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

[jmcrae]

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?

I don’t think we really have an “official view” on it. My personal take on it is that it’s a nice, very simple prayer, and that I hope someone would pray it more than once in his life. I am thinking that praying it once a week or so would help to keep a person on track with his spiritual life.

1. If a non-Christian converted to Catholicism, are there certain prayers involved in conversion?

There is actually a whole year-long process, which involves prayers, rituals, study, and contemplation, called the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, or “RCIA” for short.

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?

It depends on what the sin was. For serious sins, we make use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which is a ritual that you do in dialogue with a priest. It begins with a short prayer, continues with the person recounting his sin(s), then some advice from the priest, along with a penance for you to do after you leave the Confessional, followed by the person reciting an Act of Contrition, which expresses sorrow for sins and the resolve not to commit them any more out of love for Christ. (You can make up your own, or you can choose from a list of them that you can find in any prayer book). This is accompanied by or followed by the words of the Absolution from the priest, which assures us of the forgiveness of God for our sins, and then a blessing from the priest.

For less serious sins, any prayer that expresses sorrow for sins and love for Jesus Christ is fine, without needing to go to Confession. Even just dipping your fingers in holy water (which reminds us of our baptism,when all of our sins were washed away) and making the sign of the Cross (which reminds us of what Christ had to do to free us from our sins) is fine.

My take on why people object to the Sinner’s Prayer is not the content of the prayer itself, nor the fact that there is a prayer, but more just the idea that all you have to do is recite it once in your life, and that’s it; suddenly, no matter what you do, you’re on the fast-track to Heaven.

Another sticking point is that those who seem to promote it most are also those who object to any kind of ritual or memorization of prayers - it seems contradictory, on the one hand, to forbid any kind of rote prayer or ritual, and then on the other hand, you “get saved” by doing this little ritual of going forward in front of the congregation and reciting this prayer.

 

[SingleMomMonica]

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?

I’m no longer a Catholic, but I can give you an Orthodox perspective…it is a beautiful prayer with the exception of “Thank You for saving me Lord Jesus” because that sounds a little…maybe Bold is the right word? If you ever have an opportunity to read Orthodox Prayers, you will find that they are more penitent in nature, like the majority of the prayer you quote. And also the Prayers have alot of the Psalms intermixed in them.

1. If a non-Christian converted to Catholicism, are there certain prayers involved in conversion?

If a non-Christian converted to Orthodoxy, the prayers involved in the Chrismation (Baptism, Confirmation & Eucharist) includes the Creed. The Baptism will wash away all sins committed up to that point.

From that point forward any sins committed are addressed during their daily Prayer Rule, which would likely include the following prayer: O Lord our God, if during this day I have sinned, whether in word or in deed or in thought, forgive me all, for You are good and love mankind. Grant me peaceful and undisturbed sleep, and deliver me from all influence and temptation of the evil one. Raise me up again in proper time that I may glorify You; for You are blesed with Your Only-Begotten Son and Your All-Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amin. In addition, sins are also Confessed to the priest - usually the Saturday before the reception of the Eucharist.

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?

Orthodox pray for forgiveness of sin through prayers already established in the Bible, like Psalm 50, and through prayers established by various Saints/Martyrs - like the one mentioned above. In addition, Orthodox Christians also pray for forgiveness using their own words if they choose. Prayers are usually directed to O Lord our God or O Christ our God and end with a doxology like: “for You are blessed together with…(the other Persons of the Trinity are mentioned)”

Thanks,
Anna

 

[Anna_Scott]

jmcrae & SingleMomMonica,

I appreciate all the detail you both gave to me.

I really didn’t realize Catholic and Orthodox Christians deal with sin in such a different way as the Baptist Churches I grew up in. This is such an important issue.

I do really like the prayers you cited. Is there a book of prayers I can buy?

I was thinking of visiting the Episcopal Church near my home. I checked Episcopal beliefs online and found they have a Book of Common Prayer. I was thinking about ordering one. Are their prayers similar to Catholic or Orthodox?

Thanks so much,
Anna

 

[jmcrae]

jmcrae & SingleMomMonica,

I appreciate all the detail you both gave to me.

I really didn’t realize Catholic and Orthodox Christians deal with sin in such a different way as the Baptist Churches I grew up in. This is such an important issue.

I do really like the prayers you cited. Is there a book of prayers I can buy?

I was thinking of visiting the Episcopal Church near my home. I checked Episcopal beliefs online and found they have a Book of Common Prayer. I was thinking about ordering one. Are their prayers similar to Catholic or Orthodox?

Thanks so much,
Anna

My favorite prayer book (meaning, the one I carry around and use the most often) is the St. Joseph Missal, which has all of the prayers I mentioned and more in the back of it. The main part of the Missal is taken up with the weekly Scripture readings for Mass.

I have no idea what’s in the Episcopal book of prayer, but I would expect that they have their own prayers. I doubt you would find any specifically-Catholic prayers in it.

 

[SingleMomMonica]

An Orthodox Prayer Book is called: A Prayer Book For Orthodox Christians and is translated from the Greek by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery Boston, Mass., USA the ISBN # is 0-943405-01-7. This Prayer Book has all that you will need and then some. And can be found at just about any Orthodox Monastery or Orthodox Church.

Another place to find only Morning & Evening Orthodox Prayers is in the: Orthodox Study Bible by St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology. Concilliar Press offers it - you can Google them.

Another thing you can do is visit the OnLine Chapel @ www.goarch.org (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of the Americas). It has the Scripture Readings of the day along with 1 Prayer updated for each Hour of Prayer based on EST. The Hours of Prayer are: Midnight, 6 am, 9 am, noon, 3 pm, 6 pm and 9 pm. This can be something you can use to get used to regular prayer before you spend any money for a full prayer book. You will want to seek an Orthodox spiritual father to customize a Prayer Rule for you.

The Book of Common Prayer is a prayer book with prayers of different religion. That’s all I know about it. I don’t know who would have written the prayers found inside it, but since it’s from another religion it would not have been Saints & Martyrs that contributed the prayers. I guess it depends on what you’re really looking for as to whether or not it would be a good choice or not?

jmcrae & SingleMomMonica,

I appreciate all the detail you both gave to me.

I really didn’t realize Catholic and Orthodox Christians deal with sin in such a different way as the Baptist Churches I grew up in. This is such an important issue.

I do really like the prayers you cited. Is there a book of prayers I can buy?

I was thinking of visiting the Episcopal Church near my home. I checked Episcopal beliefs online and found they have a Book of Common Prayer. I was thinking about ordering one. Are their prayers similar to Catholic or Orthodox?

Thanks so much,
Anna