Firsthand or Secondhand Religious Experience?

Firsthand or Secondhand Religious Experience?

Delivered by Rev. Dr. Randy K. Hammer - October 27, 2019

Job 42:1-6 GNT

In the past I knew only what others had told me,

but now I have seen you with my own eyes. (Job 42:5)

Mark 10:46-52 GNT

Reading from Marcus Borg, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time

It is said that his congregates sat on the edge of their pews and held their breath as he compared the precarious situation of unrepentant sinners to a spider suspended over an open flame by a single silk thread.

Born on October 5, 1703, in East Windsor, Connecticut, he received his education at Yale University.  For 23 years he served as pastor of the Northhampton, Massachusetts, Church, the largest and most influential church outside of Boston at that time.  Before his death, he would serve for a brief time as president of the College of New Jersey, which was later to be called Princeton University.  But while still a young man he gained international fame as a powerful preacher, theologian, and philosopher.

One of the first books I purchased when I began to think about preparing for the ministry was a little paperback titled Great Sermons by Great Preachers.¹  Such was my first introduction to a Puritan preacher by the name of Jonathan Edwards.  Then in my first college American Literature class, I got better acquainted with the man who remains famous for the sermon titled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”   Then when I pursued a Masters degree in Literature, I was handed a book containing the basic writings of Jonathan Edwards.

Well, three centuries later, we may not appreciate the theology or the theatrics of the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” but Jonathan Edwards is still recognized as a master preacher and one of the greatest thinkers in Puritan (hence, Congregational) history; indeed, he is considered to be "one of the great original minds of America."²

Perry Miller, the great New England historian, describes Edwards as "the first and greatest homegrown American philosopher."  When a biography titled Jonathan Edwards: A Life by George M. Marsden was released in 2003, it was number one on Yale University Press's list of their best-selling books.³

Like any famous person of the past, Jonathan Edwards was a man of his times.  That is to say, much of what he had to say and write is now dated.  But the thing about Edwards that I find most interesting was his insistence on firsthand religious experience.  Edwards subscribed to an experiential interpretation of Reformed theology that had taken root during the Protestant Reformation.  Because of his views, Edwards came to be known as "a theologian of the heart."  The test of religious truth, as he came to see it, is "an inward sense, 'a sense of the heart.'"⁴  In other words, as Edwards espoused it, true religion is not solely intellectual assent to a Christian creed, and it is not basing one's religious credentials upon that of one's parents or grandparents.  Rather, true religion is a personal and individual experience of the human heart. 

Yes, Edwards contended that religion of parents or grandparents does not suffice when it comes to their children or grandchildren.  Allow me to try to illustrate.  I remember well, though I was no more than eight years old at the time, the Sunday my parents went forward at the close of the worship service, confessed their faith, were baptized, and united with the church.  But the fact that my Mom and Dad were Christians did not necessarily mean that I would become an active Christian.  A child is not necessarily religious, spiritual, a Christian, or an adherent to any other religious tradition simply because his or her parents happened to be religious, spiritual, a Christian, or a member of some other religious tradition.  Each one, according to Edwards' view, needs a firsthand religious experience of the heart.

Curiously enough, when an acquaintance of mine was asked some years ago, “Are you a Christian?” he replied, "Of course I am; I was born one!"  Not so according to Edwards’ theology.  Perhaps that is an all too common misconception--that one is born a Christian, that Christian parents or Christian ancestry naturally makes for Christian offspring.  But it doesn't necessarily work that way.

To know about religion or God does not equal an experience with religion or God.  Such seems to have been the case with Job.  Job, as you may remember, had had this long ordeal with God.  He had suffered, complained, and maintained his righteousness in the face of adversity and the condemnation of his so-called friends.  All this time Job thought he knew God.  But in the end, Job confessed that he had not really known God at all.  Here is what Job said: "In the past I knew only what others had told me, but now I have seen you with my own eyes” (Job 42:5 GNT).  In other words, previously Job had heard of God from others, had had secondhand knowledge of God, knew God by way of tradition, but now he had experienced God for himself.  And that had made a world of difference.

