My salvation: 3 documents - Part 1

I became a Christian in November 1969. My salvation did not just happen. There were people, events and documents that shaped my salvation. There were three documents that predicated my salvation experience. This blog is about document # 1.

Document # 1 is Sinners in the hands of an angry God

A sample (you are encouraged to read it in its entirety!):

The God that 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: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.

Why did I read this? When did I read this? What was my reaction? Should you read this? This is the story.

Two full years before my salvation, I read "Sinners in the hands of an angry God". It was assigned reading in my Freshman English class at the University of Cincinnati. In the Fall of 1967, I was a Freshman at the University of Cincinnati. English was my least favorite class and the class in which I most struggled (as my "D","C","C" grades would testify). (For my blog audience, it may seem at times that English is my 2nd language!).

Why would "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" be assigned reading? It is great literature. It is historic (see the Great Awakening below!). It shaped the United States. And it is famous! I did not seek this document out ... it sought me out.

What was my reaction to "Sinners in the hands of an angry God"?

1. It did not make me comfortable but did not move my heart immediately.
   
2. It seemed antiquated and irrelevant.
   
3. These concepts did not register with me: God is wrathful, God is angry, I'm a sinner, hell is real.
   
4. I read it simply as literature, as an assignment only, for a test, a quiz, a grade!
   
5. It was later that the Spirit of God used the truths of this message in my life!
   

Who was Jonathan Edwards? Read about him here!

What was the Great Awakening? Read about it here!