baptist kid wants to talk about passing around the grape juice and crackers how are the Catholics to respond? If a Catholic kid asks about the true presence how are the non-Catholics to respond?

I’ve never really understood this and have just stayed away from the issue, but this thread has motivated me to bring up the point to our Pastor and I plan to do just that this week.

God bless.

Steve

We have “Vacation Bible School” at our church and all Christians and non-Christians children are invited to attend. We don’t use a can type program, but a strictly Lutheran program that is written by the pastors and a lay person. This years subject is called “The Didache: The Faith of Our Fathers” which covers Polycarp, Athansius, Ambrose, Augustine, and John Chrysostom. In addition, each day there is a new subject: The Ten Commandments, Apostle’s Creed, The Lord’s Prayer, The Lord’sSupper, and Holy Baptism. We also build sets to resemble old buildings because there are little plays on each of the subjects. Our are of the church has a lot of Chinese, some are Christian and some are not that come each year. Last years program was on the early church right after the Resurrection of Our Lord.

 

[teresa_lamb]

This is a post that I can respond too…I experienced it, I lived it!

My mom had me, my brothers and sisters all baptized catholic when I was about 7 years old or so. I had 2 older sisters, and 2 younger brothers and 1 younger sister. None of us were babies! My mom was not catholic, however, she had all of us baptized at the same time. Me and my older sisters had attended some catechism classes held by nuns in our apartment complex! This was 1970 or 71.

After our baptism my mom took us to a “few mass’s” that was it. I knew I was catholic and I knew my prayers and what the Eucharist was, and who the Holy Trinity was. That was about it.

Now I am about 10 years old and attend a “Bible Study” summer program held at a small grade school. I remember only attending once though! I didn’t live in the area and was visiting for a week with my grandparents.

I clearly remember a lady going around from child to child with a jar full of tootsie roll suckers. If you picked a sucker that had a “pen mark” on the bottom of it, you got to keep the sucker. Well, as luck would have it, those suckers were contained in a glass jar, and that glass jar was above my head when she came to me, so I could clearly see a “pen marked” sucker and so when she lowered the jar down, after asking my name, I grabbed my sucker and was a winner!!! She then asked me (now keep in mind I was only about 10) if I knew who Jesus was. I answered “yes” and she said “have you ever asked Him into your heart” I said “no” I told the truth because I was a child and thought maybe if I answered yes she would know I had lied. So she asked me “would you like to ask Jesus into your heart” I said “yes” (why? because I was afraid of saying no to her, she was the adult) and so together she prompted me and I said “Jesus would you come into my heart”…

I can attest that the Holy Spirit came into me…I felt Him. This was an experience I had never had before, and to this day have never felt again…

Now I am 48 years old and just because I asked Jesus to come into my heart so many years ago hasn’t changed my being catholic… Yes, many things happened in those years in between, but I am still a Catholic…and a practicing one at that

 

[SteveVH]

Steve, I do pray for the unity of all Christians and I believe ecumenical dialogue is important; but I think we can actually confuse our children in certain settings.

How does a VBS work with Catholics and Methodists, if Catholics and Methodists don’t share the same beliefs?

Anna

My question exactly. It would seem that you would have to ignore many things of substance in both camps. My only guess is that it only contains some very basic Christian principles, such as God loves you and sent his Son to save you. I don’t know, as I said I have no idea what they were teaching.

Blessings.

Steve

 

[Anna_Scott]

My question exactly. It would seem that you would have to ignore many things of substance in both camps. My only guess is that it only contains some very basic Christian principles, such as God loves you and sent his Son to save you. I don’t know, as I said I have no idea what they were teaching.

Blessings.

Steve

Steve,
It’s the “ignoring many things of substance” that concerns me. If a summer camp or VBS is trying to appeal to all, you could easily end up with a watered-down version of the Gospel. I just don’t see how that can be good for children. Though–it is better than no exposure to Christianity.

