Saturday, February 27, 2016
Jonathan Edwards
Plenty who have read the works of Jonathan Edwards may agree that his popular sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is not something to be shared in our contemporary church service. To an extent, I can see why since, overall, the sermon uses vivid imagery of hell to the point where any unsuspecting church patron would be scared out of their minds and may never want to attend that church again. However, in reading it, I could sort of see the beneficial side of preaching it even to the newest church attenders. For one, it actually provides the context as to what we're being saved from through our faith Christ (that being eternal damnation). Not many pastors these days touch on this fact during their sermons that it tends to leave people wondering what it is we're being saved from apart from our own sins. As my teacher said, most of today's sermons consist of "touchy, feely God loves us all" topics and, while they are great for a contemporary time, it could help to emphasize the existence of hell a little bit more as a way of leading more people in the right direction towards heaven.
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I pretty much completely agree. Not emphasizing that there is a hell is not a good thing. Yes, God loves us. Yes, He loves us no matter what we do. Yes, He wants us to be saved. Yet, He can not make us be saved (although He can call us). It is up to us, whether we answer His call, though, and accept his grace and forgiveness and walk in His ways. We can't just say that "we believe in God" and think we are saved, even the demons believe in God.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the consequences of sinning could be touched on a little more. Definitely not to the extent of Edwards. To me, he is just one of those crazy old people who thinks the generation to come after him, is just a bunch of babies who only want to hear about heaven. Well, I don't really wanna go to Hell or even think about it nevertheless. This guy is crazy.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do see the benefit in pointing out sin in order to prove we need a savior, I grew up in a church that heavily emphasized our sin and hell, so I am well aware that I am a sinner and that sin requires punishment! Now, I tend to cringe at the thought of a preacher trying to "scare people out of hell" as I think Edwards verges on doing. It doesn't feel like a good tactic to me! I would rather have people come to Christ by understanding his goodness rather than his wrath. But both need to be addressed, so this is a tension to struggle with, as I'm sure Edwards was doing when he wrote this piece.
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