First of all, I would just like to write a small disclaimer to all religiously opinionated people, so I advise reader digression. These are merely my thoughts on the given essay topic, and I do not want to offend anyone with my beliefs, as this book talks about religion quite often. My opinion is as good as anyone else's.
I really do disagree with just about every single thing that Johnathan Edwards has to say in his frightening little speech. I know that I would rather be a million other places than there when he was preaching and writing these awful accounts and ideas to people (Edwards 10). I do not think that I could ever read that without becoming very uncomfortable, just as I did this time around. What happens to the people in The Crucible makes me feel like they could connect to what Edwards is saying. They have very serious beliefs, even if they do sound completely ridiculous to society today (Miller 306). We have to understand when reading these things that people all have their little explanations of who is running all of the world in the sky or something like that. I feel like the churches in the Puritan times were all connected in some way or another because somehow, they all seemed to act the same way and want to scare the pants off of everyone. I was honestly afraid when read some of these things.
In both of these stories, there are people who are essentially doing something wrong in the eyes of their god. Whether it be something like cheating on your wife, or simply lying over something unimportant (Miller 118, 245). It may be hard to live in a position where you can hardly do anything without feeling horrible grief, and putting yourself in potential danger of losing your soul to the devil, who lurks around every corner and works through other people in mysterious ways.
These passages all are written through people of the Puritan religion, which is a very strict, almost aggressive religion. I honestly am already tired of reading about this religion, mainly because it makes me feel uncomfortable discussing it through school work, but also because the religion is so very closed-minded and it has a sort of "my way or the highway" attitude. I am someone who is extremely supportive of religious tolerance, so it pains me to read about how bad things used to be in our own country. Both writings are perfect examples of exactly how things worked in the Puritan religion. Everything is centered around scaring people into wanting to get into heaven, as opposed to making them want to get into heaven on their own terms (Edwards 12). The objective of the religion was to scare people away from hell, instead of urging them toward whatever god they were looking to. I would hate to have to live in fear of going somewhere horrible for all of eternity just because of something so meaningless as shoveling snow on a Sunday (234).
I find that their whole establishment was just messed up from the beginning, and that is probably why this religion does not exist any longer. I am starting to become seriously sick of hearing about these people, it gets me angry and I disagree with every "logical" connection they make.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.
Edwards, Jonathan. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God a Sermon, Preached at Enfield, July 8th, 1741, at a Time of Great Awakenings, and Attended with Remarkable Impressions on Many of the Hearers. Schenectady, N.Y.: Printed by Riggs & Stevens, 1815. Print.
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