Tuesday, January 27, 2015

The power of fear

“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; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear you in his sight; you are ten thousand times as abominable in his eyes as the most hateful and venomous serpent is in ours.”

Jonathan Edwards get right to the point in his sermon. He is speaking to sinners or in other words all of mankind. From my 20th century perspective the genre seems to be horror. Reading through this sermon created the image of a man crying condemnation on the people. His intentions seem to scare or coerce the people into accept Christ and abstaining from sin, otherwise they will be “consumed” by fire.

It is an interesting tactic and one that seems quite ridiculous to me but when I put myself in the audience’s shoes it is a different experience. The great awakening was a time of great confusion. There was “truth” being preached everywhere. Jonathan Edwards was a popular man, he was also known for his “feeble” voice, so my original idea of a man screaming and shouting repentance at the audience was thrown out the window. I imagine there were skeptics who refused to believe him but he knew how to appeal to the pathos of the majority of the people.




He knew people were lost and confused and uneducated in the manner so he used sharp imagery that people could relate to and he appealed to their emotions of fear. I believe his intentions were good. He used fear but it was because he truly believed that if the people did not repent they would be utterly be destroyed. Which in a sense is true, he just didn't have the knowledge of the Atonement of Christ and the love of Gad like we do now.

2 comments:

  1. It is interesting that he was said to have been a beloved preacher who had a feeble voice. That changes how I imagine the delivery of the sermon, it seems to lesson the emphasis on damnation and heighten the focus on the invitation to repent. He sounds like a prophet of the old Testament.

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  2. I found your analysis of his audience helpful. They would certainly be able to relate very well to imagery. I wonder though if we are that much different today. Imagery is very powerful for us, think of a time when someone explicitly described the hardships of something. I know when that happens I am very motivated not to do that thing they spoke of. Also the prophets of the old testament like Charles mentioned.

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