Sunday, September 29, 2013
puritanism:missing the point
Before I get into this, I just want to say that I am a Christian too. Now to begin, like I said, I am all about pleasing God and living a good life that pleases him. However, the whole puritan idea of predestination and the elect is totally mind boggling to me. One of the basis's of Christianity is the salvation for all believing sinners no matter how much wrong is done in the earthly life. The idea of working tirelessly and still unable to get into heaven seems crazy. I would have thought that a people who study the bible that much and base their whole life on their religion would have at least a good idea what their scripture said! Like for example, in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, it does not matter how good you are, you are at the mercy of an angry God who reveres punishing all people. That is not the image of God found in the Bible. He is a happy God who wants to see everyone go to heaven. So I cannot see where the Puritans came up with an image of an angry God with a goal to ban all sinners to hell. Even though the people were genuinely devoted to God and puritanism, I think that they got so wrapped up in principle that they missed the big message, salvation and eternal life for all.
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I also was shocked when we read "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" it even honestly frightened me a bit. I felt horribly for the poor audience who listened to that. While I think in the end Edwards does make a point that we need to live in the path of God, I think it was wrong of him to exploit people's fears so drastically. So I agree with you completely, Puritans, what happened?
ReplyDeleteTrevor, I completely agree with you on the subject that the way Edwards spoke of religion was completely ridiculous. I believe Emma said very well that Edwards exploited these people's fears. The main reason I think that Edwards had to make his lectures so intense was revive religion. By making his lectures so accusatory and scolding, he was able to bring attention back to religion and was therefore a major part of the Great Awakening. This was the real success that Jonathan Edwards achieved with his lectures, and you're completely right in how his means of achieving his purpose were not just.
ReplyDeleteI definitely had a similar reaction when reading "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". I think it can be hard to talk about religion in today's society because many things can be taken the wrong way as ignorant or degrading, if one is to disagree with a religion. Though I'm Catholic I, of course, respect other religions. But it's hard when people will hide their extremist views behind the guise of a 'religion' like what has happened with the Westboro Baptist Church and their extreme views on gay rights. Religion is such a slippery slope because of how serious a topic it is.
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