{"id":12903,"date":"2012-10-29T11:00:08","date_gmt":"2012-10-29T18:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=12903"},"modified":"2013-05-31T18:30:53","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T02:30:53","slug":"saving-sinners-from-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/saving-sinners-from-hell\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving Sinners from Hell"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

This is a guest post by Sam Riviera and is a follow-up post to “How to Win Souls… or Not<\/a>.” He\u00a0spends most of his time and energy caring for others in his community so that through his life and actions they might see Jesus. He has also written \u201c14 Reasons I Never Returned to the Institutional Church.<\/a>\u201c<\/p>\n

If you would like to write a guest post for this blog,\u00a0check out the guidelines here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"godGrowing up attending a conservative evangelical church, I was taught that I should invite the \u201cunsaved\u201d to church so they could hear the Gospel preached and have a chance to \u201cget saved.\u201d If they didn’t respond, at least they\u2019d had a chance. It would be their fault if they ended up in hell. I had done \u201cmy part.\u201d<\/p>\n

After my wife and I married and began attending another conservative evangelical church, we were surprised to learn that \u201cpersonal evangelism\u201d was the new fad. Somehow the responsibility for getting people saved had landed squarely in our laps. We were told a few people were occasionally getting saved at the end of a sermon at church, but that plan wasn\u2019t working well. Therefore, it was now our personal responsibility to \u201clead our unsaved friends, family members and neighbors to the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of us Are Failures at Personal Evangelism<\/h2>\n

Some churches may still emphasize personal evangelism, but I have rarely heard the term mentioned in the past twenty years. Most of us have never \u201cled anyone to the Lord.\u201d So we\u2019d prefer not to be told we should. If our church tries to pressure us in this way, we can always find another church.<\/p>\n

What About Proverbs 11:30?<\/h2>\n

However, doesn’t Proverbs 11:30 tell us \u201cHe that winneth souls is wise\u201d? Should we understand this to mean it is our responsibility to win souls, our responsibility to lead people to the Lord?<\/p>\n

Not everyone understands the verse to mean that. Matthew Henry<\/a> commented \u201cThe righteous are as trees of life; and their influence upon earth, like the fruits of that tree, support and nourish the spiritual life in many.\u201d<\/p>\n

Providence Baptist\u2019s online Bible study course teaches \u201cSome build a whole system of theology on this verse, believing that they can win men to Christ by their own powers of persuasion. But nowhere else in the Bible is this taught\u2026. \u2018Winneth\u2019 is nowhere else so rendered. The Hebrew word appears over 1050 times and is most commonly rendered \u2018taketh\u2019 or \u2018taketh away\u2019\u2026. Truly God\u2019s people are to witness of Him to others, but the Spirit alone can win them to Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some would frame the discussion in terms of Calvinism (only the Spirit can win people to Christ) versus Arminianism (we must lead or win people to Christ), but I think of those two viewpoints as \u201cthe two horns of a dilemma\u201d (in this case an either\/or proposition). Must it be \u201ceither\/or?\u201d Is there another way?<\/p>\n

Love – An Alternative<\/h2>\n

Rather than look at \u201csoul winning\u201d in terms of a theological argument, I look at it in terms of what I have observed as a follower of Jesus. Those I know who also follow Jesus, regardless of whether or not they grew up in church, believe that Jesus, through his Spirit, drew them to him. Sermons, Bible studies, perhaps even a theological argument may have been a part of the process. However, the love of Jesus, often shown to them by his followers, was often an even more important part of the process.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t need to be able to argue the Bible or theology. I don\u2019t need to be able to present the \u201cplan of salvation.\u201d I don\u2019t need to know the four or forty, or however many there are, spiritual laws. I don\u2019t need to be a \u201cgood closer.\u201d I don\u2019t need to be able to preach a fantastic sermon that will convince people.<\/p>\n

As a follower of Jesus, however, I do need to heed his words to love the people in my world, my \u201cneighbors\u201d \u2013 Not just the people on my block, but everyone I come in contact with \u2013 with his love. He will draw people to himself, not I. Perhaps he can use the love he has shown them through me, along with other things, as part of the process. However, it is he, not I, who draws people to himself.<\/p>\n

I am able to love people. That I can do. As he has loved me, I am able to love others. Maybe I\u2019m not great at it, but I can love others with the love he has shown me. That\u2019s pretty much what my life as his follower is all about.<\/p>\n

How about you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many churches teach that saving others is the responsibility of the people in the pews, so we should get involved in personal evangelism. But is this true? In this post, Sam Riviera suggests a better way – the way of loving others. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[19],"class_list":{"0":"post-12903","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"tag-discipleship","8":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nSaving Sinners from Hell<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Many churches teach that saving others is the responsibility of the people in the pews, so we should get involved in personal evangelism. 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