Revivals and Initiations
One of the interesting things about America's history with Christianity is how important revivals have been, especially from the 1750s-1900s.
Revivals could get exciting (especially on the Western frontier, a.k.a. Kentucky). If you read a history book about revivals in America, you'll see a lot of mentions of moaning and writhing on the ground (they called it "enthusiasm").
For many people, the experience of finding peace with God was connected with very strong (in some cases violent) emotions. To you and me, the experience would probably look garish, like this picture, or like listening to a song with the sound turned up to notch 12 on a 10-notch scale. These were real experiences people had with coming to know God: dramatic stuff happened, and the results were often really good.
These strong experiences came at times of starting out with God or committing afresh to God: salvation, and in the Methodist tradition, entire sanctification.
They often involved dramatic lifestyle changes--no more substance abuse, no more filthy conversations, etc., the sort of thing you would expect when you read Ephesians.
Given this historical background, it's easy to see why people could expect a strong emotional experience around salvation or entire sanctification to fix them, to take away their temptations. The revival tradition lived longer in the Methodist and then holiness traditions than in others. Strong emotional experiences around surrender to God are a living memory in the conservative holiness movement.
That kind of experience contributes to high expectations for salvation and entire sanctification.
High expectations for those important starting-out events can lead (and I think has led, to a great degree) to a neglect of talking about life after salvation or after entire sanctification. If our preaching centers on getting people through a doorway but doesn't talk about what happens after that, it can be easy for people to think that the doorways must be all that really matters.
Revivals could get exciting (especially on the Western frontier, a.k.a. Kentucky). If you read a history book about revivals in America, you'll see a lot of mentions of moaning and writhing on the ground (they called it "enthusiasm").
These strong experiences came at times of starting out with God or committing afresh to God: salvation, and in the Methodist tradition, entire sanctification.
They often involved dramatic lifestyle changes--no more substance abuse, no more filthy conversations, etc., the sort of thing you would expect when you read Ephesians.
Given this historical background, it's easy to see why people could expect a strong emotional experience around salvation or entire sanctification to fix them, to take away their temptations. The revival tradition lived longer in the Methodist and then holiness traditions than in others. Strong emotional experiences around surrender to God are a living memory in the conservative holiness movement.
That kind of experience contributes to high expectations for salvation and entire sanctification.
High expectations for those important starting-out events can lead (and I think has led, to a great degree) to a neglect of talking about life after salvation or after entire sanctification. If our preaching centers on getting people through a doorway but doesn't talk about what happens after that, it can be easy for people to think that the doorways must be all that really matters.
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