As I was reading Jonathan Edwards' "Personal Narrative," I couldn't help but notice how affectionately he speaks of God. He talks often of having found an inward, sweet delight, and how his prayers are filled with longing: "I very often think with sweetness and longings and pantings of soul, of being a little child, taking hold of Christ, to be led by him through the wilderness of this world;" (177) "After this my sense of divine things gradually increased, and became more and more lively, and had more of that inward sweetness" (173). The way he spoke of God was the way you might hear one speak of a lover.
Yet fast forward to "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," and I'm not so sure we're speaking of the same God. It's difficult to understand how you could be affectionate toward God, who "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" (200). This God seems to be just barely restraining himself from blotting out all of these sinful, loathsome creates that are known as humans. I felt like this message was less of an appealing one. The message I got from his Personal Narrative was that God desires relationship with you and will fulfill your longings--this message was enticing and welcoming people into heaven. But the message I got from this second writing is more of a message meant to literally scare the hell out of you.
It's interesting to get both of these pictures of God from the same person. Both are biblically backed, and both give us a greater picture of God, even though we want to believe one more than the other. Although I gave Jonathan Edwards a bad review earlier, maybe I should give him some grace, as he is only trying to explore different aspects of who God is.
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