John Wesley and George Whitefield View on the Doctrine of Election

did is that he was not afraid of saying the plain truths. The stories, which were previously

When looking back in history, specifically Christian history, we would say that George Whitefield truly made his mark on history during the evangelical awakening. He was one of the biggest proponents in spreading the word of God, and he was not to go unnoticed. However, how much do we really know about such an important historic event?

For example, the Congregational and Presbyterian churches split between those supporting its teachings and those condemning them. Jonathan Edwards expressed his ideas in The Great Awakening to the people in a series of sermons. Edwards was angry just like God was that humanity kept sinning, he was preaching that everyone who would repent could be saved and those who didn’t would go to hell. With a booming voice just like Edwards’, George Whitefield also spread The Great Awakening ideas and attracted huge audiences as he reached out to all the colonies. Whitefield’s idea and message from God was that the average person with faith and sincerity could understand the gospels and readings from the Bible just as well without depending on ministers and pastors to lead and teach them. The Great Awakening also brought emotion into the system. Emotionalism became part of the routine in Protestant services. The ministers and pastors lost some of their power because of the impact The Great Awakening had. People now studied and lived the Bible in their own spaces on their own. This event in history also lead to separation of church and state. The Great Awakening taught the colonists that relying on higher power such as ministers for religious decisions was not needed. Now with that impact it lead to another impact; the people also thought that if they could make their own religious decisions they could try making their own political

Whitfield had multitudes that were enormous, he was admired and respected by many. He was soon making changes on the manners of people at the colonies, with his sermons he attracted passionate crowds who reacted to the messages he delivered during his wandering preaching about the merciful qualities of god. The atmosphere was changing from people being thoughtless about religion, to as if the world was growing religious, people were walking through the town all you could hear them singing psalms everywhere you went. Whitfield started building a house for any preacher who went to Philadelphia so they could use it for religious

After a century had passed in the colonies of America, religious piety had diminished. Some churchgoers felt like the sermon being preached were old and over-used. Some ministers, felt like the parishioners had lost zeal of their original belief in Calvinism. Many conflicts and opinions arose challenging the old religion. Some said that individuals might be able to save themselves from predetermined damnation by good works. Others, specifically the Arminians, said individual free will and not divine predestination determined a person’s eternal fate. Due to these challenging concepts, dubbed heresies, the clergy decided it wasn’t completely necessary for members of the church to be converted. However, this plan, known as the Half-Way Covenant,

The Great Awakening happened in the 1730’s, it was caused by revival religious that blew through the British American colonies Their styles of Whitefield and Edwards were different because Edwards' voice was not power, and he spoke calmly. However, Whitefield speaks powerfully and passionately but his voice was pleasant, and he spoke without a microphone. Their styles were also different because Edwards preached salvation through God’s grace while Whitefield preached salvation through good works. Their styles are similar because both Edwards and Whitefield brought their audience to tears. They both preached to the hearts and touch the emotions of their followers. The first awaking created a sense in the colonies that the hierarchy of the

Religion was the catalyst behind Puritan society. The beliefs held by the Puritans are what molded colonial America. More effective, however, was the Great Awakening. This evangelical outpouring greatly altered the lives of the American people by challenging traditional teachings of obeying without question and attracting people from all backgrounds.

Thousands of miles away and across the Atlantic Ocean, an “awakening” began to sweep through the colonies. Evangelists such as George Whitefield, John Wesley, and Jonathan Edwards began to hold revivals that had more of a Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian influence. They emphasized an individual’s ability

During the Great Awakening, "religious conflicts divided families, split churches, and fragmented communities, forever altering the religious landscape of colonial America" (Keene, 77). Ministers such as Gilbert Tennent and Jonathan Edwards were leaders of this movement. They believed the only way to reach salvation was by accepting the reality of a sin and opening your heart to grace. Rather than "ministers preaching an empty, dead form of religion" (Keene, 77). To convey this message to his parishioners, "Edwards compared their fate to that of a spider dangling above the pit of eternal damnation, with only God's mercy preventing them from falling in" (Keene, 78). Edward's revival in Massachusetts inspired George Whitefield, an English

George Whitefield was born in Gloucester, England, the son of a saloon operator. Whitfield converted to Christ in 1733 and shortly afterwards entered Oxford University, and began his preaching career in the colony of Georgia in 1739. Whitfield adopted a moderate Calvinism

George Whitefield was born into a thespian society and family. His whole world revolved around schoolboy performances. Whitefield paid to put himself through Pembroke College by helping out the wealthier students and by waiting on them. George Whitefield joined a group that called themselves “Methodists” led by the Wesley brothers John and Charles. Whitefield experienced a “new birth” through this new view of the Methodists. Whitefield decided to become a missionary and travelled to the Georgia colony to spread his message of his new found life; however, his ship was delayed and he ended up being ordained as a deacon in the Anglican church. When Whitefield spoke he amassed huge crowds. Whitefield incorporated his thespian career into his sermons to give the audience a more realistic view of what is really going on in the scriptures. When preaching on eternity Whitefield stopped and spoke excitedly "Hark! Methinks I hear [the saints] chanting their everlasting hallelujahs, and spending an eternal day in echoing forth triumphant songs of joy. And do you not long, my brethren, to join this heavenly choir?". Whitefield made it to Georgia and returned to England just three months later; although, when he returned he found out that many churches did not welcome his unconventional preaching methods. Whitefield did not let this stop him- he instead starting to looking for places to preach in the open, outdoors. He felt closer to his audience in this way due to the fact that there was not a paper or a pulpit to keep him from engaging with his audience instead of a physical barrier that stood between him and his audience members. In 1739 Whitefield returned to tour around the American colonies. Whitefield sailed to the “New World” and his first stop was Philadelphia.

Benjamin Franklin attended a revival meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was greatly impressed with Whitefield's ability to deliver a message to such a large group. Franklin had previously dismissed, as an exaggeration, reports of Whitefield preaching to crowds of the order of tens of thousands in England. When listening to Whitefield preaching from the Philadelphia court house, Franklin walked away towards his shop in Market Street until he could no longer hear Whitefield distinctly. He then estimated his distance from Whitefield and calculated the area of a semicircle centred on Whitefield. Allowing two square feet per person he computed that Whitefield could be heard by over thirty thousand people in the open air.[32] [33]

John Winthrop and Jonathan Edwards were both religious leaders that lived centuries before the present time. They shared the same goal in persuading people into Christianity, yet differed greatly in the way they chose to develop their sermons. Winthrop, a Puritan who wrote based on new religious and social ideals, composed the famous sermon “A Model of Christian Charity.”

In Baptist history there has always been differences in doctrine. This has unfortunately resulted, at times, to separate believers from one another. This can be evident from comparing two American Baptist confessions. The most notable difference in doctrine between The Philadelphia Confession of 1742 and A Treatise on the Faith of the Free Will Baptists, 1834 and 1948 is the doctrine of Calvinism versus free-will. The Philadelphia Confession supported Calvinism and the Free Will Baptists supported Arminianism. A closer look at these two confessions show that throughout Baptist history certain doctrines remain constant while others are debated and cause separation of believers. However, this has not stopped the Gospel message to be preached

John Calvin’s doctrine of predestination is arguably one of the most important results of the Protestant reformation. Predestination is the belief that “salvation[entrance into heaven] is given to only those whom god has chosen”. The chosen people were called the elect. John Calvin wrote this important belief during the era of the Protestant Reformation. People often formed negative opinions on predestination or let it rule their lives. Some people who did not think like Calvin loathed predestination because they believed that