Last night, Carolyn and I attended a presentation at our old church at the invitation of friends which was titled "Heaven's Gate or Hell's Flames" which used vignettes and video against a backdrop which tried to represent the entry to heaven or (stage right) the gates of hell.
The vignettes showed various life-situations where people might either accept/reject/put off a decision to follow Christ followed immediately by their death (car accident, suicide, murder, etc.) where they find themselves before Heaven's Gate pleading to the angels to find their name in the Book of Life only to be grabbed by the devil and his demons if they hadn't accepted Christ. Those who had accepted Him were welcomed into heaven with fanfare and rejoicing.
Really, this was a revival meeting updated to include strobe lights, video and loud music. But the Gospel was preached and obviously was impactful in that dozens went forward at the altar call to proclaim publicly their acceptance of Christ. They were then given either prayer support and/or a packet of material for their review later and they were invited to a Bible teaching church.
As the pastor said, many would find this approach dated, but the outreach over 3 days brought dozens to the altar rail. So my question is what do you think about this evangelical approach? Can you scare someone into a relationship with Christ? Or is fear of hell a legitimate heart response that can convict us of our sins and prompt us to bow in obedience?
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I had never heard the term "decisional regeneration" so I googled it and reviewed some articles which seem to indicate a theology where specific acts (ie walking the aisle, reciting a prepared prayer, etc) are the prerequisite to salvation. While that is patently un-Biblical, if an individual after hearing of his sin, recognizes his sinful nature, repents, and submits his life to the Lordship of Christ, commits a public profession of faith by standing at the front of a church, would that "altar call" be un-Biblical or just another way of identifying oneself publicly as a follower of Christ? Is the concern with the practice itself or that it might lead some to falsely believe they are Christians when they have not in fact submitted to Christ?
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