What exactly are the words to "The Sinner's Prayer" & where did this Protestant Tradition come from?

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Read on another thread that Protestants believe that unless someone has said “The Sinner’s Prayer” then they are damned.

Decades ago, I said “The Sinner’s Prayer”, but for the life of me I can’t remember the exact words.

Also, with Protestants being so into Sola Scriptura…where did this “Sinner’s Prayer” Tradition and requirement for salvation come from?

I apologize in advance if these are considered stupid questions.
 
“Protestants believe” is never really a good way to start things off. Some Protestants might believe something like that, the mainline Protestant churches certainly don’t.
 
There is not a scripted prayer which one memorizes and recites to be saved. When you aid someone, because he is afraid that he saying the wrong thing the leader is speaking his own heart and we expect that God will see the heart of the new saint. As the new Christian gains confidence he will say his own heart felt version of the sinner’s prayer and hopefully someday will lead some other soul to Christ with that prayer.

It is the prayer you say when you accept that you are a sinner and need salvation through Jesus Christ. In other words it is not something someone else like your parents and the family priest can do for you, it is up to you to believe and thrust God and ask Him to extend His grace to you.
 
Would this work?: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.
4Squarebaby said:
There is not a scripted prayer which one memorizes and recites to be saved. When you aid someone, because he is afraid that he saying the wrong thing the leader is speaking his own heart and we expect that God will see the heart of the new saint. As the new Christian gains confidence he will say his own heart felt version of the sinner’s prayer and hopefully someday will lead some other soul to Christ with that prayer.

It is the prayer you say when you accept that you are a sinner and need salvation through Jesus Christ. In other words it is not something someone else like your parents and the family priest can do for you, it is up to you to believe and thrust God and ask Him to extend His grace to you.
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SingleMomMonica said:
Would this work?: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.
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If you believed in Jesus Christ then yes I accept on faith and do believe it would be seen as heartfelt prayer that God will accept. If you just say it because it is that time during the liturgy when everyone says it and you don’t want to stick out among other men then no it would be just words
 
4Squarebaby said:
If you believed in Jesus Christ then yes I accept on faith and do believe it would be seen as heartfelt prayer that God will accept. If you just say it because it is that time during the liturgy when everyone says it and you don’t want to stick out among other men then no it would be just words
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It’s a private prayer called the Prayer of the Heart. The soul crying out to God from very depths. It’s prayed with each breath. It’s a way to fulfill the Bible’s call to Christians to “pray without ceasing”.

A Prayer Rope or someone else mentioned a chokti to count how many times it is prayed which is necessary if your spiritual father has has assigned a specific number along with mentanois each day with your Prayer Rule.

Once the Prayer is activated in the Heart, it continues even when you speak, sleep or do any other activities. I had a brief glimpse of it several years ago and it was so amazing and awesome! I can’t wait until God blesses me again with it! Until then, I will continue the struggle.
 
SingleMomMonica said:
Read on another thread that Protestants believe that unless someone has said “The Sinner’s Prayer” then they are damned.

Decades ago, I said “The Sinner’s Prayer”, but for the life of me I can’t remember the exact words.

Also, with Protestants being so into Sola Scriptura…where did this “Sinner’s Prayer” Tradition and requirement for salvation come from?

I apologize in advance if these are considered stupid questions.
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First of all, I don’t know that all Protestant denominations think you are damned if you haven’t prayed this prayer. It’s not considered like a sacrament. Second, I don’t think it’s a scripted prayer, but a personal prayer when someone is asking God to save their soul.

The churches I have always attended encouraged new believers (not converts, but those who have never known Jesus ever before and are new to being a Christian) to pray a prayer like that to ask Jesus into their hearts, but it’s not an exact prayer to my knowledge. It’s just basically a prayer from your heart acknowledging that you have sinned/are a sinner, you confess whatever sins and ask for forgiveness, acknowledge that you need Jesus to save you, that you accept Him as your one and only savior and that you believe in His birth, death on the cross, and resurrection.

