Puritan's Concept of Sin
The Puritan's have a somewhat complex idea of what constitutes a sin. If the weather is bad, they would wonder what they had done to deserve the dreadful weather. If someone came down with a severe illness, they would assume they had committed a terrible sin to deserve it. They feel like the consequences of sin are very severe and that they are individually punished for their foul actions. This paper will examine the Puritan's concept of sin, as seen in the text by William Bradford and Jonathan Edwards. The text has selections of Bradford's work from Of Plymouth Plantation. Bradford believed that with sin, came punishment. This belief is reflected in his writing. He felt that men who focus on pride and ambition were sinners. These people would be punished by God in some form or another. He says that "Satan took occasion and advantage thereby to foist in a number of vile ceremonies" (166). By this he means that Satan will punish every sinner in some 'vile' way. Bradford writes of a young seaman, who was proud and profane, with a lusty and able body. The seaman seemed nice, but had intentions of throwing the crew overboard and stealing their poss
Edwards doesn't feel that sin requires an action of any kind. Edwards' interpretation of this bible verse is that those who sin will be punished, similar to what we have seen in Bradford's writing. For these sins, God punished the young seaman by throwing him overboard first. Edwards opens his sermon by quoting Deuteronomy 32. Edwards never comes out and specifically says what he feels constitutes a sin. "They noted it to be the just hand of God upon him. Edwards concentrates on the consequences of sin, which appear to be incredibly severe according to him. While Bradford and Edwards would have both agreed that sin results in punishment, they had very different ways of expressing their thoughts about it. " This was during a time when many people were converting to Christianity. The theory being that God will send you directly into destruction or hell if you are committing sins. We can come to realize that this is his evaluation when we read further into his sermon. During the Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards delivered the famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. " This seems to say that if you aren't a believer/Christian, you are going to hell. This would be a useful tactic in trying to preach and convert people. Edwards basically follows this same theory throughout his entire sermon.
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