Old Time Religion

standingfirminChrist, You can still hear those "Truck Driver Specials" on FBN. Just go to www.FBNradio.com and click on Schedule. It'll let you know when they are going to be playing it. (BTW... the schedule is for their online broadcast and I think their main station)

 

In his post DependentonJesus mentioned Whitfield, so that takes our definition of "OTR" back to 1700's. A little more than 5%.

I've been in churches where the congregation may not have had doctrates in theology or anything like that, but they loved the Lord, they loved preaching and their "amens" and "hallelujahs" let it show.

I've also been places where the theology was 100% and vast amounts of the congregation were what we could call educated. But they were so reserved you wondered if some were even alive.

Now I know reserved, I'm English, we're the pinnacle of reserved. But very often not amening (if that's a word) is down to pride and not because things are done "decently and in order."

I think we need to loosen up, enjoy the Lord as well as maintain our theology and order.

The church, in general, is going down hill and it is well past the time to look to the old paths and see where we went wrong.

Whitfield used to have 20,000 people come to hear him preach in all weathers for hours at a time. Now if people can sit through 3 hours of The Lord of the Rings then there is nothing physical or mental that stops them from solid LOOOOONG preaching. We need to get back to the old paths.

 

Yes, but just a little. However, being an Anglican Bishop, I'm not sure that most today who would claim him as part of "OTR" would really accept him. He'd probably not even be able to register on the Baptist Board.

 

Right, and being a Calvinist many would call him a heretic.

 

I think where we went wrong is when Christians starting inviting the world to help them reach sinners instead of keep trusting in Jesus to help them reach sinners. That's where I think we wrong

 

I think where we went wrons is when we permitted hyperfundamentalism to creep into the church. It's now so infused into the church, that it's almost impossible to excise without doing damage to mainline Christianity.

 

Mainline Christianity did its own damage through liberalism long before "hypers" became a significant factor.

 

So if we got rid of the liberals and hyperfundamentalists we would be okay?

 

That would leave a concregation of about three people

 

One day we can trust that Christ will do just that... until then, we should endeavor to be neither.

 

Old Time Religion in America probably refers to an oral tradition that had it roots in the Third Great Awakening with the after effects. However, there are antecedents and parallels found throughout the history of Christianity whenever God moved in marvelous ways so that lost souls were saved and Christians were revived and renewed in fervor for the Lord. It refers to a time of revival, repentance and spiritual awakening among God's people resulting in many new souls being added to the Kingdom. It is usually preceded by a season of hard preaching against sin and intense prayer accompanied by Holy Spirit conviction in the hearts and lives of the people. The result is a working and moving of the Holy Spirit to bring repentance and revival attended by the spontaneous joyous outbursts of thanksgiving and praise.

 

This is an erroneous and cynical definition. Obviously, you don't know what you're talking about. If it was intended to be funny, it’s not; if it was given seriously, it is not a serious definition. Old Time Religion is a legitimate concept although poorly understood and defined. It is a recognizable phenomenon that can be traced through the revivalist movements of church history. The America expression of it largely retained in the South is just one aspect of a broader historical context. I suppose that I resent the intimation that it is an ignorant, redneck holdover of corn fed ignorance. This tends to be the delusion held by persons born north of a certain geographical line who hold in ignorance certain presuppositions and misconceptions about things the South.

[ January 19, 2006, 10:57 PM: Message edited by: paidagogos ]

 

Well said paidagogos.