A Ray of Hope in a sea of Darkness

Gustavo Quintero
English 48A
October 12, 2007
Journal #13 Edwards Pg. 431


Quote:
"You have offended Him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince;and yet it is nothing but His hand that holds you form falling into the fire every moment... And there is no other reason to be given why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up."


Summary:
Edwards is preaching to the people in the church that they have offended God with all their sinning. Although they are all heavy with sin God is still being forgiving and keeping them from going to hell. His mercy is all powerful.Edwards says that their is only one reason that they have woken up form their sleep and that is because it is God's will.


Response:
When I first read Edwards sermon I felt as if it painted a very dismal and meager future. A future in which a angry and full of wrath God was out to cleanse the earth of all sinners. This is a very dark image that is not conventionally paired up with God. As I grew up going to church I was always preached to about the caring, loving and and all forgiving God. This is not the God that we see in this sermon at first glance. As we take a closer and more precise view we can see that their are some words of hope hidden in all the dark and meager language.
The ray of hope that we is hidden in the sermon is that God is not obligated to keep sinners from entering hell prematurely but he does. Despite the fact that they are constantly indulging themselves in sinful activities God holds each individual up preventing him or her form falling into hell. This sounds more like the God that most Christians and Catholics associate with. I do not enjoy picturing the wrath of God. I much prefer picturing the love of God. Edwards even goes further to say that the only reason the people in his audience even woke up is because God decided so. This is a very powerful statement that Edwards decides to preach on. The idea that God keeps us all alive is a way that Edwards uses to help strengthen the faith of the practitioners in the church.
God is merciful yet it still wants you to stray away from sin. Edwards uses the angry image of God as a way of scaring people into becoming more involved with the church and their faith. All this constant fire and brimstone speech is eventually what led Edwards to have him kicked out of his own church. Maybe he had tired to hard or maybe people did not want to feel responsible for their sins. I can understand why the people of the church kicked Edwards out. Practitioners do mot want to imagine themselves in hell. They do not want to constantly hear of what waits them if they continue to sin. Instead they want to hear of all the glory that awaits them when they turn their lives away from sin.