Revival or Repentance?

Yeah, heard the same about emotionalism and stuff like that. People come from different backgrounds. There are so many denominations, factions and sects of religions. The Orthodox sometimes mock the west about that, that they have a franchise church on every corner, but I think it’s cool. One reason alone is just the music. There is so much incredible Gospel that I have not heard. Sometimes, if you are Christian, you think the world or the country has similar roots to yourself. I truly had no idea how fragmented Christianity was.

In fact, I’ve started to read a bunch of books about it and I just finished a really good one that had like 4 page short stories from different types, so one would be a Quaker, the other Amish, a Baptist, Calvinist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Protestant, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and it goes on and on and on.

So, it was very interesting to hear writers, authors and reporters talk about the world today from various backgrounds. I have no relation nor affinity to most of them and was a big fan of Wayne Dyer. Wayne Dyer was an agnostic because he grew up an orphan and bounced around different foster home families, so he said one year, he’d be a Jew, the next, a Buddhist, Cathoic, Christian, etc., so it was interesting for me to listen to him and he went deep into Christian Science and New Age philosophy. Think about having to adapt to families as a kid. What is one to do?

I really, really appreciate your more fundamental take and approach on it, as I think formal and proper structure is a necessary base. The repentance is absolutely missing and I think the modern Christians would own up to that.

As for the emotionalism thing, I’ve heard that before and, to me, the evangelical faction is a relatively new sect of Christianity, as far as I can tell. It makes sense to me to reach people where they are at. Some people get hooked on impulse and stimulation from TV, so they buy into hype, so I do think that emotionalism is better spent in church than going to a rock concert, or a sporting event, or a movie, so that’s what I see the new Evangelicals kind of doing to spread faith.

The evangelical emotionalism is entertaining to me and I see a lot of religious people online talk about repentance and definitely see where they are coming from. There is a paranoia about false teachers and false prophets and anyone does run the risk with this new style of ending up in some kind of cult of personality or cult of talent. Enetertainment. Faith entertainment. Emotionalism entertainment. Therein lies the risk.

Asbury Revival 2023, Jesus Revolution, Faith Films, Gospel Rock, Religious radio, and other projects do seem a bit corporate and capitalistic, but I recall an ancient faith film by Steve Martin called, “Leap of Faith.” Steve Martin plays a false prophet and false teacher that witnesses a miracle and it actually gets him angry and I think he quits.

Thanks Audie for this thread because I was going to ask you if I could use your music thread for gospel music. Let me know if inappropriate, or maybe I’ll start one, but I don’t want to get to preachy because I do NOT even go the church and have not been for a long time. To be honest, I got kind of triggered by the topic.

There is a saying though, “Act As If.” As much as it might be cheesy, it might be corny, it might be cringe, but sometimes, I look at those weirdo type Christians and they get the closest to that feeling I has as a little kid in a religious school, where your eyes are bright and you are full of energy and excited and happy to be going somewhere because you expect great things to happen, you expect miracles and stuff like that and these cheeseballs, I like watching their emotionalism because they come closest to that vision.

Some emotions are the most powerful motivators there are. Hence why there is so much fear mongering in general from all sides.  But emotions can also be positive.

I have a different take.

I in recent times am leaning more and more towards being Christian. I was raised that way and when I became a teen I dumped it all. Now, I never went off the rails into drugs and wild sex, etc. I never slept around or got into drinking/drugs when I was in bands either, ever. I was the band member who was setting there doing nothing, often alone because of it. Those core values were always there in the back of my mind. But, I am now 48 and the world is going straight to hell every…single…day. You can’t see what is happening and not think that imo.

My father keeps saying to go to church. But, I am not a church going type. I am not into groups and crowds and hive mind atmosphere. I saw enough of that when my mom went to the Pentecostal church when I was a kid for years. Which got pretty radical and scary as a kid seeing people freak out and flair on the ground “speaking in tongues”. (Ohh, have I got some stories). My dad keeps saying you can’t be a Christian without church, I disagree. The bible says nowhere in it that you wont go to “heaven” if you don’t go top church. Also, I am a metal head, I don’t like church music man. lol.

I’ve also been single for a LONG time (more than 10 years), and people in my family keep saying to go to church to find someone. But, my dad has been married 7 freakin’ times…and he has gone to church all this time and met people in church, still getting divorced more times than celebrities. So, going to church isn’t going to change anything imo. And, once again, I am not really into the church thing, and a girl I met in church would be.

I also work and live on night shift, so that makes it hard to meet…anyone…and want to go to church.

Anyway. It may be nice for these people to have a “revival” and do all this stuff in large groups and out in public, but some people like myself don’t want to participate in that. I am always weary of group think and hive mind activities and people standing around waving their hands in the air. I mean, even as a long time metalhead who played in bands, I still thought moshing and all that was stupid. lol. It’s just how I am, and my “faith” wont change that.

So, not everyone wants to be in a “revival”, and that’s ok.

Can really relate to not being able to fit in to the group thing. There was a time when I was totally down and totally ready and my fellow peers were not, and this was even in the institution. Here’s a question though, if Asbury Revival was in your state, would you go? Just to check it out?
Church music is totally amazing. Makes me wonder how many metalheads were recruited as worship leaders because the churches need those and there are just so many opportunities. I wanted to fit in to the group thing, but what I noticed, especially in the secular public group settings, was the gaslighting propaganda political talking points. I am so gullible that I didn’t know that was a technique for peer pressure crowd control of manufactured consent. They were doing it long before the concept was known. They get everyone hyped up and cheering and then, introduce selfish ideas. I’m not referring to church but to rallies for business and community and stuff like that.

At one time, I really thought Sammy Hagar was going to be a gospel singer. A lot of his songs has love imagery and you could sense that he might come out as a Christian, but that never happened. I do like that one song that starts out with a lyric line of repentance and is about his spiritual journey.

Oh, forgive me father, for I have sinned
I’ve been through hell and back again
I shook hands with the devil
Looked ‘im in the eye
Looked like a long lost friend

Oh, anything you want, any dirty deeds
He’s got everything ‘cept what I really need

Keepin’ me temporarily satisfied
But not one thing I’ve tried
Filled me up inside

We see a man speakin’ the word of God
Provin’ to be a fraud, his own church applauds
Stop lookin’ out, start lookin’ in
Be your own best friend

Audie got me looking into it. I heard about it, but never got around to it and feels like I missed out, like I was not aware of what was going on. That Asbury Revival was huge. It was a very significant event. I am going over a lot of videos now.

One positive thing about missing it, is that I can go back and view a lot of highlights. It makes sense to me that it may or may not have been a revival, but what it really shows is that what if there was an opportunity for people to worship 24/7? Also, just not that how did it end? Didn’t they shut it down because it was getting too big? It’s not like people stopped going. I think they thought it was getting out of hand? If so, that is something remarkable. Instead of toning it down, I’d like to see them turn it up. See where it goes.

@DarthVengeant

Yeah I am with you. I was married for several years and had a couple of short dating stints after and that’s it in about in about 13 years.  I don’t consider myself a “hideous chud” (movie reference) but I am pretty short and while that does not bug me it does seem enough to keep most ladies uninterested unless they are themselves super short and that’s rare. So I am about done with it at this point.