Can a person live by the principles that Jesus outlined in The Sermon on the Mount in the modern world? This is the very question that Bill Myers tackles in his book The Wager, which is a modern-day Job-like story where the Devil makes a bet with God that a human cannot live up to the requirements of The Sermon on the Mount. While Myers is known for books that fall into the mystery and thriller sub-genre of Christian Fiction such as his Forbidden Doors series, this type of undertaking is not new for him. His novel Eli is a similar undertaking in that it adapts the birth of Jesus to modern-day circumstances. In The Wager, Myers uses the story of Michael Steel to reveal how to live by Jesus’ instructions from The Sermon on the Mount despite the insufficiency of human action alone to do so. The story begins with dialogue between God and the Devil. The Devil claims that a person cannot live by the demands outlined in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In terms that echo the deal made in the Book of Job, God gives the Devil domain over Michael Steel, a successful actor that is in the running for an Oscar, to try and prove his point. Steel decides to live by Jesus’ commands and then is in constant contact with the words of The Sermon on the Mount on the radio, television, and in his own reading. …show more content…
The wager between God and the Devil show that the resulting trials that Michael Steel endures are meant to illustrate supernatural powers at work in the lives of Christians. Myers does a very good job of modernizing both the story of Job and the requirements conveyed in Jesus’ teachings by giving modern and relatable situations where these principles are applicable. Therefore, the novel is very effective because it shows readers how to apply biblical teachings in a modern world, even the ones that appear to be
The townspeople of Milford learn this just before Parson Hooper dies and he explains they are all wearing a black veil and that no one is righteous. Goodman Brown learns this first hand when he goes to the woods to make a deal with the devil, and sees who he believes to be the most righteous of the town; only to discover they are just as evil and impure as the rest of the world. "My Faith is gone!" cried he, after one stupefied moment. "There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil!
Before reading The Book of Job, as translated by Stephen Mitchell, I had no prior experience reading this in the bible. After reading this story, the theme of the story stood out to me as a man’s test of faith. Throughout the story, Job is presented with obstacles to his faith in a God figure, by a figure of Satan. Satan proposes to God that Job will lose faith in him if his circumstances are altered in a negative way. The first obstacle Satan presents is taking away the worldly possessions that Jobs loves.
This acts as one of the best entry points for many new Christian fiction writers and also secular readers. This Christian suspense is considered to be the mainstay of the genre. The critical difference between Christian suspense and other suspense novel is “spiritual elements “that can be carried out only in Christian
Rowlandson frequently alludes to the book of Job- drawing a parallel between herself and the perfect Christian martyr. By describing her captors in association with Hell, she casts them as, not only, enemies of the Puritans, but enemies of God as well. Rowlandson does suffer the wrath of her mistress; however, she is met with much kindness from other Natives. For example, she is even given a Bible by one of her “savage” captors (Rowlandson 263). She is offered food by many other Natives (Rowlandson 269).
The meaning and style in " Sinners in the hands of an angry God" and "The ministers black veil" compare and contrast because in Jonathan Edwards sermon in "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" really showed how strong his religious belief was. Edwards sermon was very serious. Edwards purpose was to scare people into changing their ways by making them believe that God was going to condemn them to hell for their sins. The story contains imagery, analogy, hyperbole, and diction. In the sermon Edwards spoke in a very harsh, scary, forceful, judgemental, but yet passionate tone.
In chapter 3 of Speaking of Jesus, Carl Medearis talks about what it means to own Christianity. He says "If we don't truly know what the gospel is, we have to find an explanation for Christianity." Meaning that if we do not know what the gospel is or what it is teaching us, then we try to define it by our own standards, and that is where it gets messy. Medearis talks about how Christianity is more than a religion, but it is a relationship and people tend to not understand that. He explains why people are so defensive and put up their guards towards Christians, because Christians can be so judgemental.
Unlike Beatrice the pastor did not succumb to insanity like she did. He stayed strong even after what happened to his wife. He could have used the excuse that he was scared to teach the word of god after what they did to his wife but the tragic incident actually made him stronger as a person. ”what they didn't realize, or didn't want to acknowledge, was that hed already decided to give up his life , had made a pact with heaven to be sacrificed for this country. ”(200).
In Helena Maria Viramontes’ novel, Under the Feet of Jesus, Estrella starts off as angsty and confused, but then shifts to a state of contentment and understanding, caused by life experiences. These character traits are revealed through the selection of detail, figurative language, and tone. Initially, Estrella is immediately characterized as “very angry” when she finds Perfecto’s “foreign” toolbox. She uses a tone of confusion that illustrates her unfamiliarity with the objects in the tool box by using words such as “funny-shaped”, and using a simile comparing her confusion with the tools to the alphabet which Estrella “could not decipher”.
Jesus is a modern epic hero. Across the span of his lifetime, He has fulfilled all of the eight elements of the epic hero cycle. You can read all about His life in the Bible. Jesus was born with a special DNA. He is the son of God.
Each story is unique with their own resolutions and the different portrayal of the devil depictions. The religious influences as well as the “opening of eyes or saving graces” were equally influential to the plot lines. Both pieces of literature describe the struggles of the human need for wealth and what one will do to get it. Although both stories were written in complete different centuries and economic times, both lead to the problems of what the desire for greed and wealth can
The victimization of fears and securities is a main weapon in the belt of those who wish to lead and conquer. This is proved when in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards uses dark imagery and tone, telling the congregation, “O, Sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in... You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it” (156).
Throughout the novel justice is defined as vengeance, allowing the actors to justify carrying out their malintentions. Jack Burden, the leading character, argues that “a man has to sell his soul to get the power to do good” (Warren 600).Through this, the author presents the concept that good must come out of bad, in this instance for fairness and justice to come, there must be vengeance. The idea of selling one’s soul symbolizes selling one’s goodness, and the power that is given is
In the story, “The Devil and Daniel Webster” the main character is Daniel Webster, and he is a lawyer who helped Jabez Stone from the hands of the devil. He and the devil held the trial in Stone’s kitchen with dead jury and judge. At the end of the story, Daniel appealed to jury and the judge as men who contributed to mankind, and he saved Jabez Stone from the devil. At the same time, he saved himself from the devil. On the contrary, “The Devil and Tom Walker”, the main character, realized that his deal with the devil was bad for him, he tried to deceive the devil.
In Viramontes’ novel Under the Feet of Jesus, the author composes symbolic representations about the daily life of a migrant worker. Symbols used throughout the novel was the barn as a figure to represent a church, Petra’s statue of Jesus that symbolized her faith in Christianity and the baby doll with no mouth that represented the views on silence. The author uses symbolism to get her message across on how the difficulties of migrant workers. The symbols, the barn, Jesus statue, and the baby with no mouth represent the migrant workers’ stance on faith.
Sometimes it is easy to take the gift of salvation for granite, which is why we should review how and why it was given to us. The sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” was so effective because it showed people who they really are. The sermon opened people’s eyes to where they were spiritually, how powerful God truly is, and the things He can do but chooses not to. The sermon described how we are all born sinners and deserve to go to hell.