As I read Fundamentals: Enduring Convictions of the Restoration, through the lens of this assignment, I gained new insight and a different appreciation for his visionary calling to provide a theological perspective that aligns us with a larger Christian understanding.
In his book, Fundamental’s F. Henry provides statements of primary belief of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. His writing reflects both the older RLDS theology and provides an opening for new paths. For this paper, I have chosen areas that have been reflected in one of our most recent Doctrine and Covenants:
Scripture, prophetic guidance, knowledge, and discernment in the faith community must walk hand in hand to reveal the true will of God.
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He also addresses the historical understanding of the Restoration Movement reminding us that it began in an affirmation that existing creeds were wrong. He reminds us that the historic creeds, of course, have not been changed; but the attitude of religious people toward these creeds have changed very perceptibly.
Whether through creed, morals, or rules we cannot have religion without God. God is our best explanation of the world about us. He is our best explanation of moral progress, even though this progress is so spasmodic. (f 11) Therefore, to minister to our world, we must meet the deepest needs of man, we must go beyond duty, beyond morality, and beyond patriotism, and must consider the claims of religion - the claims of God - in our lives. I felt Edwards calling us to look beyond our works and accept that God desires to be in our life and we are provided His grace. He encourages us to understand what we believe and to shape our testimony. I found his statements reflective again of the Apostles’ Creed. Whatever our final decision may be, Edwards challenged us to a concept of understanding our faith and identifying who God is. More specifically in this chapter and in the following chapters he states, “I believe in God … the Son of God became also a man and lived among men (28 fundamentals) The Holy Spirit is God
He claims that God is angry at them because they have a harshly negative morale.
Edwards establishes a feeling of hopelessness throughout his sermon by applying figurative language to emphasize his purpose. His
With the prevalent thought engine of Calvinism during this time, Jonathan Edwards delivers an important sermon to his congregation. He presents to his followers the “extraordinary opportunity” that they have in front of them at the present moment. He maintains a close relationship with Christianity and the Bible’s words throughout the speech to strengthen his ties with the belief system of the Puritans. This gives him the opportunity to use persuasive tactics to urge his audience towards following God to heaven. Jonathan Edwards utilizes strong Christian references, and dramatic diction to grab his listeners attention and make them realize the significance of his sermon as he sternly explains to his congregation God’s power and why people of God should be compassionate in their life.
Throughout the story Edwards used many strong condemning phrases so that people would be firm in God and not sin. For instance, the author states, “The devils watch them; they are ever by them at their right hand; they stand waiting for them, like greedy hungry lions that see their prey, and expect to have it, but are for the present kept back.”(pg. 196) I can see why Edwards uses these words because I can see that he cares for his congregation and he does not want them to go to hell. My pastor is the same way; she would talk to us with her foot down because she is the one responsible for us. According to my beliefs, it is she who has to answer to God, if her congregation goes to hell. I can see why
Edwards weaponized an understanding of the human mind and spirituality to breach his congregation’s mind and heart for God. He knew that his audiences behaviors and attitudes and brought them to the light using guilt held for self-righteousness and sin, human demand for justice “you shall not suffer beyond what strict justice requires”, and the bandwagon technique (‘a day wherein many are flocking to him” and “many… now in happy state”). Edwards successfully exploited human doubt of situation and fear of hell. This fear brutal self-examination of the audience, which is what made the sermon so
The sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is a very powerful piece. When the sermon was first released it spoke out to many individuals. Jonathan Edwards’ goal was to get the word of God out to others and make them realize what kind of evil world they live in. In the sermon, he explains things using imagery. A prominent theme communicated by the images and analogies that Edwards employs includes: trust and believe in God for he is the one keeping you from Hell.
The stance that Edwards takes while using this literary device is that he believes that god is
Retrieved from http://ilearn.byui.edu Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. (1989). The Doctrine and covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints . Salt Lake City, UT: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Christofferson, D. T. Oct 2011 How to Study the Book of Mormon Latter-day Saint scholars (pp. 361-378).
By him doing this he gets the church attendance to increase, people began to study the Bible more, and religion has become more independent. Before the Great Awakening happened it seems that values decreased and many ministers started to notice and action needed to happen. God need to become part of everyones lives and they needed to have a close connection with him. By Edwards using a physical nd emotional aspect to his sermon it made an impact on everyones lives and how they began to incorporate faith more into everyday
Jonathan Edwards was a fiery man who passionately immersed himself in his work as a pastor. These personality traits are reflected in his most well-known sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” at which even modern day readers would find themselves shrinking away from. Another prevalent influence on the sermon was an event that Edwards could basically be considered the “father” of, a religious revival known as the Great Awakening. Around him Edwards began to see that people were becoming more concerned with material possessions and worldly matters than religion. People were beginning to reject the concept of predestination and believed that if they were good then their souls could be saved. Jonathan Edwards thus spat out his response to such
Edwards believed in a god that wasn’t intervening in your life except for one major thing, he was keeping you from going to hell. Edwards believed that god would do that and stay silent and that you were to show your gratitude without god having to prove anything to you and that sinning or not believing would cause god great anger, and he would drop you into hell. It would be like someone cooking a meal for you and you throw it all away, it’s just embarrassing for the other person. Bradstreet however had differing opinions, for she believed that god was testing you at all times, making sure you are grateful but understand that everything is god’s. “It was His own, it was not mine, / Far be it that I should repine;” (Bradstreet “Upon the Burning…”
Edwards takes his work to the extremity of violence of the Puritan belief. Through out his sermon,Edwards hauntingly explains the relationship between God and the sin of humanity itself. As Edwards states in the sermon, “Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead,and to
Katherine was coming into her own as a reformer, and while the King does change a few things about the church, he was far from a reformer. Parr embraced the reformist ideals of reading and interpreting the Bible for herself and firmly believed that religion should be debated and discussed. As shown in her own writings, Parr did not want a priest, or any man for that matter, to speak for her when it came to religious matters and beliefs. According to Porter, he "refused to embrace the Lutheran doctrine of 'justification by faith alone ' (a belief that Parr held, staunchly), because "he believed there must be more to salvation and would not accept that good works and charity did not play their part in the redemption of the soul." Parr blatantly ignored the Act for the Advancement of the True Religion by distributing her text, and while she initially had the blessing of Henry, he quickly regretted the decision and is inspired by those around him to have Parr arrested for her beliefs and for spreading them. Parr is fortunate to get a hold of the warrant, and swore as an axiom
On page 90 when he was talking about the people in the church that might not be saved, he said "Their case is past all hope; they are crying in extreme misery and perfect despair; but here you are in the land of the living and in the house of God and have an opportunity to obtain salvation." This really sticks out to me because every Sunday that we sit in church, its easy to take it for granite, but its really a privilege. Some people cant go to a church legally, and others feel as though they wont be accepted, there's so many reasons why people cant or don't go to church. This convicts me because I realize just how blessed I am to be able to worship God in a public place and to be able to speak about Him. Edwards goes on to say, "And now