What does "I accepted Christ as my savior" mean?

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I don’t know about you, but I have often heard about how protestant reformers “threw the baby out with the bathwater” in regards to Catholic teaching. In this case, I think that some Catholics are throwing the baby out with the bathwater on a perfectly valid and beautiful statement.

As a Catholic, I have 100% accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. That does not mean that I believe He is solely my Lord and Savior and no one else’s. What it means is that I, personally, have accepted Jesus as my Savior. EVERY Christian should be able to say this statement comfortably. What appears to be happening is that Catholics are lumping the “personal Lord and Savior” statement in with a bunch of other protestant theology–once saved always saved, faith alone, etc. It is right and good to disagree with those doctrines because they are false. However, there is nothing wrong with professing that we, personally, have accepted the Lord as Savior. We each, personally, must accept the Father’s invitation (grace) which draws us to Christ (Jn 6:65).

Along the same lines, it is perfectly alright to claim to be born-again. Catholics (rightly) view being born again as outlined by Christ in the Bible-- we are born again of Spirit and water, rather than an emotional “alter call” experience. Still, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the statement "I’m a “born-again” Christian.
 
reen12 said:
Members of mainline churches - awash in “He said…No He didn’t,”
“We’ve got the fulness of faith,” “Yes our Marian dogmas make sense,”
“Of course an indulgence from the Treasury of Merit is to be taken seriously,”
“Yes, our clergy are mediators,” “We’ve got the infallible truth”…

stops not those hearts - boarding those planes, bringing a heart
in love with Jesus. Let others debate and define and discuss.
They have no need of mystical tradition - or any other ‘tradition.’

“Who do you say that I am?”

“I have accepted Jesus as my personal savior. He has done the work of our salvation.
He is my justification before his father. He is my righteousness. In Him I am safe and saved.”

“To Him be glory everlasting.”

reen12
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There are hundreds of thousands of Catholic Missionaries all over the world who also “board planes” to help the poor. There are 2500+ Catholic Dioceses world-wide and one Billion Catholics, more than any Evangelical Christians.
Fact of the matter is not only are there over 800,000 converts to the Catholic faith IN AFRICA ALONE EVERY YEAR, but many people are converting to the Catholic church more than ever before. We are still the number one religion in the world, trailing not far behind are the Muslims. Evangelical Christianity may be dorment here in the U.S., but not all over the world.
People are becoming Roman Catholics, which makes sense about the church Christ started. Just watch the program on EWTN called “The Journey Home”, every Monday night and see how many other religions are converting and why.
 
MarcoPolo said:
FYI, my idea for this thread came when I was listening to an ESPN podcast (yes, begrudgingly, they are one of the few sources with decent topical sports podcasts) and they were interviewing Giants wide receiver David Tyree (of Superbowl fame catching the ball against his helmet). Apparently, Tyree was involved in drugs and at some point recently he said he “accepted Christ as [his] savior.” I wondered what he meant by saying that.

I know what it means if I were to say it, but I wanted to know how non-Catholics meant it.

I wonder if Tyree believes he has relinquished himself and given complete control to God. More power to the one that can do this totally!!!
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If I am to interject and speak for Tyree…this means.

(1) Tyree was obviously not a Christian at the time he accepted Christ as his savior. That is apparant by his involvement in drugs.
(2) At some point Tyree made a decision to become a Christian and to follow Christ. This may have happened in any number of ways.
(3) But it did involve a personal encounter with the living Lord Jesus Christ in which his life was radically changed.
(4) Perhaps soon after this encounter Tyree started attending church and was soon baptized.
(5) However, it happened, the description that the church Tyree attends uses this event is “accept Christ as His personal Saviour”. So those are the words Tyree uses.

Other than being nitpicky over the description that Tyree uses (not all Christians including my church use the same description) what could possilbly be wrong here.
 
When I accepted Christ as my Savior it was one of the two best days of my life. I felt a huge burden being lifted away … I was forgiven, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus loved me. Someone posted earlier that it’s arrogant to think that he died only for “me.” Actually it’s not. Had I been the ONLY person to benefit from his death, he still would’ve done it all - just for me. He loves me that much.

Soooo… when someone tells me that they’ve accepted Christ as their Savior I am so very :extrahappy: Then I start to pray that like me, they would come to know Him fully through His Holy Church. Becoming Catholic was the other best day of my life.
 
MarcoPolo said:
If a someone came up to you and said, “I heard you accepted Christ as your savior. What does that mean?” How do you answer?
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I’d tell them, “I’ve accepted everything that the Church teaches, not what Protestants teach. They believe faith is in itself enough for salvation, when it fact faith without works is dead and works without love is nothing.”
 
Nickkname said:
I’d tell them, “I’ve accepted everything that the Church teaches, not what Protestants teach. They believe faith is in itself enough for salvation, when it fact faith without works is dead and works without love is nothing.”
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And we don’t believe in the importance and neccessity of works and love?
 
With_Questions said:
Other than being nitpicky over the description that Tyree uses (not all Christians including my church use the same description) what could possilbly be wrong here.
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Has anyone criticized Tyree here? I certainly haven’t.
 