Well, that’s the gist of it anyway. And the idea of it is based on scripture, isn’t it? I think its point is a universal Christian concept.
 
4Squarebaby said:
If you believed in Jesus Christ then yes I accept on faith and do believe it would be seen as heartfelt prayer that God will accept. If you just say it because it is that time during the liturgy when everyone says it and you don’t want to stick out among other men then no it would be just words
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kind of like when protestants go up to the altar call just because everybody else is doing it?or making profession of faith because its what their parents expect? that was my experience growing up protestant. the people i know who say it in the liturgy, do mean it. their is a huge misconception among protestants, that the Catholic faith is just mere words, and that the majority of Catholics are just reciting verbatum. nothing could be farther from the truth.
 
benidict said:
kind of like when protestants go up to the altar call just because everybody else is doing it?or making profession of faith because its what their parents expect? that was my experience growing up protestant. the people i know who say it in the liturgy, do mean it. their is a huge misconception among protestants, that the Catholic faith is just mere words, and that the majority of Catholics are just reciting verbatum. nothing could be farther from the truth.
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Touchy, touchy.

In my experience as a Protestant, I don’t recall seeing anyone going to the altar just because others do. In fact, few do go to the altar at my church. I think it takes lots of nerve (IMO) to go in front of the congregation to pray at the altar or to make a public profession of faith ,so to do it just to please others or to fit in is not likely.

There are exceptions everywhere I suppose, though.
 
sckcd said:
Touchy, touchy.

In my experience as a Protestant, I don’t recall seeing anyone going to the altar just because others do. In fact, few do go to the altar at my church. I think it takes lots of nerve (IMO) to go in front of the congregation to pray at the altar or to make a public profession of faith ,so to do it just to please others or to fit in is not likely.

There are exceptions everywhere I suppose, though.
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no not neccesarilly touchy, shes just slipping in some anti Catholic retoric in, in a subtle manner. so i thought id return the favor. and im glad you dont see anything like that. and i do hope its heartfelt, and not just for show. peace be to you.🙂
 
Lujack said:
“Protestants believe” is never really a good way to start things off. Some Protestants might believe something like that, the mainline Protestant churches certainly don’t.
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Thanks for the clarification. It seems that many Catholics here are radical about painting all Protestants as being the same, sola-scriptura, sola-fide, anti-traditional etc.
 
The prayer is not a scripted pray with special words, however to qualify as that prayer it should have:
  1. confession of sin
  2. public confession of belief in Jesus and His power to save
  3. Commitment to follow a Christian life
There is not a perfect script for this, even better if said from your heart!

The prayer is of course useless if the one praying it does not wholeheartedly mean it. (Really, I find it annoying to need to point out this obvious point.) God is not stupid, He is aware if you are faking it. The sinners prayer is not magical, It is a public confession. Can people lie? Sure they can. They can lie to a priest in confession too. Doesn’t make it wrong to do it.
 
Been a Protestant all of my life. I’ve never heard of “The Sinner’s Prayer.”
 
The “sinner’s prayer” was made popular by Billy Graham, and Campus Crusade for Christ, if I remember my history correctly (if not, I’m open to correction.) It was in practice before this time period, but not as widespread and popular.

It is basically a prayer acknowledging that one has sinned, and asking forgiveness of sin through Christ, who died for our sins and was resurrected so that we may have eternal life. It is a prayer of repentance, a turning from sin, and a submission to Christ as Lord.

The prayer represents a conscious decision to follow Christ. It is not meant to replace baptism. One is baptized in obedience to Christ, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—after repentance and the conscious decision to follow Christ.

Anna
 
SingleMomMonica said:
Read on another thread that Protestants believe that unless someone has said “The Sinner’s Prayer” then they are damned.

Decades ago, I said “The Sinner’s Prayer”, but for the life of me I can’t remember the exact words.

Also, with Protestants being so into Sola Scriptura…where did this “Sinner’s Prayer” Tradition and requirement for salvation come from?

