As I watch
winter storm Juno (are they really naming blizzards now?) leave my friends
unable to leave the house with snow reaching the roofs of cars, I can’t help
but start thinking of the slippery
and dangerous conditions winter always seem to bring. When the ice hits,
falling is practically inevitable.
All of this
comes to mind as Jonathon Edwards begins his sermon “Sinners in the Hand of an
Angry God”. Through the analogy of falling on slippery ground, he strongly
emphasizes in the readers mind that we really do live in a fallen world. And
not only has everything around us fallen, but it’s trying to drag us down with
it. We will fall. If things ran their natural course, each and everyone of us
would be damned. That’s a scary thought.
And by
setting the stage in this manner, Edwards perfectly preps his audience to
accept one of his pressing points—it is only by God’s grace that we are saved.
I mean, if you are left thinking you’re doomed, you’ll be quick to grab on to
any lifeline that gets thrown your way.
And for
Edwards to start with this point is a real indicator of his beliefs. Edwards
was a Calvinist, a reformationist group that believed that man was saved by
grace alone. The saved had been predestined—already chosen by God. By asserting
this early on, Edwards makes a point of clearly separating himself from both
the Catholics and Lutheran’s. Catholics—you are saved by works and sacraments.
Lutherans—you are saved by faith alone. And now Calvinists—you are saved by
grace, saved because God chose you to be saved. Leading his sermon with this point carves out
his place in the religious spectrum clearly, leaving little room for ambiguity.
It’s hard
for me to accept this thinking. As someone who is much more inclined to align
with Erasmus than Luther in a free will debate, to think that my choices don’t
matter leaves me horribly uncomfortable. But then again, if I knew man were doomed
to fall, I suppose believing the whole matter was already determined would give
me some peace. And I suppose that’s where Edwards made his point.
Yeah I think he definitely has an interesting idea, but I suppose he probably thought it was right, considering he was in world transitioning from Catholic to catholic and protestant. I found it interesting you mentioned at the beginning the fear aspect of his beliefs which I think it an interesting route to take with God. Personally, I believe God would rather we live in love and faith instead of fear, but I suppose Edward may have liked it because of it's sense of power and foreboding doom. It sure has a firery ring to it and may have helped him gain supporters. Anyways, I think the fear idea of God is an interesting route for him to take and I wonder what he liked in that idea, especially in a world of changing views on religion. Wouldn't he have prefered a kinder more loving God? Food for thought.
ReplyDeleteThe analogy at the beginning of this post is really startling. The idea that we have absolutely no control of our fate is pretty scary. While I don't agree with Edward's ideas or methods, I will say that using fear can be a powerful motivator. I'm sure that if I had been one of the members of the congregation, I would definitely be moved to do anything to receive God's grace.
ReplyDeleteI think it's pretty cool how Edwards used fear the way he did. One of the ways I think we learn best is by feeling strong emotion. Maybe fear isn't the best emotion to use, but it's cool and even amazing to see how powerful strong emotions can be in rhetoric and convincing people of certain points of view.
ReplyDeleteI think that the way Edwards sets. the stage for the listeners' acceptance of God's grace not only demonstrates his beliefs, but also a sophisticated understanding of human psychology, which is a crucial element of any piece of effective rhetoric. Although if I were listening to this sermon, rather than feeling peace knowing my fate was decided, I think the uncertainty and the fear of my fate being completely out of my control would be enough to make me go find a different preacher.
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