RESTORATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH
There were group men who were dissatisfied with religious division they found themselves in the 1800’s. Men like Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone began to study the bible with two new goals in mind.
1. “Speak where the Bible Speaks, and remain silent where the Bible is silent.
2. “In matters of doctrine, unity. In matters of opinion, liberty. In all things love.
Where did these men come with these concepts, well right from bible itself?
a. 1 Peter 4:11 “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. “
b. 2 Tim. 3: 16-17 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may
Revival history is an interesting topic and one that can be explored at great depths. Revivals of the past, if looked at through the right lens, can awaken hope and desire for God to move again, even in the darkest times. Revivals show us that God is still very much active and interested in His people. The Father desires that we would know Him as a real Person and who loves to make Himself known through His Son Jesus. I wrote my paper on the First Great Awakening mainly because I am from New England and I have a passion to see the church set ablaze again in that area. The heritage is so rich in that land and I believe that the Lord would love to encounter His people again with a great spiritual awakening. Below, I will go over the Great
Nathan Hatch compares the Second Great Awakening to the Jacksonian era. He states that the men trying to persuade other people to join their religion was like tyrants trying to get people to follow them. That just like the beginning stages of the revolution, this was a time of power struggle for religious leaders. Hatch writes ‘These movements
One fact that must remain in consideration by any student of textual criticism is that there were many other religious and philosophical writings produced simultaneously with the Scriptures of the New Testament era. Robert J. Sargent states, “As the Bible was being written down, numerous other religious
Award-winning journalist, Lee Strobel wrote The Case for Christ to retrace and expand his journey toward becoming a Christian. Strobel once declared atheist, and now Christian, shares how he began to look upon the Bible and God. As an atheist, Strobel lived the life of selfishness and only worried to please himself. When his wife began to go to church he wasn’t very pleased until after he saw the positive and attractive change in her. This is the start of his curiosity and investigation about Christianity. To relate with his wife he decided to study about this and attend church services with her. Strobel interviewed thirteen leading scholars who defended their views concerning the historical reliability of the New Testament.
“The First Stone” is written by Don Aker and this book is based on two teenagers who have suffered very painful past. They both have lost one of their loved ones in their past. The main character is Reef’s whose parents and grandparents die when he was young. He was left to many foster homes because of his past. He got anger issues since his parents and grandparents died. He made very inappropriate decision that leads him to court and then to North Hills. Now he has to respect other and follows the rules in order to stay away from jail. I believe Reef could have changed his past. By his action, behavior and language but since he didn’t help himself, he now has to face his
People began to reject an entirely patriarchal society, and adopted new ideas in regards to domesticity. However, Matthews wanted to ensure that women remained inferior to men in his kingdom. American life during the early nineteenth century in Matthew’s New York area was soon controlled by Matthias’ attitude towards gender. He openly displayed the fury he felt as a result of this feminist movement, and as a result of women being granted too much power in the 1830s. Matthias handled his anger in brutal ways. Johnson and Wilentz explain, “[a]gainst the Finneyites' feminized spirituality of restraint Smith and Matthias (each in his own way) resurrected an ethos of fixed social relations and paternal power. Yet as they saw things, they were defenders of ancient truth against the perverse claims of arrogant, affluent, and self-satisfied enemies of God. And a majority of those Americans who were exposed to Finneyite evangelicalism apparently shared their anti-Finneyite views, if not their spiritual inventions and revelations” (Johnson and Wilentz, 80). Defending the “ancient truth”, or in other words, conservative Old-Testament views was of the utmost importance to Matthews and
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
With this man, Stone would form an alliance and friendship that would deeply impact numerous generations, including ours. This man was Alexander Campbell. During the mens’ first meeting in 1824, Stone quickly realized that Campbell and himself possessed many of the same values and beliefs. Together, these men combined their hardworking natures with their similarities to form churches that would “restore Christian unity through abolishing creeds and returning to the principles of the early churches described in the New Testament.”
Although the Protestant Reformers (i.e., Luther, and Zwingli) challenged the Roman Catholic Church to return to Scripture as the primary source of Christian theology, members of other groups believed Luther and Zwingli failed to include the New Testament teachings on the difference between the church and society. As a result, a group of Protestant radicals led by Georg Blaurock and Conrad Grebel founded a new congregation that became known as the Anabaptist. The split occurred when the radicals could not convince Zwingli to agree with their views on the connection between the civic community and the religious community. Consequently, the Anabaptist and later the Mennonites expanded on the Protestant Reformation. In
In the study of Christian theology, scripture plays an essential role in the revelation of the Doctrine of God. Scriptures are “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) words, written by the Holy Spirit through divine inspiration of prophets. They are necessary for the proper understanding of the doctrine of God, the self-revelation of God, the proof of God’s existence, and for the discernment of false doctrines.
A wave of revivalism swept over the United States during the First Great Awakening that took place between 1734 and 1750. Many people came to accept the Christian faith during this time. This acceptance of the faith and different religious practices were not permanent and “by the end of the 18th century, many educated Americans no longer professed traditional Christian beliefs. In reaction to the secularism of the age, a religious revival spread westward in the first half of the 19th century. This ‘Second Great Awakening’ consisted of several kinds of activity, distinguished by locale and expression of religious commitment.” (Outline of American History).
faith-promoting myth was necessary. Young had to be set apart from the masses, even from the Twelve itself, by a wondrous miracle. Nineteenth- century Latter-day Saints in a rather classic example of spontaneous collective behavior 84 began to interpret as miraculous what in 1844 had simply been a turf battle and a changing of the guard. ()
Bible as the Inspired Word of God The Bible is the work of various authors, who lived in different continents and wrote in different eras. Furthermore, much of the text does not claim to have been 'dictated' by God and is not always God speaking to people. In parts it consists of people speaking to God, as in the Psalms, and people speaking to people, as in the New Testament letters written by Paul. In light of this, some maintain that it is not possible to treat the Bible as a book of divine oracles, delivered once by God and recorded by its authors through divine inspiration, since biblical authors were products of their time and subsequently their understanding of divine truth was culturally
Generally, most biblical scholars agree that scripture’s authority is found in the sovereign God Himself; but their doctrinal positions differ from that point. Wisely enough, Wright avoids the “locked suitcase” melee on biblical inerrancy or biblical infallibility. Instead, he focused on God’s purpose for scripture and why it is demonstrably authoritative. Scriptures are not merely human books or collections of human opinion; they are books which contain God 's revelation of
Gonzales, Justo L. The Story of Christianity: The Early Church to the Present Day. Peabody,