Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
The sermon by Jonathan Edwards captures the image of Hell very clearly. He explains this Christian view of Hell with much emotion and meaning behind his words. He describes Hell as an actual and functional place. Edwards’ sermon is basically about the Great Awakening, which was a religious movement where people needed the salvation of Christ. He explains that if people had little or no belief in Christ, they would struggle. The main point of the sermon is humans were given a chance by God to correct the sins that they have committed. In a nutshell, all decisions were made up to God.
In the text it reads, "There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God." Jonathan Edward also writes with such cruelty and bluntness. I think his way of thinking is like a twisted and enraged version of the Ten Commandments. Kind of. It’s like he saying every little thing a person does has to be just right. And if you step out of line for even a second, you will be punished. His sermon is similar to Calvinism, a theological approach to Christianity. A major key element in Calvinism is predestination. This means God has already determined whether you go to Heaven or Hell.
I really like you're take/perspective on this blog. How you showed some background information on the different subjects to show that Jonathan Edwards and the Puritans weren't the only ones who thought like this. In a way Edwards is saying you must be perfect according to the Bible or else.
ReplyDelete...that'd be scary and very hard to live under those circumstances.
Hi, Rose,
ReplyDeleteIts really scary to think that you may never go to Heaven based on doing one thing wrong, and your explanation is really good on how Edwards gave his opinions. Maybe he was tired of how people weren't really sticking to the religion correctly and wanted to teach them a lesson??