Enlightenment, Revival, and Awakening: Part 2

I think I would be in agreement with people on both sides of the spectrum by saying it would be absurd to assert that people in the Medieval period were better off than people today (at least in the civilized world). Technology, overall, has been good for mankind. But technology is not the measure of human progress nor is reason. Morality and humanitarianism are the measures of human progress and these can only be promoted through religious ideals. What must first happen, before a better civilization can emerge, is revival.

Revival is often misunderstood by people outside and inside the church. It is not a massive evangelistic effort that is focused on winning new converts. Revival happens when the people who belong to the church, as believers in Jesus Christ, become serious about their faith on a corporate level and start doing the things that God has called them to do. In terms of our premise of morality and humanitarianism, revival calls Christians to get right with God and walk in the ways of Jesus. This fulfills the moral and humanitarian requirements to signify if true progress is being made.

Awakening is a result of massive revival. There were two Great Awakenings. The first focused on church-going people as a call to personal holiness and genuine faith in Jesus Christ. The second emphasized winning over the souls of people who were not yet Christians. I contest that in both instances, new converts were actually the focus. In the mid to late 1900s, a far greater number of Americans were attending church. I am sure that some of them were devout Christians, while others were merely going to church out of obligation. Those who were only going out of pure obligation can hardly be considered genuine converts to the Christian faith. Likewise, there appeared to be a spiritual deadness inside of the church prior to the first Awakening. Those who were spiritually dead needed to be awakened, thus the title "The Great Awakening."

Don't get the impression that enlightenment is all about intellectual progress and awakening is only about spiritual/moral progress. Truth be told, reason has been a tool of believers for several millennia; it was a hallmark of genuine faith before Christ, but, even more so, as a result of Christ! Most fields of science have been discovered by believers and have merely been hijacked by enlightened folk. Regarding technology, Christians seek to utilize technology for the good of man, while enlightened folk seem to want to suppress wide use of technology for the good of Mother Earth.

Like all quasi secular to full blown secular movements, the Enlightenment started off beautifully, but has produced some disgusting fruit. Revival and Awakening have been the counter forces that have called people back to a reasonable standard of morality and humanitarianism. Enlightenment, through secular reasoning, has determined that we need to be the friend of Mother Earth above all else. Those who have been Awakened, on the other hand, have determined that humanity is the most valuable being on the physical planet and that Father God is the one whom we should seek to please.

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