Jonathan Edwards Was a Calvinist. Adventists Are More Into Arminianism!

AN EXCLUSIVE POST FOR RICHARD BURNETTE

This picture of Jesus reading the scripture is pretty primitive, and may come from an illuminated manuscript. This is only a guess.

SABBATH SERMON: A RERUN OF A “CLASSIC EPISODE”

The greatest preacher that ever lived, being omniscient, had  a perfect grasp on His material. One of His most significant sermons was probably also one of His shortest. It was nothing but the truth, yet the congregation was so offended by it they wanted to kill the preacher.
It took as it’s text Isaiah 61:1-2: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord…”

The sermon can be found in Luke 4:21: “…This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

A LINK TO A SERMON BY JONATHAN EDWARDS

The First Great Awakening had many contributors, but Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards was among the foremost of these. Edward’s brand of preaching tended toward rationality, in contrast to fellow “Awakener” George Whitefield, who was more charismatic. Neither man thought much of Arminianism (my second use of this useful link), a theology that believes that man has the freewill to choose either salvation or, by rejecting Christ, damnation. Adventists are influenced by Arminianism. Despite his rejection of this doctrine (one embraced by John Wesley , whose views proved more successful in winning souls), Jonathan Edwards penned a sermon that is perhaps the most famous one in modern religious history. It is called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God ,” and could be described as the Puritan equivalent of “Hellfire and Brimstone.”

“Christ Descent Into Hell,” detail, by Hieronymus Bosch, a favorite painter of Most Catholic Phillip II.

Jonathan Edward’s sermon ask the question, “if the hell-bound are irredeemable, then why doesn’t God just go ahead and throw them into Hell right now and be done with it?” We Arminians know that, according to First Timothy 2:4, God is one “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” The worst of sinners can undergo a change of heart, and God is allowing then time to accomplish this, to exercise their “freewill.” Hardboiled Calvinists like Edwards, who are all about predestination, must cook up alternate explanations. His linked sermon has this to say about sinners: ” The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and it is nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God’s mere will, that holds it back.” This statement insinuates that God can act in an “arbitrary” manner. But the sermon does end with an appeal: “Now God stands ready to pity you; this is a day of mercy; you may cry now with some encouragement of obtaining mercy.” If you are not converted, then you will be consigned to a condition that Edwards (rather sadistically) describes as follows: “There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery.” Edwards states the extreme need for his listeners to be converted, but gives no clear directions on how to satisfy this need. “God seems now to be hastily gathering in his elect in all parts of the land…” he declares. Election is a prerequisite!

The late Dr. William R. Crews was a modern-day “hardboiled” Calvinist like Edwards. I used to watch him on TV all the time when I was a kid. He was headquartered in Spartanburg, SC, a most God-fearing milieu, and a stone’s throw away from my childhood home. God “elected” him subsequent to his lucrative career as a pool hustler, as may be discovered in his testimony. He had, and may still have (like the late D. James Kennedy , another Calvinist) a dedicated following of people who are assured of their election. His operation is known as “The Awakening Hour.” I cannot get my computer to access his old website, as there seems to be a security issue. Here is a LINK that disparages his theology. Here is a LINK to his 2009 obituary. Here is a LINK to a “Wayback Machine” resuscitation of the skeleton of his website from the year just before he died. He draws an incredible amount of criticism from anti-Christian forces, but as a kid, I never doubted for an instant his sincerity. He was just a little deluded.

The late Dr. William R. Crews, a native of Stark, Florida. This is appropriate, as he was a very “stark” man: ex-hustler, twin-engine certified airplane pilot, and diehard Calvinist. Founder of “The Awakening Hour.