We have “Vacation Bible School” at our church and all Christians and non-Christians children are invited to attend. We don’t use a can type program, but a strictly Lutheran program that is written by the pastors and a lay person. This years subject is called “The Didache: The Faith of Our Fathers” which covers Polycarp, Athansius, Ambrose, Augustine, and John Chrysostom. In addition, each day there is a new subject: The Ten Commandments, Apostle’s Creed, The Lord’s Prayer, The Lord’sSupper, and Holy Baptism. We also build sets to resemble old buildings because there are little plays on each of the subjects. Our are of the church has a lot of Chinese, some are Christian and some are not that come each year. Last years program was on the early church right after the Resurrection of Our Lord.

hn160,

I think this is very wise.

It would be better for the Church holding the VBS or summer camp to teach their beliefs-----Catholic, Methodist, Anglican, Lutheran, Baptist, etc.

How does a parent know what a non-denominational Church is actually teaching?

Peace,
Anna

 

[joclucsylv]

Hi! I’m a little bit nervous I’ll do this wrong, this being my first time starting a thread on here, but here it goes!
I am volunteering as a councilor/helper at a day camp for kindergarten-6th grade students this week, and it is non-denominational Christian. The big focus has been asking Jesus into our heart. I have not heard of this before, and most of the other helpers are my Catholic friends and family, so none of us are quite sure what we should do here! We are kind of worried, since the kids have been encouraged to ask a helper to pray with them to ask Jesus into their heart, and we don’t really know what they’re talking about. I mean, it sounds good and normal and all, because Jesus does live in us, but we have never “prayed to ask Him into our hearts” or ever heard about it before, and they are acting as though it is the end-all, most important thing ever!
What do they mean by this? How should I and my Catholic friends respond?

Thanks for your help! I hope I did this right!

Maybe next year you will want to look into doing a Vacation Bible School/Camp for your parish. I was a leader and my children attended one in my parish this year. Do a search on catchat vacation bible school program. We did The Mass comes Alive. Here is the link. google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=0h&oq=catc&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADFA_enUS349US349&q=catchat

IMO…I would never ever send my children to a bible camp that wasn’t Catholic. Good luck!!

 

[Anna_Scott]

Just wondering if you can point out a Scripture verse that says that asking Jesus into your heart equates to “becoming a Christian”. . . …

SteveVH,

The following Scriptures are often used to justify the sinner’s prayer or “asking Jesus into your heart,” as being sufficient for salvation. However, they are used out of context and omit the commandment to be Baptized for the forgiveness of sins, Baptism as the Circumcision made without hands, consuming the Body and Blood of Christ to have eternal life, and Scripture, as a whole, pertaining to salvation.

Matthew 7: 7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Revelation 3: 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Matthew 20: 29 And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. 30 And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!"

Luke 18: 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying,** ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’**

Luke 23: 39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

John 3: 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that **whoever believes in him may have eternal life. **16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 10: 5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 or “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 **because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. **10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Peace,
Anna

 

[Nicea325]

Hi! I’m a little bit nervous I’ll do this wrong, this being my first time starting a thread on here, but here it goes!
I am volunteering as a councilor/helper at a day camp for kindergarten-6th grade students this week, and it is non-denominational Christian. The big focus has been asking Jesus into our heart. I have not heard of this before, and most of the other helpers are my Catholic friends and family, so none of us are quite sure what we should do here! We are kind of worried, since the kids have been encouraged to ask a helper to pray with them to ask Jesus into their heart, and we don’t really know what they’re talking about. I mean, it sounds good and normal and all, because Jesus does live in us, but we have never “prayed to ask Him into our hearts” or ever heard about it before, and they are acting as though it is the end-all, most important thing ever!
What do they mean by this? How should I and my Catholic friends respond?

Thanks for your help! I hope I did this right!

As Catholics we receive Jesus (Blood,Body,Soul and Divinity) into our lives,it is called Holy Communion. I cannot see how much more one needs of Jesus?

 

[drywall]

I have known kids the have asked Jesus into their heart and have grown up to be fine Christain people and others that have forsaken the church altogether.
Faith comes by hearing the word od God, and the Holy Spirit applying the Word of God to a persons heart, “the born again experence”

drywall

 

[jesuspsr]

When I’m in your position I pray to the Holy Spirit for guidence. Here’s a little prayer I say quite often.

Come Holy Spirit

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
V. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created.
R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray.

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen

God bless

jesus g

 

[Kristin234]

As Catholics we receive Jesus (Blood,Body,Soul and Divinity) into our lives,it is called Holy Communion. I cannot see how much more one needs of Jesus?

