Religious Affections, Edwards 1

My first installment of notes from this book. (I did this in honor of you Brandon, oh famous Middle School Pastor)

Religious Affections
How Man’s Will Affects His Character Before God
Jonathan Edwards

-We have a tendency to live for nothing, care for nothing, believe in nothing as is evidenced by our actions, seek to know nothing, enjoy nothing, find purpose in nothing, and remain alive because there is nothing worth dying for.

-“The assistant to one renowned media pastor told me when I asked him the key to this man’s success: “We give the people what they want.” That, too, is heresy. Heresy is at the very root of the “what’s-in-it-for-me” mentality so prevalent in the west today, a mentality born from the seeds of materialism planted even in Edward’s day.” (introduction xxx)

-“Loving God calls for more than gushing sentimentalities or pious mouthings: Loving God demands obedience to Him in every aspect of our lives and calling others to obedience—whether that message is popular or not.” (intro xxx)

-“Edwards stressed that we can never cultivate true religious affection without a deepened sense of sin. It is the very heart of a Christian to confront one’s own sin and to desperately desire deliverance from it. And once we’ve seen our sin, we can only live in gratitude for God’s amazing grace.” (intro xxxi)

-“I have had a vastly greater sense of my own wickedness and the badness of my heart than ever I had before my conversion…It is affecting to think how ignorant I was, when a young Christian, of the bottomless, infinite depths of wickedness, pride, hypocrisy, and deceit left in my heart.” (Edwards himself xxxii)

-“Yet we find that people exercise the affections in everything else but religion! When it comes to their worldly interest, their outward delights, their honor and reputation, and their natural relations, they have warm affection and ardent zeal. In these things their hearts are tender and sensitive, easily moved, deeply impressed, much concerned, and much engrossed.” -27