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THE FAULT FINDERS IN LIFE

Charles Finney was a significant leader in what has been called the 2nd Great awakening. He is known as the Father of Modern Revivalism. The minister held license credentials in the Presbyterian church, but had reservations about a number of their basic doctrines. He was born in 1792 in Connecticut and participated in the Chatham Street Chapel and the Broadway Tabernacle. As the second president of Oberlin College, he promoted the abolitionist movement. The school and townspeople participated actively in the Underground Railroad.

It is interesting that Finney held credentials in the Presbyterian church, but actively campaigned against many of their tenets. He advocated the belief that Christians must be perfect. His writings were extensive, but he also preached for the abolition of slavery. He promoted equal education opportunities for African Americans and for women.

Finney was not a college graduate. He did, however studied law as an apprentice. The legal career was abandoned when he had a dramatic conversion experience, after which he turn to preaching the gospel. The style of fervent and powerful revival services that he encouraged contained elements that were previously unacceptable. For example, women were encouraged to take an active part in the services.

The revival-style meetings which he encouraged included an “anxious seat”. His writings have survived, but continue to draw fire from Old School Calvinistic theologians. His understanding of the atonement is that it satisfied the legal or “governmental” requirements of God, which then allowed God to pardon. This New Divinity approach enjoyed a time of popularity in the mid 1800s.

The only people who find what they are looking for in life are the fault finders

The only people who find what they are looking for in life are the fault finders

The only people who find what they are looking for in life are the fault finders. Fosters law

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