President Bush waxes Seer in the midst of some journalists.
The First and Second Great Awakenings were relatively close in occurrence in America. Some may argue that a third Great Awakening has already occurred with the Pentecostal and Holiness movements that began in America in the early 1900's. Pentecostal Denominations and the Charismatic (inter-Denominational) movements are descendants from those early Pentecostal days. In my opinion the Pentecostalism did not have the effect of on American lives that the previous two Great Awakenings had. Pentecostalism is the quickest and fastest growing form of Christianity world wide today, but it is not closing down bars and transforming whole cities as the previous Great Awakenings did. Imagine an America in which the porn industry collapsed because people simply stopped watching and spending their money in that multi-billion dollar industry.
That is just one example of a how a Great Awakening should affect America. Then there is abortion issues, Church and State issues, moral issues (homosexuality, promiscuity, adultery, etc.), secular humanistic issues and on and on. Imagine an America in which political polarization was irrelevant merely because the hearts of people made godly choices rather sensual choices. It would render polarized legislation and activist judges irrelevant. It would make choices easier on how to handle Mohammedan terrorism at home and abroad.
I pray President Bush is correct in what he sees.
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6 comments:
In a relatively small group, it doesn't take as much to be noticed. Imagine a group of 100 atheists. If ten or fiften suddenly converted that would be a dramtic change and cause for alarm. It might even be considered a great awakening in this small group.
The American population in the mid 1700s was barely a million (1,170,800 by 1750). Now it's 300 million. By comparison, George Barna says "Seven percent of the adult population of the U.S. is evangelical" (15 million adults). Others give larger figures (I've heard up to 25%).
But in a large group spread over a large geography the effects of 10-20% of the population coming to faith can be buried in the noise. Even if 50% of the population were Bible-toting Evangelicals, that'd be great cause for alarm among the atheists, but there'd still be plenty of people willing to pay for prostitutes, pornography, and abortions. Even a population composed of 75% evangelicals would still leave 75 million people. I imagine 75 million sinners could still buy a lot of porn, and might be greatly motivated to do so in a culture that would be increasingly devoid of opportunity for gratification.
THere might indeed be a fourth Great Awakening on the horizon. I just don't know that it's as easy to identify one nowadays as it was in the 1700s and 1800s.
Regards,
Rich
BlogRodent
Ah the power of statistics to put things in perspective. I guess I was in dream land talking out loud.
I guess I am a conservative Idealist, I think a 3rd or 4th Great Awakening (depending on who you read) should have a significant influential posture on American society.
Alas Rich, your statistical demonstration may show a new Great Awakening will not be as significant as the previous two Great Awakenings.
Hi, thanks for the response.
I don't mean to be a pessimist. By the way, in my research for my review of "Jesus Camp" I came across a page at Wheaton.edu that says a reliable estimate of "evangelicals" in America places it at 40% ... 100 million Americans claim to be Evangelical.
I find that hard to believe.
But, then, it all depends on how you define Evangelical. There are a great number of churchgoing Evangelicals (Charismatics, Pentecostals, Methodists, Baptists, even Evangelical Anglicans and evangelical Catholics) who may claim the label, but are not actually behaving Christianly. Or, in other words, much of the Evangelical world is simply not saved.
I wonder what a Great Awakening just within the Evangelical world would look like?
I do think an Awakening would have noticeable effects. One indicator might be an increase in interest in Jesus. Well, it seems like every time I turn around, I see another secular magazine with a cover story about Jesus, or the church, or faith, or--at least--spirituality. And I see programs on TV all the time that explore faith issues, including Christianity. I imagine another indicator might be an increase in interest for "end things" or eschatology. Witness the Left Behind phenomenon.
Regarding the marketability of sinful substances and products in the midst of a Great Awakening, just consider the marketplace of ideas for Evangelicals. Secular consumption of things like pornographic and violent media may diminish but it will last as long as there are at least as many sinners buying the materials as the minimum number of Evangelicals required to support an Evanglical marketplace of products.
That's a long way of saying, it didn't take all that many Christians to create a market for things like best-selling Bibles, best-selling books, and all kinds of "Jesusy" schlock. There'll always be a market for sin-oriented products as long as there are a few million sinners around. (And that will probably include even those attending church, sadly.)
Regards,
Rich
BlogRodent
Rich I am afraid you are correct about Church goers entertaining sin.
I know it sounds extreme and my guess me be wrong, but I think the next true Great Awakening in America (or even the Western World) will be when is an act of chagrine to be openly a practicing Christian.
Christianity conquered the Roman world not with the sword, but with acts of perservence under persecution.
It might have been the best and the worst thing to happen when Constantine made Christianity the State Religion.
It was good for Christianity that the persecutions stopped; however Roman government and Roman ways of the world infected much of Christianity. This has plagued the various branches of the Christian Church to this day.
I still pray for an Awakening to occur in some fashion.
Did you see Baylor Univerisity study on Americans and religion yesterday?
http://www.baptiststandard.com/postnuke/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=5406
Very interesting results.
“Rick Warren is a Southern Baptist preacher. (Warren’s) Saddleback Church is a Southern Baptist church,” Dougherty said, referring to one of the nation’s largest and most prominent congregations, located near Los Angeles. “Do the 20,000 people who worship there every weekend know they are Southern Baptist? For many, probably not.”
For Dougherty and his colleagues, the survey’s bottom line is the discovery that, when religious classifications are dismissed, statistics change. Case in point: 2006 estimates by the highly respected Barna Group list 20 million evangelicals in America. According to the Baylor report, fully a third of Americans are affiliated with evangelical Protestant congregations, even if they don’t exactly identify with evangelicalism as a whole or with an evangelical denomination. Given current population figures, that translates into about 100 million Americans affiliated with evangelical Protestantism.
“Denomination just doesn’t mean as much to people today as it has in the past,” Dougherty said.
Such differences could usher in a new methodology for religion surveys—and a more accurate picture of the nation’s still-vibrant religious life. (The last few paragraphs from Debbie's comment post)
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The implication is that Denominations are loosing faith and that evangelicals are increasing faith. Is it the beginning of a Christian Awakening in America?
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