Have Christians Reduced Salvation to 'Get Out of Hell Free' Card?

Has salvation been reduced to a "Get Out of Hell Free" card? That's what one Southern Baptist believes.

Ken Keathley, professor of Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., says many Christians are presenting salvation as a "commodity that Jesus purchased and now offers."

"Christ is presented as having bought salvation by His death on the Cross, and if you ask Him then He will give it to you," he wrote in a recent commentary. "Salvation, redemption, and forgiveness are understood entirely as a purchase, a business deal, or a transaction. Salvation is reduced to the offer of a 'Get Out of Hell Free' card."

The professor was weighing in on a debate regarding the "sinner's prayer," where one asks Jesus into his or her heart.

The Southern Baptist Convention approved a resolution in June supporting the "sinner's prayer" amid debate over whether it is biblical and effective. The resolution came after David Platt, pastor at The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala., called the prayer "superstitious" and said it doesn't exist in the New Testament.

He further referred to it as "modern evangelism built on sinking sand" that "runs the risk of disillusioning millions of souls" in his talk at the Verge Conference earlier this year. Read more