God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
Yet what we as Christians see when we look to the cross is not weakness, but power on display. The power to willingly suffer for the sake of another. The power to hold back wrath when being mocked. The power to rise from the dead. And how was Jesus’ power demonstrated? In meekness, gentleness and humility. And the reason opponents don’t see it in Christ’s servants as a sign of greatness is probably because they’ve never seen it in Jesus.
A man's willingness (or unwillingness) to come to the front of a church building says nothing about his willingness to come to Christ. Walking in front of a crowd has nothing at all to do with the conversion process, and we have no right to create such a false category of 'public declaration of faith' and thus pronounce the Biblical requirement fulfilled. We have every right indeed, we have divine right to require baptism as this outward and public profession of faith. And we have every right to expect that faith to continue to be evident in life. But the altar call is another matter entirely. It is an artificial, man-made requirement which, by virtue of its human origin, is a matter of no consequence whatever.
