The first, Jonathan Edwards, lived in Connecticut in the 18th century. He was a Calvinist preacher, of the hellfire and brimstone sort, who stressed man’s innate sinfulness, and the need to have faith in Jesus as the only method of salvation. His teachings led to a giant religious revival in the American colonies. To the best of my knowledge, he was completely sincere, and preached what he preached out of a real desire to save peoples’ souls.
The second, Jon Edward, lives today. He claims he can speak to the dead. To the best of my knowledge, he’s a charlatan, preying on the weak and grieving, out of a real desire to make money.
I know this is a weak rant, but I’ve been bothered by it. Its Edward, not Edwards.
I can’t forget another Jonathan Edwards. He was a good friend from grade school through college and into our professional lives. He was a fine husband and loving father and just a funny, nice guy. He was murdered along with several others by a madman just because he happened to be in the wrong place when George Lott went on a killing spree in a Texas courthouse. Bye John, I miss the hell out of you.
“Okay, I’m sensing a name…It starts with ‘J’…A man…Maybe a father or a brother…A male relative…He recently died, very suddenly, perhaps from heart failure or some other sudden ailment, like a stroke.”
“Yes! My husband Jim! He died in a car wreck five years ago!”
“OK…Jim was a miserable sinner, and now God, who rightly loathed him for his wickedness, has cast him into the fiery pit of hell, to face the torments of God’s wrath for ever and ever.”
“All right, now I’m sensing another loathesome and abominable wretch…I’m sensing a date…Some date in April…Maybe a birth day or a wedding day, or the day someone’s life was snuffed out by the wrath of Almighty God like a vile scuttling thing beneath the heel of one’s boot…Some kind of transition…And a name, beginning with ‘D’ or perhaps ‘B’ or ‘P’…And of course I’m sensing the fiery maw of hell, into which a just and righteous God eternally yearns to cast us all for the overwhelming wickedness with which we provoke Him…”
I’ve heard of his show since the South Park episode but I’ve only just seen any piece of the actual show and it sickens me how he manipulates people’s deepest heartfelt feelings - this guy needs to have a bullet put through his head.
Well, you can take solace in the fact that, if John Edward is as bad as some people believe, and is unconverted to boot, then he might suffer the fate that Jonathan Edwards set down for sinners:
Ok, so one is a charlatan who makes people feel somewhat better about mortality through superstitious claptrap.
The other one is a truly scary guy who “helps” people cope with mortality by warning them that they’re almost certainly going to be thrown into eternal torment. This claim is faith-based and there is no more evidence for it than there is for the first one’s claims.
Is the Jonathan Edwards more sincere than John Edwards? Probably, because we live in cynical times, but then, it’s possible that John Edwards actually believes the bilge he spouts.
I dunno. I’m willing to say “Different century, same gig.”