Page 12 - True Gospel Evangelism

Accepting the Lord

The phrase “accepting the Lord as your personal savior” is almost universally used in
the realm of Christian denominations. The word, “accept,” indicates a conscience
decision on the behalf of the individual to either accept or reject something offered.

The word, “accept,” is to be distinguished from the word, “receive,” as something
may be received without responding to an offer. For instance, I live in a rural area of
the United States and we have postal delivery service daily except on Sunday. The
mail is delivered to a mail box. Most days my mail box receives mail delivered to it

by the postman. However, my mail box has never yet accepted any item of mail.
Over the years there have literally been tens of thousands of items of mail delivered
to my mail box in which my mail box received. Not once has my mail box ever been
offered any of the items of mail to be accepted or rejected.

Often we believe things that we are taught. Most often we receive the teaching. How-
ever, God has never offered the scriptures to us to be accepted or rejected. Simply put,
he has given us the scriptures and we should believe them.

The words, accept or accepted or accepteth, appear in the scriptures exactly 57 times.
In 37 of those times the context is of the Lord either accepting or rejecting something
offered to him of man. The other 20 times the context involving men either accepting

or rejecting something offered to them by other men.