How Do You Respond To Decision Theology?

[Anastasia13]

So I was on wikipedia looking up stuff about amyraldism and lutheranism and came accross an article on decision theology:

"Decision theology is a popularized form of Christian theological belief regarding the way one must receive or achieve salvation in Jesus Christ. The premise of decision theology is that one must make a conscious decision to accept Christ, in contrast to Reformed, Catholic, and Lutheran beliefs which reject free will in respect to salvation. This view is most commonly found among many Evangelical and Fundamentalist Protestant evangelists such as Billy Graham. It is generally seen by most Protestant theologians as a simplified, often over-simplified, form of Arminian theology that postulates co-operation between man's free will and the grace of God in salvation."

So how does one respond to such a subject? What is the reasoning towards rejection of this theology?

[aalpha1989]

The Church certainly does not reject free will in respect to salvation- free will has everything to do with salvation. Whoever wrote this has no idea what they are talking about.

We believe that one must be baptized to be saved- but just because you are baptized does not mean you will go to heaven. You may be baptized and still decide not to keep God's commandments, thus consciously rejecting God himself and deciding to go to Hell. If you through no fault of your own are never baptized by water but you live in honest search for truth and live according to your conscience then you might be baptized by desire, thus granting you salvation- the Church does not have the authority to say what individuals may have been granted baptism by desire, and the judging of hearts we leave to God. All ways of salvation (and the corollary, damnation) are accessible by free will (and the mercy of God).

[Ziggamafu]

Wikipedia is accurate [i][citation needed][/i].

[thessalonian]

The writer does not know what he is talking about with regard to Catholicism, though it is far more complicated than he makes the whole thing as well. Certainly everyone has a responsibility when they are of the age of reason to follow Christ. Those younger than that age are guided by their parents. The decision is not apart from grace for God draws us toward him through nature and through others. He also has implanted his laws on our hearts (see rom 2:14-16) so that those who are willing to listen hear truth and are drawn to it. What we are that allows us to make a "decision" for him is given to us by his grace and so yes, we have free will and he respects it. Yet he gave us the tools by grace to make the correct decision. Those who do not have resisted his grace.

[MithLuin]

Yeah, I'll add myself to the queue of those saying this article misrepresents the Catholic position.

But the practical form of this is someone asking you, "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour? Do you [i]know[/i] that you will go to heaven when you die?"

So, how do you respond to that....

For one thing, as Catholics, we can share our baptismal vows with the person. If we were baptized as infants, we can explain that we renewed these vows ourselves when we were older. In addition to rejecting Satan and sin, we also accept the creed when we are baptized. So, sharing the Apostles' Creed and affirming that we do believe it can help demonstrate that we have made a choice for God. It would probably be appropriate to explain that we believe God gives us graces in baptism to help us live out these baptismal promises.

That is the main different between this type of thinking and Catholic teaching - they believe in a one-time decision made by a person [i]independent of baptism[/i] to follow Christ, and this is supposed to be enough to acheive [i]certainty[/i] of salvation. Their formula consists of: [i]1)[/i] admit that you are a sinner and [i]2)[/i] ask Jesus to come into your heart/life as lord and saviour. Once you have accepted Jesus as Lord, his promises kick in and you can be [u]sure[/u] you are going to heaven. (Sample prayer: "Dear LORD JESUS, I believe that YOU died on the Cross and Rose from the dead for my sins. I ask you to come into my heart and forgive me for my sins, take me to heaven when I die. I now receive You as my Lord and Savior. Thank You for saving me. In Jesus' holy name, Amen.")

To call this oversimplified is an understatement. It almost reduces conversion to a magic formula - say this prayer, and God [i]has[/i] to do what it says in the Bible! And what? All our subsequent actions and beliefs are meaningless? Very fishy. Especially since many of these people do not see baptism as necessary - it is merely a public sign of a person's desire to join a particular church community.

But that does not mean there is no room for this idea at all in our own understanding. We can certainly have a conversion experience where we recognize our own sinfulness and lay our life down and submit it to Jesus. So, that part is fine. But as Catholics, we don't believe it ends there. We believe that salvation is a process, which extends through our entire life. Our walk with the Lord may have ups and downs, but judgement comes after death. To claim that we are certain now is pretty arrogant. It is more accurate to say that we "are being saved" than that we "are saved."


In my experience, merely saying "Yes, I am a Christian, I believe in Jesus" is enough for the first part. People generally trust that you wouldn't say that if you weren't a believer.

But it is much harder to convince them on the second part. They feel sad for you, not knowing where you are going to go when you die. They think that you are wasting time and effort worrying about your own salvation, when you could be [u]certain[/u] and then go worry about other people's. For this part, you will need Bible verses .

[quote]Phillipians 2: 12-18
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.[/quote]

In one memorable conversation, a gentleman followed me down the street trying to convince me of this. I had no desire to let him know where I lived, so I stopped walking and stood on the sidewalk talking with him. It was cold out, and I had a warm coat on. I knew that (just standing still) he wasn't going to be able to endure the cold for as long as I could. So, basically, I just waited it out until eventually he had to leave.

[CatherineM]

The four branches of theology at my seminary are biblical, foundational (history), systematic (sacraments), and moral/spiritual (my field). There are also things such as liberation theology that aren't areas of study necessarily, but rather philosophies of theology. I guess decision theology would fall into that realm. I have never heard of it.