MarcoPolo said:
FYI, my idea for this thread came when I was listening to an ESPN podcast (yes, begrudgingly, they are one of the few sources with decent topical sports podcasts) and they were interviewing Giants wide receiver David Tyree (of Superbowl fame catching the ball against his helmet). Apparently, Tyree was involved in drugs and at some point recently he said he “accepted Christ as [his] savior.” I wondered what he meant by saying that.

I know what it means if I were to say it, but I wanted to know how non-Catholics meant it.

I wonder if Tyree believes he has relinquished himself and given complete control to God. More power to the one that can do this totally!!!
Click to expand...
Hi POLO…:D…He simply is saying he has done what John the baptist preached, “repent and embrace” the Messiah and the LORD blessed him with the gift of salvation.
 
myfavoritmartin said:
Hi POLO…:D…He simply is saying he has done what John the baptist preached, “repent and embrace” the Messiah and the LORD blessed him with the gift of salvation.
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:tiphat: Yeah, I kind of get that…but say I’m an athiest or something and you tell me you “embraced the Messiah”…I wouldn’t know what on earth you meant!
 
MarcoPolo said:
Has anyone criticized Tyree here? I certainly haven’t.
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I am not saying that anybody has criticized Tyree.

If I am reading some posts correctly, I am reading some criticism as to the description “Accepting Christ as my savior” that is that he uses to explain the encounter with Jesus Christ that he experienced.

Being critical of this description seems nitpicky to me.

That having been said this description might be in the category of “Christianese”. But now I am nitpicking.
 
MarcoPolo said:
:tiphat: Yeah, I kind of get that…but say I’m an athiest or something and you tell me you “embraced the Messiah”…I wouldn’t know what on earth you meant!
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maybe not if you said “embraced the Messiah” but I think most people, atheists included get the general gist of the thread title. Some may think you’ve gone off the deep end - or became a Jesus freak - but I don’t think anyone is totally like, gosh I’ve never heard of that before? At least not in the USA.
 
reteeks21 said:
Sorry. I didn’t quite understand. Could you explain it for me? Thanks.
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Sure 🙂 Many Protestants believe faith alone is enough for salvation, even though Scripture teaches that faith without works is dead, and that works without love is nothing in the eyes of God.
 
Nickkname said:
Sure 🙂 Many Protestants believe faith alone is enough for salvation, even though Scripture teaches that faith without works is dead, and that works without love is nothing in the eyes of God.
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I understand your arguement. I was trying to say that we do value love and works more than what may be believed, but we just don’t see it the same way as you. Glad we could talk. Thank you.
 
reteeks21 said:
I understand your arguement. I was trying to say that we do value love and works more than what may be believed, but we just don’t see it the same way as you. Glad we could talk. Thank you.
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How so? 🙂
 
Nickkname said:
How so? 🙂
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We do not believe works are necessary to maintain salvation. We believe they come naturally due to our union with Christ. If a person claims to have faith yet their lives bear no fruit of the working of faith then they need to re-examine their relationship with God.
 
What does 'sure and certain" mean - to an evangelical?
What connection is there…in terms of accepting Jesus, as
one’s personal savior?
What differentiates ‘sure and certain,’ from the presumption
of God’s mercy?

If one is determined to embrance a model of an ‘economy’ of grace -
where grace is spoken of - as if it were a commodity ‘dispensed’ -

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

I suppose the reality of ‘sure and certain’ would seem utterly puzzling,
to those memebers of ecclesial entities based on a sacramental system:

Grace ‘dispensed’ through ‘fonts’ of grace:

God’s grace is a relational reality, for Evangelicals -
not some’thing’ conveyed by ‘fonts.’

Grace one receives in astonishment, for it is amazing grace.
It is good news.

“I have accepted Jesus as my personal savior.He has done the work of our salvation.
He is my justification before his father. He is my righteousness. In Him I am safe and saved.”

“To Him be glory everlasting.”

reen12
 
What does 'sure and certain" mean - to an evangelical?
What connection is there - in terms of accepting Jesus
as one’s personal savior?
What differentiates ‘sure and certain,’ from the presumption
of God’s mercy?

If one accepts an ‘economy’ of grace - where grace is
spoken of as if it were a commodity ‘dispensed’ -

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

I suppose the reality of ‘sure and certain’ would seem utterly puzzling,
to those members of ecclesial entities based on a sacramental system:

Grace ‘dispensed’ through ‘fonts’ of grace.

God’s grace is a relational reality, for evangelicals -
not some’thing’ conveyed by ‘fonts.’
Grace one receives in astonishment… for it is amazing grace.
It is good news.

“I have accepted Jesus as my personal savior.He has done the work of our salvation.
He is my justification before his father. He is my righteousness. In Him I am safe and saved.”

“To Him be glory everlasting.”

reen12
 
yellowbird said:
maybe not if you said “embraced the Messiah” but I think most people, atheists included get the general gist of the thread title. Some may think you’ve gone off the deep end - or became a Jesus freak - but I don’t think anyone is totally like, gosh I’ve never heard of that before? At least not in the USA.
Click to expand...
I think atheists view the person as their answer to “yes” when asked “Do you believe Jesus is God?” And then they will call them hypocrites the moment they catch the Christian sin.
 
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