Jonathan Edward's sermon, "Sinners at the Hands of an Angry God", was a sermon that was designed to strike fear and the recognition of sin into the hearts of all those present, and to make them realize by utilizing their own guilt have them see their former ways as "bad" so to speak, and repent. This essay will compare and contrast the delivery and message from Jonathan Edward's sermon to more modern ones that we hear today; and how his versions might be either inferior or superior in my opinion.
The delivery of Edward's sermon was very different from the way we hear sermons delivered today. His speech and presentation was very strong, and in no way relenting or backing off from the content and harshness that were at some points used in his sermon. He kept at his points in his sermon, driving and edging his words down into the very souls of those to whom he preached, wanting and reaching for the results he wanted, results he hoped would change their minds about their sinful ways and change back to the straight and narrow. Today however, most sermons are not very driving and are, at the most sometimes, are just routine that we sit in there for Sunday after Sunday after Sunday etc. Why can"t we take a lesson from Mr. Edwards and use his methods every once in a while to help notice our mistakes? I think that Edwards" was superior in this case, but it wouldn"t be for every day usage.
The message that Edward's used was very straight forward, and all the stops had been pulled out. His thoughts and convictions about the actions that were not of God that he had seen going around him in the family of God were, to him, strongly sinful, and he, not holding back; revealed his thoughts to the others, confronting their sins outright. Today, however, most sermons today are not as straight forward. Every once in a while there is a sermon designed to make others repent, or some to bring people to Christ, but most are just a "warm-soft-fuzzy kind-of feeling" to give you a secure sense at where you are, relying on your conscience to read into the sermon to find out if something is really wrong with you or not.