I apologize in advance if these are considered stupid questions.
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I am by no means an expert but did a little bit of research. The Sinners Prayer as it is used today seems to have been popularized by early 20th century revivalists. A call to say a sinner’s prayer was also included in 20th century and late 19th century evangalization tracts.

The previous posters are correct that this is not a prayer used or “approved of” by all Protestant denominations. From what I can find, it seems to be most common in denominations that deny the need for water baptism and some denominations that have a “prosperity gospel” message. Since a lot of the TV evangelists fall into that category, I think it is less common in actual church use; life isn’t what you see on TV. 😉
 
Anna_Scott said:
The “sinner’s prayer” was made popular by Billy Graham, and Campus Crusade for Christ, if I remember my history correctly (if not, I’m open to correction.) It was in practice before this time period, but not as widespread and popular.

It is basically a prayer acknowledging that one has sinned, and asking forgiveness of sin through Christ, who died for our sins and was resurrected so that we may have eternal life. It is a prayer of repentance, a turning from sin, and a submission to Christ as Lord.

The prayer represents a conscious decision to follow Christ. It is not meant to replace baptism. One is baptized in obedience to Christ, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—after repentance and the conscious decision to follow Christ. I was baptized shortly after.

Anna
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Corki said:
I am by no means an expert but did a little bit of research. The Sinners Prayer as it is used today seems to have been popularized by early 20th century revivalists. A call to say a sinner’s prayer was also included in 20th century and late 19th century evangalization tracts.

The previous posters are correct that this is not a prayer used or “approved of” by all Protestant denominations. From what I can find, it seems to be most common in denominations that deny the need for water baptism and some denominations that have a “prosperity gospel” message. Since a lot of the TV evangelists fall into that category, I think it is less common in actual church use; life isn’t what you see on TV. 😉
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I wouldn’t say it is most common in denominations that deny the need for water baptism or that it has a direct connection to a “prosperity gospel.” TV evangelists may use the sinner’s prayer, but that does not mean they invented the concept.

I grew up in Baptist Churches. So, I prayed this prayer, when I was 7 years old. I had some lessons with my minister and was baptized. The sinner’s prayer was never presented to me as a replacement for baptism, nor was there any connection to a prosperity gospel. Of course that was nearly 48 years ago.

A lot of things have change within Protestantism in 48 years. At age 7, I had never heard of a “prosperity gospel.” I didn’t even know the words I prayed were called “the sinner’s prayer.” I just knew I was a sinner and asked for forgiveness of my sins, and asked Christ to be the Lord of my life.

Anna
 
Justy90 said:
Thanks for the clarification. It seems that many Catholics here are radical about painting all Protestants as being the same, sola-scriptura, sola-fide, anti-traditional etc.
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Indeed. We are not all proponents of Sola-Scriptura, Sola-Fide; and we are not all anti-tradition, etc.

Anna
 
SingleMomMonica said:
Read on another thread that Protestants believe that unless someone has said “The Sinner’s Prayer” then they are damned.

Decades ago, I said “The Sinner’s Prayer”, but for the life of me I can’t remember the exact words.

Also, with Protestants being so into Sola Scriptura…where did this “Sinner’s Prayer” Tradition and requirement for salvation come from? . . .
Click to expand...
This is the “sinner’s prayer” found on BaptistBoard.com:

“Dear Jesus, I know that I’m a sinner and need Your forgiveness. I believe that You died for my sins and God raised You from the dead. I’m sorry for my sins and want to turn from them and follow You. I now confess that You are Lord and ask You to come into my life and be my Savior. Thank You for saving me Lord Jesus. In Your Name, amen.”

I have a few questions:
  1. What is the Catholic view of this prayer?
  2. If a non-Christian converted to Catholicism, are there certain prayers involved in conversion?
Most important question:
  1. How does a Catholic pray for forgiveness of sin? Do you pray to Jesus and ask for forgiveness, or do you pray to God the Father, through Christ, for forgiveness of sin?
Thanks,
Anna
 
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