There is often talk of a "sinner's prayer," in which an interested party is to be led in order to become a Christian. Of course, praying doesn't make one a Christian anyway, but there's also folly in thinking that an unconverted person would ever want to pray such a prayer prior to being born again.What would a true sinner's prayer look like? In other words, what would an honest prayer from an unconverted person* look like?
John Gerstner, mentor of R.C. Sproul, gives this suggestion:
"Dear God, whom I hate with all my being precisely because you hate and threaten me with hell, I hate this punishment perhaps even more than I hate you. Or, maybe I should say that I love my comfort even more than I hate you. For that reason I am asking a favor of you. I want you to make me love you, whom I hate even when I ask this and even more because I have to ask this. I am being frank with you because I know it is no use to be otherwise. You know even better than I how much I hate you and that I love only myself. It is no use for me to pretend to be sincere. I most certainly do not love you and do not want to love you. I hate the thought of loving you but that is what I’m asking because I love myself. If you can answer this 'prayer' I guess the gift of gratitude will come with it and then I will be able to do what I would not think of doing now—thank you for making me love you whom I hate. Amen."
-John Gerstner, Rational Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards (Powhatan, VA: Berea Publications, 1993), 3:81.
*As described by Scripture ... e.g., 1 Cor 2:14; John 3:3, 6-8, 19-20; 6:44; Acts 16:14; 2 Cor 4:4; Jer 17:9; Ezek 36:26-27; etc.
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