Analysis Of Charles Finney 's ' The Reality Of Free Will '

Revivals were made possible by itinerant preachers. One of the most famous itinerant preachers was Charles Grandion Finney. He is the father of Modern revivalism. Born in Oneida, Connecticut in 1792, he had a conversion experience in 1821. In Finney theology, sin was a voluntary act and hence avoidable. “When the churches are…awakened and reformed, the reformation and salvation of sinners will follow, going through the same stages of conviction, repentance, and reformation. Their hearts will be broken down and changed.” (Document B) his teaching of theology also put emphasis on perfectionism and social activism. Finney later died in 1875. However, his teachings were passed on through all night prayer meetings and anxious seating.

In respect to the arguments of Ayer and Holbach, the dilemma of determinism and its compatibility with that of free will are found to be in question. Holbach makes a strong case for hard determinism in his System of Nature, in which he defines determinism to be a doctrine that everything and most importantly human actions are caused, and it follows that we are not free and therefore haven’t any moral responsibility in regard to our actions. For Ayer, a compatibilist believing that free will is compatible with determinism, it is the reconciliation and dissolution of the problem of determinism and moral responsibility with free willing that is argued. Ayer believes that

Respected Puritan minister, Jonathan Edwards in his Sermon, “Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God (1781), Elaborates on the negatives of being a repentant sinner. Edward’s goal is to inform people that sinning can be dangerous. He adopts a serious tone in order to establish a constant fear within Sinners and Non Sinners reading. Using the heavy caution within his readers let him establish a successful Sermon with the help of examples.

The central theme of both John Winthrop’s “City Upon a Hill” and Jonathan Edward’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, is the prospect of religion in one’s everyday life influencing their future. In order to build up their ideas about acting in a way that pleases the Lord, both these authors use repetition, diction, allusions, and metaphors as a way to build momentum in their speech as they allude to teachings of the bible and their diction install a notion of uncertainty. However, while Winthrop uses his notion of uncertainty to give the audience a sense of security, in their endeavors to the Americas, with the prospect of religion, Edwards does the opposite and makes the audience fear God even more as he talks about his

Beecher had to confront the new and more radical revivalism in Western New York which was led by Charles G. Finney. Finney challenged the Calvinist doctrines. He appealed to emotion instead of reason. Finney wanted people to feel the power of Jesus. He had adopted an extreme view that said Christians could be totally free of sin or be as perfect as their Father in Heaven. During Finney's revivals, it was not uncommon for people to fall to the floor in fits of excitement. Finney left behind him strong and active churches. Eastern opposition gradually weakened.

John Edwards and John Winthrop were two Puritan writers who tried to take on the new world, with only the rudimentary tools of the unfinished society from which they came. While both authors are renowned for their sermons during this time, Edwards is known for his drastic and dramatic, “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God”, and Winthrop for his vision of society in, “A Modell of Christian Charity”. Edwards appeals to all sinners in his sermon, where he warns them that God will be the judge of their actions, and that their consequences may be severe. While Winthrop on the other hand, carefully laid out the religious and social principles that would be the Puritan foundation of their beliefs, stemming from his understanding of the Holy Bible. In Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God”and Winthrop’s, “A Modell of Christian Charity”, we see that both writers had similar beliefs that stemmed from their Puritan background, yet their interpretations of the bible differed in the way that they expressed these ideologies to the public.

Describe Revivals held by Finney and other itinerate preachers. What sorts of techniques did he use? What were their thoughts about sin?

“The evangelist was preaching ‘sin and redemption,’ the infinite grace of God and His pardon for human frailty. He was very much in earnest, and he meant well, but Jurgis, as he listened, found his soul filled with hatred. What did he know about sin and suffering---with his smooth, black coat

Edwards, Jonathan. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. In Literature of America, complied by Jan Anderson and Laurel Hicks, 19-25. Pensacola: A Beka Book, 2010.

As humans, self-reliant choices are made everyday. Free will demonstrates that self-reliance outweighs external authorities. It shows that people are able to act voluntarily upon their own choices. In the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, the expedition made by Chris McCandless is justified because free will is based off of one’s individual life choices. This is supported by the perspectives of Jon Krakauer, and it is refuted by the opinions of Walt McCandless.

There are times in life that we attribute good luck to our hard work, dedication or talent but there are some other times when we can say that luck is just a chance that we get. As we can see on the work of this two authors James H. Austin the author of “Four kinds of chance” published in Saturday Review and Robert H. Frank author of “why luck matters much more than you think” published in The Atlantic (May 2016) they show the reader how chances can influence in different ways. After reading their work I consider Robert H Frank article more effectively fulfills his thesis.

Thomas Nagel covers the issues of the purpose of humanity in his piece, “Free Will”. There are several topics that Nagel covers as he starts out hopeful of the idea of free will itself. Free will defined by Merriam Webster as freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention. All our lives we are taught that we do things on our own accord and that we have the right to choose the things that happen to us. He gives the example of choosing between a peach and some cake. This, actually, is not a real example of free will, but rather personal preference that has been predetermined from our upbringing, the environment we are placed in and even and even genetics. I could choose the peach because I know that my predetermined genes will eventually make me into a diabetic so I want to stay as healthy as I can. That in itself does not give me a very wide scope of choices, but more or less narrows it. As he goes on, he explains that we all want to think that we have “free will”. We want to think that we have our own choices and the ability to drive our own lives at our own expense. Yet, when it comes down to it, that is not the case at all. According to his take on it, nothing would be able to be predicted about the future if there was such a thing as free will. A simpler way to look at it is the discussion we had towards the very beginning of the course. We discussed how everything seems to come from something, so how can something come

The general hard determinist thinks that no human activity is free. "Free will is the idea that an individual is free to make decisions that are unhindered by external forces. "() Like most people in this world, your motivated to to purse pleasure and avoid pain, but it is out of our control to determine what gives us pain and pleasure. Everything someone does in their life somehow involves the process of decision making, mentally and physically. You can freely make these decisions because of the idea of 'Free will'.

Saint Augustine is undoubtedly one, if not, the most important theologian in church history. His writings have greatly influenced Christian theology and understanding of God. Saint Augustine laid out some theological doctrine that has helped shaped Christian’s perceptions of sin, grace and salvation. Ironically, some of his theological postulation emerges from his controversies with different opposing camps on the aforementioned subjects. However, in this paper, the primary focus will be on his controversy with the Pelegians. The Pelagians taught that God’s given grace before the fall, combined with the willingness of man to choose good over evil, is enough to earn man salvation. The Pelagius position places emphasis on man’s ability to work out his own salvation,

John Finnis, an Australian legal philosopher has tried to resurrect the natural law tradition in moral philosophy and law since the mid-1960s. He tries to offer a "neo-Aquinian" natural law philosophy which does not presuppose a divine being. By focusing attention on goods rather than a single Good, Finnis skilfully articulates what he calls a theory of moral action for our day. Or, in other words, he seeks a theory of how to live well. Finnis identifies a number of equally valuable basic goods or ends, given human nature, there are seven. Three are substantive, existing prior to action and four are reflexive which is depending on our choices.