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Passion for Jonathan Edwards

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Postby shannon » Mon Jan 07, 2013 8:52 pm

Sinners_in_the_Hands_of_an_Angry_God_by_Jonathan_Edwards_1741.jpg
“The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you and is dreadfully provoked; His wrath towards you burns like fire...you are ten thousand times more abominable in His eyes than the most hateful and venomous serpent is in ours”(325). - Jonathan Edwards

A talented writer is one who can evoke a response from his reader. Particular characters can orchestrate such mixed emotions within the heart of the reader that they linger in the minds long after the piece has been read. For me, this writer is Jonathan Edwards, an intelligent man, who created a whole new kind of sermon. The fearsome images his passionate words brought to life were enough to convert armies of “sinners”.

From my first encounter with Edwards and his, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, I was tantalized. My curiosity was triggered, and I couldn't get over the shock to my senses from his intensity. I was curious about the man behind such terrific words, who, “...made seeking [his] salvation the main business of [his] life”(304). What could provoke a human to write sermons with such fire? I looked for answers in his narrative, the piece I’d like to focus on. It was this particular literary piece that sent my mind reeling.

Jonathan Edwards taunted me by creating even more questions than he supplied answers for. His complexity as a person, and spiritual leader, confused me. I have read, and reread his work. At first glance I misunderstood him. In my first reading I gravitated toward what I construed, through my admittedly tainted perception, lewd suggestions. I found myself confused by his provocative language about his relationship with God. My cynical perspective, based on modern stories of men of God, led me to see innuendoes in the secret meetings with boys in the woods, and his “wicked inclinations” of “outward sin”, as he says on page 304. Unfairly using goggles from today, I saw him as strange, and his love for God as indecent, sensing an almost lustful adoration for the Holy Spirit.

Taking a second look at the narrative, I set aside my sarcasm. Closely dissecting his story, line by line, I discovered the rare beauty in his complete, eternal love, surrendering to the almighty.

His conviction had such an impact on me. Was God truly his muse? His conversion experience inspired so many. There just still seemed to be so much more there lying below the surface, that I was compelled to figure him out. Did he fear God? Why was he so concerned with everyone’s salvation? He didn’t simply preach, he truly had conviction in the words methodically spoken. Did he have a certain sinner in mind when he put those sharp, God fearing words to paper? His dramatic sermons laden with ferocious claims, were too much for some to receive. Even his own uncle, “slit his own throat in a fit of despair over the state of his soul.”(Northwestern University) It seemed to me that someone with such adamant concern for wickedness, must have had some sort of internal contemplations. Was he projecting the fear of his own worthiness of salvation before God to those he was trying to save? What was he so ashamed of? When referring to his own sins, he seemed to carry the burden of such a heavy heart.

Such a great intellect had trouble fitting into the world around him. His personal journey with Christ was the ultimate love. God understood him in a way no one else could. His love for God was encompassed by such sweet elation, that it seemed he had no room for, or neglected to make himself vulnerable, to love any other, on a passionate level. Holiness provided “ravishment to the soul”(308). [He] vowed to take God for [his] whole portion and felicity, looking on nothing else as any part of [his] happiness nor acting as if it were...”(308). The relationship with his wife seemed to highlight a lack of passion and romance. He admired her innocence. He said, “She has a strange sweetness in her mind and singular purity in her affections”(303). “...[And] seems to have someone invisible always conversing with her”(303).

Edwards was often moved to inconsolable tears, as mentioned throughout his narrative. He said, “I have had very affecting views of my own sinfulness and vileness, very frequently to such a degree as to hold me in a kind of loud weeping, sometimes for a considerable time together, so that I often have been forced to shut myself up”(312).Was he burdened by some sort of guilt that motivated his desire to be perfect before God? He constantly battled temptation, saying, “I see that serpent rising and putting forth its head, continually, everywhere, all around me” (313). He was frustrated that until he got to Heaven, “The inward ardor of [his] soul seemed to be hindered and pent up and could not freely flame out as it should”(308). So thoughts on getting into Heaven were always a distraction to him. It’s almost as if he both loved and feared God at the same time. To him God was omnipotent, kind, yet, with sovereign power.

Jonathan Edwards is like the puzzle I can’t quite put together. I’m fascinated by the idea that he had secrets that tormented him, which only God knew. “...which was always accompanied with ardency of spirit, and inward strugglings and breathings, and groanings that cannot be uttered, to be emptied of myself, and swallowed up in Christ”(Edwards, 311).This wonderfully talented master craftsman of sermons, internally struggled with his own divinity. While dealing with his own humanity, he preached to the flocks, using riveting metaphors, and compelled them to conversion. He was the spark of divine and supernatural light that conversion needed. Though I feel I understand him more, my curiosity still lingers. His extreme nature continues to fuel my obsession with him. I fear he will remain my unsolved mystery.


Works Cited
Edwards, Jonathan. “Personal Narrative”. Anthology of American Literature. vol.1.10th ed.
Ed. George McMichael. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2011. 304-314. Print.
---”Sarah Pierrepont”. Anthology of American Literature. vol.1.10th ed. Ed. George
McMichael. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2011. 303. Print.
---”Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. Anthology of American Literature. vol. 1. 10th
ed. Ed. George McMichael. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2011. 325. Print.
Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (8, July 1741). Jonathan J. Edwards.
Northwestern University.<Archive.vod.umd.edu> Web. 28, Nov. 2012.
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Postby SouthernFriedInfidel » Tue Jan 08, 2013 3:30 am

People seem to follow lurid preachers based on a desire to excite their emotions. There is a whole emotion-based conversation that completely does without any need for facts, which I find rather distasteful in people. Doubtless, emotions have their place in social interaction, but to base one's entire life around such an emotion-based fantasy leads to obvious problems.

Edwards may have been honestly dedicated to his "mission," but in the long run, the spreading of his mythology was nothing more than a huge exercise in GIGO for the masses.
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