tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24859567.post1455055671781981632..comments2023-11-05T01:25:40.784-07:00Comments on Rebirthing Simpson's Vision: The Thesis: Our Key Assumptions on How to Change the World are WrongFranklin Pyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06299169930378704262noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24859567.post-47514333005309091982010-11-27T08:55:36.937-08:002010-11-27T08:55:36.937-08:00As significant as the awakenings in the past have ...As significant as the awakenings in the past have been, they happened if a different context. Part of Davison's premise is based on the seismic global, technological and political shifts in the past 50 years. Even Wilberforce's attempts to change the slave trade laws took over 30 years. This idea that we can go back to a previous "state of affairs" is just not realistic.Larryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02982353106992251278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24859567.post-38803440706019846222010-10-14T15:04:51.190-07:002010-10-14T15:04:51.190-07:00Any number of historians have noted that the awake...Any number of historians have noted that the awakening sparked by evangelicals like Wesley and Whitefield led to reforming movements that in turn had a significant impact upon culture. Indeed the lengthy, but ultimately successful crusade of Wilberforce against the slave trade in the British Empire can be directly traced to the evangelical movement sparked by Wesley and others. So it's puzzling to me how Hunter can be so definite that significant and dramatic change cannot be brought about by Christians who have a strong impulse to be involved in the Creation mandate.Royalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13924203694269096782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24859567.post-32597558689900937542010-10-14T14:59:02.311-07:002010-10-14T14:59:02.311-07:00Any number of historians have noted that the awake...Any number of historians have noted that the awakening sparked by evangelicals like Wesley and Whitefield let to reforming movements that in turn had a significant impact upon culture. Indeed the lengthy, but ultimately successful crusade of Wilberforce against the slave trade in the British Empire can be directly traced to the evangelical movement sparked by Wesley and Whitefield. So it's puzzling to me how Hunter can be so definite that significant and dramatic change cannot be brought about by Christians who have a strong impulse to be involved in the Creation mandate.Royalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13924203694269096782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24859567.post-31644883715988959422010-10-08T10:48:36.576-07:002010-10-08T10:48:36.576-07:00For the Christian, evangelism, political action an...For the Christian, evangelism, political action and social reform operate in a spiritual context. A regenerated heart should give both momentum (motivation) and direction to political action and social reform. Historian Keith J. Hardman in his book, The Spiritual Awakeners, writes of the three Great Awakenings noting how these awakenings "energized the churches and poured countless new converts into them…In each of these three periods the church has poured its zeal for righteousness into the bloodstream of the nation…Renewed and empowered Christianity has been the single most important moral factor in making America great." Hardman goes on to cite various areas that were affected by these energized Christians. "Regarding the impulse toward democracy, the history of American revivals shows that they have promoted equality and democratic ideals…Regarding the humanitarian impulse, antislavery, prison reform, women's rights, temperance, concern for the poor and downtrodden, and philanthropy of a hundred different kinds has flowed in abundance from the awakenings." Charles Finney, one of the great revivalists of the nineteenth century believed that evangelism and Christian activism went hand in hand. Hardman writes, "Since the late 1820's, Finney had been moving in the direction of including reform in his program for awakening, and his evangelism meant that converts would immediately be put to urgent work in the battle against sin. 'Every member must work or quit. No honorary members,' was a motto of his." Hardman discusses the results."During the first three decades of the nineteenth century, evangelical Christians organized thousands of societies toward what they were convinced would become an empire of benevolence that would begin alleviating every vice and problem...Finney entered zealously into the leadership of the movement, sharing it with reformers like Weld, Tappan, and many others. Almost no phase of life in America was untouched. Temperance, vice, world peace, slavery, education, Sabbath observance, profanity, women's rights, the conditions in penal institutions – all those and more had specific societies devoted to their betterment." My hope is that history repeats itself. I believe a spiritual awakening is the prerequisite to both political action and social reform governed by a Biblical worldview.Jim McGarveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09559934703130337359noreply@blogger.com