Do you have to accept Jesus in a church to be saved?

Absolutely not!

absolutely not! Ask Jesus to forgive you of you sin's and to save your soul.

No,

Salvation comes from repenting of our sins(turning from sin and self and turning to Christ), and believe in our hearts (not just intellectually)that Jesus is the Son of God; and that He died on a cross for our sins and rose again from the dead on the third day. If you believe in your heart (a life changing belief) and confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord (ruler and master of you life), you will be saved (spared from eternal sepearation from Him in a place called Hell).

This can take place anywhere, many people have been saved on the job, on the battle field, in prison, in their home, and yes even in the deer woods while hunting.

Nope, just look at the thieve that was punished right beside Jesus on the cross.
Luke:23 32-43

All you have to do is ask Him into your heart and ask forgiveness of your sins.
Join a church read the bible and pray daily.

I do not believe it has to be done in a church building. I know for me I wasn't in church when it happened, although I did go to church and proclaim it, and followed it with baptism.

Bingo!! But I do struggle to walk with Jesus every day.

No you do not. Salvation is a relationship between you and a Holy God, not you and a building!

In a tree stand, in a boat seat, in a church pew, Jesus saves! Follow thru as Fur says......God bless......

Yes, good point! Baptism is the first act of obedience following our salvation experience. Baptism is our outward expression of the inward change that Christ has made in our lives. It is a picture of salvation, that the old man has been buried and raised up and new creature in Christ.

If you were baptized before you were saved, you should be baptized again after your salvaion.

MM, I do too and so does everyone else. For me, I have to remove as many worldly distractions as practical. I go to church every time the doors open, try to read and study the bible every day and have even started leaving the radio in my truck on gospel music. Once we are saved, we are no longer slaves to sin, but I it does seem like the closer I try to make my walk with God, the more temptation the devil throws at me. I have to keep the worldly things to a minimum to resist that temptation.

Gal 3:27 Mark 16:15&16, Acts 2:38, Romans 6:4, 1 Peter 3:21,Acts 22:10 Baptism is for the remission of sins. It is what puts you into Christ.The thief on the cross sins were forgiven by Jesus himself.You'll not find one example in the New Testament of anyone praying for salvation.

I should've stated that I accepted Christ long ago, not in a church. I asked the question because I've debated it with others with lackluster results. I feel that wherever or however you do it is up to you, so long as it's from the heart.

I agree whole heartedly. We are saved by god's grace and by his grace alone. Our works have nothing to do with us getting saved, but instead are something that we do because we are saved.

I don't drink, cuss, gamble, or steal, but not so I can go to heaven, but because I am a servant to the king of kings and wish to be a good follower, and for others to see christ through me.

I agree with Fur in that the closer you walk with the lord the more hurdles the devil places in your way. Sometimes I wonder if there are really more or if because I'm closer to the lord I notice more. But either way I have to seperate myself from worldly things more and more to try and stay on the narrow path. And as a believer it convicts me when I chose the wrong path and ask for forgiveness.

The absolute best website I have found on the internet is sermonaudio.com I have hundreds of sermons downloaded on my mp3 player. If anyone decides to check it our I recommend messages from pastor Jeff Arthur.

General, is there more to your story that you'd share with us?

I needed that. Thanks.

On a related note anyone have any Iheartradio channels they like?

X2 nor will you find any example of anyone being saved when they are alone. All examples include baptism and that requires another christian. Even paul was not saved on the road to damascus as some believe. He prayed earnestly while on the road and when he arrived at damascus he was baptized thus completing the process.
He was asked why tarriest thou arise and be baptized and wash away your sins. If he could have just said the "sinners prayer" he would have had no sins to wash away.

If a person says you have to be in a church to accept Jesus then I would ask where does their faith lie. With Jesus or with the church?

Ahh, I just noticed the "must be baptized in order to be saved" has shown up. I could argue against that one for hours, actually days, and I used to be one of those saying you MUST be baptized to be saved. I won't get into the arguement because I won't change your mind. I'll only say three things about it. #1- Jesus tells us, "my grace is sufficient", #2- there are just as many scriptures that tells how to be saved without mentioning baptism. If baptism was an absolute deal breaker don't you think it would be mentioned EVERY time? By not doing so is like telling someone how to drive a car but leaving out the whole applying the brakes thing, #3- this point was actually already made for me. Every baptism has to be performed by another Christian. An earthly man. By saying a person MUST be baptised you are limiting the power of God and saying that God cannot save without the aid of man. I studied this very subject for the better part of two years with preachers, elders and deacons from both those that believe baptism is a requirement for salvation and those that don't. I could go on and on but I've said enough. Proceed to bash me if you want. I won't respond because a talk forum won't change my mind with the amount of studying I've done and I probably won't change yours. Just know that while we may disagree on some things in doctrine, I'm a firm believer, and follower, in Jesus Christ and want nothing more than for everyone else to do so as we'll.