Ok but if you are doing it just because you have been taught to do it then you do not have “Jesus in your heart.” I have so so many Catholic friends that just go to church and take communion because they were either forced or taught by their parents that they must do this. They do not love God, follow his rules, or read the Bible. Yes they take communion every Sunday but does that mean they know Christ? So it makes sense to ask a Catholic or anyone if they have accepted Jesus yet.

It amazes me how Catholics get so insulted when you ask them if they have accepted Christ. I remember once when my mother asked my brother in law that and he got so angry saying of course he did he went to mass every week. Funny thing is you would never be able to tell he was Christian by the way he was living his life.

 

[Anna_Scott]

Ok but if you are doing it just because you have been taught to do it then you do not have “Jesus in your heart.” I have so so many Catholic friends that just go to church and take communion because they were either forced or taught by their parents that they must do this. They do not love God, follow his rules, or read the Bible. Yes they take communion every Sunday but does that mean they know Christ? So it makes sense to ask a Catholic or anyone if they have accepted Jesus yet.

It amazes me how Catholics get so insulted when you ask them if they have accepted Christ. I remember once when my mother asked my brother in law that and he got so angry saying of course he did he went to mass every week. Funny thing is you would never be able to tell he was Christian by the way he was living his life.

Kristin234,

I think you are making some very judgmental assumptions about Catholics. One could say the same thing about many non-Catholics.

In every Church you will find those whose hearts are so devoted to Christ, the love spills over into service of God and fellowman. You will also find those who are just going through the motions.

There are people who “ask Jesus to come into their hearts” and feel so assured of the security of their salvation, they lead lives far from the Holiness, to which we are called.

None of us have the right to judge the heart or intentions of another.

Peace,
Anna

 

[PbloPicasso]

Ok but if you are doing it just because you have been taught to do it then you do not have “Jesus in your heart.” I have so so many Catholic friends that just go to church and take communion because they were either forced or taught by their parents that they must do this. They do not love God, follow his rules, or read the Bible. Yes they take communion every Sunday but does that mean they know Christ? So it makes sense to ask a Catholic or anyone if they have accepted Jesus yet.

It amazes me how Catholics get so insulted when you ask them if they have accepted Christ. I remember once when my mother asked my brother in law that and he got so angry saying of course he did he went to mass every week. Funny thing is you would never be able to tell he was Christian by the way he was living his life.

I would break this message apart piece mill, but it might look uncharitable, and that is not my intention.

I too struggled with the same things you state. I understand and partly agree with parts of what you believe you’ve observed. It’s true that you do not or can not know the heart of another person. Therefore you should not make blanketed statements as if you truly know what’s in their heart. Further, sometimes outward appearances are very deceiving. Catholics were and continue to be taught that we should not proselytize. The problem with that is that it creates ignorance in not teaching them to evangelize. We’re taught the St. Francis of Assisi method of evangelizing, “preach the gospel always, and when necessary use words.” The obvious problem with this is that it doesn’t take into consideration that many times we do need to use words, especially when dealing with anti-Catholic Protestants. Catholics know the faith far more than they realize, but because of proselytizing Protestant, who are speaking from ignorance, they become doubtful. That doubt is a lack of faith because Satan has tempted them through the actions of a Protestant. Now, the Protestant means well, I believe, usually. But not all the time. Another topic for another day.

The Eucharist is at the heart of the Church. In fact, the Eucharist is said to be the heart of Christ, both physically and theologically. It is the actual body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ. Read John 6, something that Protestant explain away (Necessary Inference). It’s necessary to explain it away because God would not tell us to do something so atrocious. Then why did Aaron kill so many people after they forsook God while Moses was in the mountain? Then why was Ananias and Sapphira stuck dead? Then why … etc. We could go on and on. Jesus and the apostles made it perfectly clear. But the hearts of doubting men/and women, have been the down fall of us since Thomas, the doubter. There’s a warning in there (metaphorically and literally speaking).

