Jonathan Edwards's "Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God" was the most brutally honest and daring out of all of the readings for today. His sermon was great proof of two things- he said what he felt was right no matter how bold it was and gave biblical proof to strengthen his points. To one not familiar with him, it would be easy after reading this sermon of course to assume that in his eyes, the fate of man who has not yet been converted surely is not a pretty one. This can be seen early on in the text when Edwards states, "So that every unconverted man properly belongs to hell; that is his place; from thence he is". After reading the sermon it seem as though Edward's was trying to get one main point across which was, as the old saying goes, get your house in order before your judgement day arrives. My most favorable part in his sermon is when he says, " So that it is not because God is unmindful of their wickedness, and does not resent it, that he does not let loose his hand and cut them off....The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow". I favor this part so much because although the nature and tone of this sermon is a very serious one with much of its context attributed to damnation, he does offer a warning that sinners should not take the forgiving nature of God for granted, for if they do, his wrath will punish their wickedness.

Wallace Steven's gave quite a drastic change in the aspect of religion, and after reading Edward's sermon I found myself waiting for that gut wrenching moment in the poem where his polite honesty would turn into blatant truth. Stevens's approach was taken at a much more eloquent and lighter tone. I was not able to see what other religion he was talking about in his poem but I was able to conclude what kind of religion the woman was thinking about as she went back and forth in her head. The connection I made was when Stevens said, "Jove in the clouds had his inhuman birth / He moved among us, as a muttering king / Magnificent, would move among his hinds". (3. 1,4,5) These lines reminded me of the birth of Jesus Christ as told in the Bible so therefore I concluded that the woman was a Christian. I also thought about the significance in Death being the mother of beauty. Death breeds beauty. When things are not forever, they are a little more cherished and appreciated. Hence, death shines light on everything perishable and even ourselves, so it becomes the mother of beauty. That is what I took from his poem.

In Hawthorne's story "Young Goodman Brown", he takes an approach to religion that was very easy for me to comprehend. I interpreted this story as one big dream. I also thought that there was some symbolism going on with Goodman's wife. His wife Faith said, "prithee put off your journey until sunrise and sleep in your own bed to-night. A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts that she's afeard of herself sometimes". I felt as though this had two meanings. The first of course is obvious- she is a woman begging her husband to stay with her through the night. The second meaning is where the symbolism comes in. Not only is her name Faith, but she is pleading for him not to go. His faith is trying to hold him back from taking that walk  with the Devil. This is even more evident when Goodman meets up with the Devil and after being questioned about being late he replies, "Faith kept me back awhile". His wife not only symbolizes love within a union of man and woman but also the relationship of man and God. I believe this story speaks on how easily susceptible man is to sin and failure but our ties with God is what keeps us whole and possibly delivers us from eternal damnation.

Edwards sermon is different from Hawthorne's story in that Edward's believed that man had control of his own destiny and ultimately because of this, the consequences from which they came were very grim. He thought that the test of fate was through being converted and therefor safe from the pits of hell. If one were not to convert or stay free of sin, then they would become satin's rewards. Hawthorne on the other hand took the possibility of "evil" as something that is inevitable in all of us. In my opinion, Hawthorne was trying to convey the idea that evil and sin is something we cannot escape, but if we must sin, then we must realize our faults so that we can live a happy life and stay strong in our faiths. The difference in the two readings boiled down to Edward's taking a more strict and cut throat approach whereas Hawthorne gave room to not only examine the state of religion but also hidden remedies for common shortcomings.

I think that "Sunday Morning" can be compared to the other two readings in that they all have a central underlying theme which is "what if". There is a "what if" factor that surfaces in each of theses works. In Edwards sermon he questioned damnation without conversion. In Hawthorne's story he questioned the nature of evil. In Stevens's poem he questioned the satisfaction of religion vs. earthly goods and pleasures. They all have  that same thing that pose great thinking and discussion on religious views.

I believe that "Sunday Morning" most accurately reflects contemporary American viewpoints of religion because today there are more and more people who chose to live there life as they want instead of living according to their religion because they feel as though they get no instant gratification for religion but on Earth they can. I also think that more and more people are leaning towards being more spiritual than religious and saying that you are a spiritual person does not carry the same responsibility as an entire religion.

In the readings today  the position of Goodman after he had grown old reminded me a lot of Scrooge. If you can recall Scrooge was a very mean and stingy man often by himself with no friends and who was very set in his ways. I connected that with Goodman because after he spent so long seeing fault in everyone else besides himself it started to affect him and change him for the worse. The only difference is that Scrooge was able to redeem himself. For Goodman, it was too late. One question that I have for today is given that Edwards lived in the 1700's, how do you think his view of religion would be today if he could see 300 years into the future? Do you think the tone and overall reasoning would be significantly different or the same?