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05-12-2013, 03:33 PM
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Registered Member
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 169
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Altar Call
Why do people go down front for a "blessing" after church? Why do pastors say its moving down front and that you have to go down front to meet God? Is this just tradition?
I can't find bible for it. Help me out!
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05-12-2013, 04:37 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Colorado
Posts: 6,178
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Re: Altar Call
Quote:
Originally Posted by LifeUncommon
Why do people go down front for a "blessing" after church? Why do pastors say its moving down front and that you have to go down front to meet God? Is this just tradition?
I can't find bible for it. Help me out!
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Well, I'll post a reflection--not so much an answer. And I don't want it to be misconstrued, but most any Pastor would admit that there is some showmanship involved in running especially a Pentecostal church; and the altar call is among other things a way to cement a Pastor's 'authority.'
I do remember studying this subject years ago, and although I can't find the relevant Scripture right now, I believe the Scriptural reason was to make 'it' a public confession or dedication.
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05-12-2013, 07:45 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 2,485
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Re: Altar Call
Charitable answer: More room down front to pray in pairs and groups... I mean really, have you ever tried to pray with people leaning over pews, scrunched down on the floor next to them in pews, from behind them in pews???
Less Charitable answer: Power Trip.
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05-12-2013, 08:25 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 5,406
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Re: Altar Call
Quote:
Originally Posted by LifeUncommon
Why do people go down front for a "blessing" after church? Why do pastors say its moving down front and that you have to go down front to meet God? Is this just tradition?
I can't find bible for it. Help me out!
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Tradition.
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05-13-2013, 08:45 PM
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Apostolic Pentecostal
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: United States
Posts: 3,417
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Re: Altar Call
I think that T2W has the right answer. As a rule, it is often easier to pray for people in and around the altar area where there is more room. I have both worked and watched other work in both settings. It is just easier to move at the front. Further, This has actually been done in Protestant circles since the time of Wesley and the commencement of the 'Methodist/Holiness' movement. It would have also been a strike against the 'high church' formalism of the Presbyterian, Congregational, Anglican, Lutheran, and Catholic settings of the time.
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05-13-2013, 08:57 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 2,485
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Re: Altar Call
I always loved the altar service. It is in my opinion the most genuine and authentic part of Pentecostal services mostly void of the showmanship of preaching. I would love it better without the driving, repetitive music that is so prevalent in big churches and love small churches that don't have full 'bands' for that reason... Head and shoulders over hearing the choir sing although I love that too... only thing I love better might be testimony services and you just never hardly see those any more... but I could sit for hours and hear my brothers and sisters in the Lord testify about the goodness of God.
I do really miss church some days.
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05-13-2013, 09:06 PM
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Apostolic Pentecostal
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: United States
Posts: 3,417
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Re: Altar Call
I agree that the altar call does not need heavy music, unless of course it is more for giving God praise, and then I do not care as much. However, I believe that as long as things are done 'decently and in order', we do not have much room for our own personal preferences, and must submit. Which is not to say that we have not all seen things done out of order. When that happens, I have heard pastor's apologize for having certain preachers in their pulpits.
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05-13-2013, 09:20 PM
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Supercalifragilisticexpiali...
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 19,197
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Re: Altar Call
I think altar service/call is mostly a non scriptural tradition. Not that it should be discarded on that basis, but it's mostly something that has just developed in recent history.
I guess the closest we would get to any scriptural support would be references that show those recieving the word after a message like Acts 2:37
1 Cor 13:16 and Acts 8:15
__________________
"It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity." Dave Barry 2005
I am a firm believer in the Old Paths
Articles on such subjects as "The New Birth," will be accepted, whether they teach that the new birth takes place before baptism in water and Spirit, or that the new birth consists of baptism of water and Spirit. - THE PENTECOSTAL HERALD Dec. 1945
"It is doubtful if any Trinitarian Pentecostals have ever professed to believe in three gods, and Oneness Pentecostals should not claim that they do." - Daniel Segraves
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05-14-2013, 04:48 AM
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Registered Member
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 169
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Re: Altar Call
Thanks, everyone. Tradition, it is!
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05-15-2013, 01:11 PM
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Unvaxxed Pureblood
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Zion aka TEXAS
Posts: 26,945
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Re: Altar Call
Quote:
Originally Posted by LifeUncommon
Why do people go down front for a "blessing" after church? Why do pastors say its moving down front and that you have to go down front to meet God? Is this just tradition?
I can't find bible for it. Help me out!
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I have NEVER heard a pastor say the bolded part or anything like it.
I HAVE heard plenty of charismaniacs say things similar to it, tho.
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