Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God

Jonathan Edward's sermon of the same name struck me as a very one-sided way to view the world. Actually, Puritanism itself seemed like a very one-sided religion. It basically stated that anything different was bad, anything remotely material was bad and if you didn't fear God, that was bad. If you did any of those things you were considered a sinner and, for sure, going to Hell because you broke the Puritan I-get-a-free-pass-to-heaven "arrangement." They disliked progress and anything that was not somehow related to their faith and the Bible. But I am not one to judge how they thought. Still, these people gave the words "God-fearing people" a new meaning.

Why do we have to fear God in the first place? I'm not sure which religion, if any, I believe in right now but I do believe that God created the Earth and life. Yes, those are the key words: God gave us life. Why would the one being that created us in the first place, created this wonderful and unique and intelligent thing called a human, why would God want us to fear him (her?)? If anything, I think God would want us to praise him for bringing us into this world. The religion I am born into, Judaism, does not teach us to fear God. But however, one thing that is brought up over and over again in the Bible and the Torah, is this: "I am Adonai, your one true God." The Jewish God only wants us to believe he is there, and that he is the only one. Moses was given the Ten Commandments and this god chose us as a people to... be the god of. So he picked us, and so we are grateful and sacrifice things, or at least we did back in Biblical times.

Like I said earlier, I'm not sure if I actually believe in this religion, but I do believe that people shouldn't fear God, that God is the being that created life, he is loving and caring for the most part. Puritanism is all about fear. If you are scared, you will get into heaven because you will fear God and are afraid of going to Hell, so you will obey all these Puritan rules. Just because you are scared. Call me crazy, but I don't think fear is the healthiest way to get someone to participate in your religion. All God should want is for you to be happy in life. In the end, I hope there was at least some joy in it for the Puritans.