One of the issues I was dealing with for many years while a Protestant is the varying degrees of understanding, degrees of severity of sin (which was considered taboo, but Protestants and non-Christians alike, treat them as increasing degrees of harmful). In fact, I cringe when I hear a Protestant say, you don’t know the bible. We read the bible every Sunday, 3 passages, minimum. In fact, the mass is liturgical and comes from scripture for the most part. Scott Hahn recognized this when he was being challenged as a Presbyterian Minister. Many of my friends, some preachers, also realized the same thing. So, far more Catholics know more than they let on or more than they realize. I’ve never met a Protestant that could out quote or out speak me in bible. I’ve been studying scripture since I was 14 years old, right after my first communion. 95% of my family are Protestant. I was a bible only Catholic and didn’t understand why it wasn’t compatible with Catholic teaching. 5 years ago all of this became very clear to me why it doesn’t make sense. Show me where is says to accept Jesus in your heart to be saved. It doesn’t. But is does show you the Liturgical and Sacramental aspects of salvation…which is VERY biblical. Catholics are far more biblical than any Protestant or Protestant faith in existence. The problem is that, like Protestants, Catholics are also subject effects of “original sin,” a term which most Christians do not really understand, which includes Catholics.

More later.

 

[Nicea325]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicea325
As Catholics we receive Jesus (Blood,Body,Soul and Divinity) into our lives,it is called Holy Communion. I cannot see how much more one needs of Jesus?

Ok but if you are doing it just because you have been taught to do it then you do not have “Jesus in your heart.” I have so so many Catholic friends that just go to church and take communion because they were either forced or taught by their parents that they must do this. They do not love God, follow his rules, or read the Bible. Yes they take communion every Sunday but does that mean they know Christ? So it makes sense to ask a Catholic or anyone if they have accepted Jesus yet.

It amazes me how Catholics get so insulted when you ask them if they have accepted Christ. I remember once when my mother asked my brother in law that and he got so angry saying of course he did he went to mass every week. Funny thing is you would never be able to tell he was Christian by the way he was living his life.

No offense,but you are merely making biased and general statements about Catholics in general. I too can say Protestants only go to church because they forced or taught by their parents that they must do this. Does that sound fair to you? They do not love God? Sorry,but who are you to judge one’s heart and soul?

Second, Jesus himself says in John 6 one has no LIFE unless you eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. That sounds pretty clear to me. Jesus never says: Only read your Bible and salvation will come. Do you follow His rules? Do you truly believe in the Real Presence of the Eucharist? Most non-Catholics teach it is only a symbol. Third, one does not have to make an open statement that he or she has accepted Jesus into their hearts. Not saying it or declaring it does not mark one as un-Christian. The motto: Accept Jesus into your heart stems from fundamentalist cirlces. The Apostles where not making it their goal or mission to go around asking people: Do you accept Christ into your heart?

Be careful.

 

[Kristin234]

Kristin234,

I think you are making some very judgmental assumptions about Catholics. One could say the same thing about many non-Catholics.

In every Church you will find those whose hearts are so devoted to Christ, the love spills over into service of God and fellowman. You will also find those who are just going through the motions.

There are people who “ask Jesus to come into their hearts” and feel so assured of the security of their salvation, they lead lives far from the Holiness, to which we are called.

None of us have the right to judge the heart or intentions of another.

Peace,
Anna

I’m sorry if I came off judgmental because I wasn’t trying to be. I was just pointing out that even though you take communion doesn’t mean you know, trust, and love Christ. I’m definitely not saying all Catholics are like that. I know they aren’t. A lot of my family are Catholic who have completely dedicated their lives to God. And I know that many non-Catholics claim they know God when they don’t either. I just meant that it makes sense to ask people if they have accepted Christ because just because they are Catholic and take communion doesn’t mean they are. Same goes for Protestants. Just because they say they are Christian and go to church doesn’t mean they actually are. I know very well I do not have the right to judge and that’s not what I was trying to do.

 

[Kristin234]

No offense,but you are merely making biased and general statements about Catholics in general. I too can say Protestants only go to church because they forced or taught by their parents that they must do this. Does that sound fair to you? They do not love God? Sorry,but who are you to judge one’s heart and soul?

I did not say all Catholics are like that. I said I have so many Catholic friends who I know very well that are like that. I am not generalizing and saying all Catholics. I know all Catholics aren’t like that. Yes there are Protestants that go to church cus they were forced to. That wasn’t the point of my comment.