Christian blog posts

God’s intellectual, “that’s how Pastor Jonathan Edward was known in the 17th century and beyond. Being an only son in a family of ten sisters, his life was cut for the books from childhood. In later yrs, he was not only an intellectual but a great preacher too. During the 17 hundred earthquake, his preaching titled “Sinners in the hands of an angry God”, shook many to the core during that time thus bringing a lot of revival to his generation. The earthquake brought so many people to Christ and suddenly, churches were full of members. He was later nicknamed ” God’s mouth piece”. Infact, many people of his time said that if Pastor Jonathan had not become a minister of the Gospel, he would have been a scientist of his time like Benjamin Franklin. While studying ministry at Yale University, Jonathan devoured books in the largest library in the area, a lot to do with God’s work but also books from other fields as well. In 1920, he graduated from Yale but had to stay two more yrs for his master’s degree. During his early days in his education as a boy, he had learned Greek, Hebrew and Latin languages. His journals are available for anyone to read online but in one of them, he says,” as a young boy, I would often wonder through the fields surrounding my home, sensing God’s majesty in everything I saw around me.

 Yes, Jonathan was a man of the books, but he would never allow indoor study to monopolize his time. In his research, he dug dipper over the works of Isaac Newton and was intrigued by his findings that the universe operated by laws-some, as he noted, could even be represented mathematically. With the bible on one hand and scientific findings on the other hand, he concluded that God is a God of order. Some of the things we consider simple to explain …eg “Why did God create the universe” were serious things that Edwards had to research and give his findings in writing. It’s said that his bible was bigger than the normal bible of his time-why? Because he dismantled it and attached papers on each page to write his notes, before binding it back. Our Modern Bibles at least gives us the opportunity to write notes but during that time, it demanded he finds away. On his research of creation, his conclusions were,” God gains nothing from creating; his happiness in himself is perfect, and nothing can be added to it- BUT God desired that his creatures who could see and enjoy the beautiful perfection of his creation, would in return enjoy them and glorify him.

 Edwards was not a passive reader of the bible like most of us. He determined to take a lot of time in the scriptures and think through the implications of what he observed, and going so far as to skip dinner, if it threatened to interrupt the flow of his thought pattern. He was so keen on every verse in the Bible that he said ” the bible must solve problems, otherwise many people may think science is everything. He wrote about the arts and science and how they’re rooted in God. Later, he published these thoughts in a book entitled,” The Nature of True Virtue. Jonathan perceived that there was no conflict between religion and science, believing that correct interpretation would show that they actually support each other.

In one of his his jounals, he says,” I seem to see more light exhibited by every sentence in the scriptures that lingering long on it seem to be full of wonders. It seems that observations and thoughtful ways of handling things carried over into his personal correspondence too. To show how deep in he was in research, one day  a young woman in his church once asked him how she should conduct herself in a Christian way! In response, he dug dipper into research and wrote her a fourteen-page letter detailing his recommendations. In a gentle tone, he warned her to beware of pride and encouraged her to be become a minister to others of her own age. This letter was later published and circulated to everyone as a pamphlet entitled-Advice to young converts.

Fortunately for us believers, Jonathan was faithful to publish the conclusions of his findings and we can easily get to read them if we search for them. Jonathan Edwards later joined Yale University as its president and retired as a scholar for Christ, who set much of the groundwork for later revivals with his careful documentation of the great awakening and how it began.

Saints of God, most of us are educated that if I would ask our professional attributes, this wall will be full of our accolades. My question is, how has that PHD or professorship in science, zoology, Geography, Chemistry, Archeology, ICT or whichever field you are in, helped advance the gospel of Jesus Christ? It’s common to find educated people arguing against the scriptures and not offering solutions as Jonathan Edward would do!

 I believe every field of study has a way of explaining God’s works in wonderful ways! Again, just Imagine with me, if all of us took the bible in one hand, and delved deeper with our latest devices, both laptops, desktops and etc, to prove to the world how our area of study is real proof of the divine?. Suppose we linked our area of study with an in-depth study of scriptures, and published pamplets to those willing to read, of how magnificent our God is- and has revealed himself in our area of study, we would not be having these unbelieving professionals in our colleges and Universities. This days our young men go to campus as believers and are made unbelievers by the time they leave campus-why? As they say, the bible is so simple for their minds-and they would rather do hard staff.. Suppose our believing lecturers had such lessons online and in print, of how God is known in science, mathematics and etc, our world will be a better place to live. Most of us believers rarely question God as we read the scriptures and ponder on the meaning of terms used in describing biblical events. God is always willing to engage us if we draw near to him. He says,” Come, let us reason together! This to me shows that God does not want us to follow him blindly. He’s a God who is willing to help us when we engage our thinking capacity. Unfortunately, to most of us, whenever we see a problems or a question in the scriptures that need an answer, we are always ready to push it to the experts and seldom do we tackle it to find a solution to it as Edwards did . God is willing to help us settle those questions we have about him, but are we willing? Let’s remember that we are called to love God with all our mind, soul and strength. All scripture, as it’s written, ”is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:–why? Because God expects every man/woman of God to be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (2nd Timothy 3:16-17). You may not be called God’s intellectual as Jonathan was, but can you be counted among the believers who will leave a mark for the next generation, through the study of scripture, and proper application of it in our professional fields? May God help us all.God bless you