In life and religion, nothing takes the place of firsthand knowledge.  If I wanted to tempt you with a piece of my delicious chocolate cake, I wouldn't just show you the recipe; I would give you a piece so you could taste it for yourself.

If I wanted to share with you the joy of Handel's Messiah, I wouldn't just show you the sheet music; I would play a tape or CD and let you drink it in with your ears and experience it for yourself.

I could stand here all day long and try to describe to you the beauty of a mountain stream in the Great Smoky Mountains, or the awesomeness of the Grand Canyon, or the majesty of Niagara Falls.  But you couldn't really know what I was talking about until you experienced these things for yourself.

So it is with religious experience, Jonathan Edwards contended; one must experience God, or the Sacred, or religious truth for oneself.  Basing our faith upon the faith of our parents or grandparents, or resting our religion upon an ancient creed, or basing our beliefs about God upon what someone else says or believes is secondhand knowledge.  It’s like looking at the recipe instead of eating the cake, or looking at sheet music instead of hearing the melody, or hearing someone describe Niagara Falls instead of being there yourself.  Nothing can take the place of firsthand, personal knowledge.

I am guessing that the passage we read today from the gospel of Mark is about more than a blind man having his physical sight restored, as important as that is.  Underneath the physical story is a teaching about spiritual blindness.  Though the disciples were with Jesus, physically speaking, they were blind to Jesus' real mission in the world.  In contrast, though Bartimaeus was physically blind, his spiritual vision was 20/20, it seems.  I suspect that the real point that Mark is trying to get across is the importance of spiritual sight, which comes to one through personal, active, heartfelt faith.

If the Protestant Reformation, which the Church celebrates today, was about anything, it was about exercising personal, heartfelt faith.  Now, Jonathan Edwards was not among the original Protestant Reformers.  He came along about 150-200 years later.  But he spoke in the continuing Reformation tradition.

Curiously, a more contemporary theologian, Marcus Borg (whom many of us at the United Church have embraced), in his book titled Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, notes that "The way of Jesus . . . invites us to move from 'secondhand religion' to firsthand religion.  Secondhand religion is a way of being religious based on believing what one has heard from others [there is an echo from Job there]. . .   Firsthand religion, on the other hand, consists of a relationship to that which the Bible and the teachings of the church point--namely, that reality we call God or the Spirit of God."⁵

Now, what does all this mean for us, practically speaking?  It speaks of the importance of each one making a conscious and personal choice to be religious or exercise faith. 

It speaks of the importance of consciously being open to the Sacred Presence, or Spirit of God, all around us.  For me, that often happens in the natural world. 

It speaks of the importance of being continually open to hearing an inspired word or that still, small voice as it comes to us, perhaps in the context of the Sunday worship service.

It speaks of the importance of not basing our beliefs upon what someone else says or believes.

It speaks of the importance of encouraging our children and grandchildren in making a decision for themselves about religious commitment, and of our need to provide them with opportunities to be exposed to the life of faith.

On a personal note, I have always held religious faith to be a blending of intellectual assent and a personal experience of the heart. 

Unlike Job, prior to his transforming encounter with God, we should not be satisfied with anything less than personal experience.  In this regard, Jonathan Edwards’ emphasis upon “a sense of the heart” - or firsthand religious experience, as Marcus Borg put it – is as relevant today as it was with Job of old.  Religious faith – intellectual assent and a personal experience of the heart.  May it be so.  Amen.

Works Referenced:

¹Great Sermons by Great Preachers.  Chicago: Moody Press, 1960.    ²Ola Elizabeth Winslow, ed., Jonathan Edwards: Basic Writings.  New York: New American Library, 1966, p. vii.    ³George M. Marsden, Jonathan Edwards: A Life. New Haven: Yale UN Press, 2003.    ⁴Winslow, p. xiv.    ⁵Marcus J. Borg, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time.  New York: Harper San Francisco, 1994, pp. 87-88.