Bible Studies

Altar Calls? Part 3

by Doug Laird 
09/14/21
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Altar calls?

Part Three

There never has been, there is not now, nor will there ever be, the ability nor the need for Man to reproduce either the Person (body and blood) of the Lord Jesus Christ or the atoning Work that He accomplished on the cross.

The stated (1Cor. 11: 24, 25) purpose for the celebration of The Lord’s Supper (Communion) was, and is, to bring into remembrance (not to reproduce) the Person and the atoning Work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This ritual of remembrance is to be practiced here on Earth until He returns (1Cor.11: 26).

The use of an altar in an attempt to reproduce the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (transubstantiation) was only one of many  Church Age traditions of men (Matt. 15: 9) that would take place on or around the altars that Man has placed within the Christian Community.

With the 3^rd Century and beyond, the Romanization of a large portion of the Christian Community, it became the custom for worshippers in the Roman Church, upon entering and leaving the sanctuary to genuflect before the Tabernacle (housing the Communion elements) that is not on, but in the vicinity of, the altar.

This popular practice became officially mandated in the Roman Church as of the year 1502.

This practice reinforces the erroneous, but highly esteemed, concept that the body and blood of Christ is literally present in the Communion elements, as opposed to the Protestant position that the elements are sacred, but are symbolic in nature.

Note that when the ritual was introduced in the upper room of a private residence, there was no altar and that His atoning blood had not yet been shed.

The practices and pageantry of Man made religion can erroneously promote and elevate the tangible furnishings and facilitating apparatus to a level of equality with what or who they symbolically represent.

Such beliefs and practices reinforce and promote the perceived, but erroneous need for a tangible altar and or a religious priest (1Tim. 2: 5) to secure and maintain a relationship with God, and or to be the  means for an individual to become the recipient of divine blessings.

Prostrating oneself, raising and waving arms and hands, folding hands, bowing, and kneeling during religious activities are practiced in many areas of the Protestant Christian Community, as well.

It the not the genuflecting, kneeling, bowing, standing, etc., that is the issue, but to Whom, to what, or for what purpose such actions are taking place.

There is a place for bodily positions and functions that demonstrate the humility of Man and respect for God, but the same things can also be used to engage in idolatry and false religion.

Again, the last tangible altar that God acknowledged was the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ on which the last and final sacrifice (Hebrews 10: 10) was made.

The unadulterated Gospel Message points to altar of the cross on Calvary, and not to altars of Man

It is because of the misleading focus of attention given to the altars of Man that causes me not to be a fan of using the phrase “altar call” when referring to affording others an opportunity to respond to a presentation of the Gospel Message.