This is one angry dude. As a guy who can possibly be given the most credit for the "Great Awakening," he sure seems to push aside the teachings of Jesus such as, "love one another," and, "turn the other cheek." No, this guy focuses on big papa, the overlord of the Old Testament, The Father himself.
I was prompted to blog about this guy after re-reading his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" again in another literature class. Edwards, basically, uses some of the most vivid and nasty scenes in order to scare people back into the churches. No known for being the most vivacious speaker, Edwards still managed to scare the Holy Spirit back into people. How did he do it? With language like this:
"There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God."
And another one of my favorites:
"O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder..."
I was prompted to blog about this guy after re-reading his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" again in another literature class. Edwards, basically, uses some of the most vivid and nasty scenes in order to scare people back into the churches. No known for being the most vivacious speaker, Edwards still managed to scare the Holy Spirit back into people. How did he do it? With language like this:
"There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God."
And another one of my favorites:
"O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder..."
All of this is great stuff, reminding me of the God of Moses and Abraham and those other Old Testament patriarchs. The God who turned Lot's wife into a pillar of salt for looking back upon the burning cities. And the God who stiffened Pharaoh's heart in order to inflict more plagues on the Egyptians and make himself more known. Yeah, this is the God that Edwards needed to start the Great Awakening and scare people back into the pews on Sundays.
Well, I can't even question his tactics. They worked, but I like to think God wants me in his church not because I'm afraid of lightning or being turned into salt, but because he loves me and I love him back.
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