The Great Awakening

The Great Awakening was a radical newfound spirituallity overcoming many people such as the British colonies in the 1720s. This evengelical Christian revivalism took over America under the religious movement "whose common denominator was Protestantism". Jonathan Edwards is "frequently identified as the founder of the Great Awakening, inward spirituallity and ouward religiously owe a debt to...Theodorus Frelinhuysen."

In this atricle I found one man's philosophy of preaching very interesting. Minister Theodorus Frelinghuysen served as a Dutch reformed minister. He started a new way of prayer that was "derisively called the 'howling prayer' because of all the howling and wailing involved." He believed that prayer and spirituality resided in the heart. Although his church rejected his relgious adaptions i think they have some truth in them. For instance, in my synagoge once every month we have musical shabbat in which,as it sounds, we use music to reach God. In hebrew Ruach means spirit. But it means more than spirit...it also has a feeling of completeness, and happiness attached to it. I feel the ruach and soul of the congregation around me when we all sing together. This sence of unity within praying i believe brings us closer to God. I believe that singing or howling or whatever people do is enough to feel complete and whole. It's what's in their hearts that matter. I think that it is pointless to pray if your heart isn't into it because then it is simply just saying words. There is this one quote that i found particularly that relates to my views. "Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays." -Søren Kierkegaard. It means that prayer only really changes a person if he means it and wants to see a differance in his or her life. Another aspect of praying that bothers me is that some people only pray in times of need or hurt. "Many people pray as if God were a big aspirin pill; they come only when they hurt." ~B. Graham Dienert. I totally agree with this quote because it's true. People need to pray when things are good too. They need to relize how fortunate they are and they need to show appreciation for having the things that they do. I should start doing that. I never take the time out of my busy day to stop and think how great of a life and family I have. I never really tell them how much they mean to me or thank God for blessing me with a semi-normal family haha. I will definatly do that next time in my prayers. BE Well

pray what you feel. That's all i have to say.
"Great Awakening." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010. .