No Friendly Persuasion...just dominating dogma

I appreciate the fact that Gene Sessions was able to research and gain access to the personal writings of JG.  I am not sure I would want anyone to find and publish letters of mine that would eventually give insight into my beliefs and concerns.  I know my beliefs  change over time and having my beliefs and understandings interpreted over a hundred years later may not represent my perspective at all.  Dr. Sessions (I know he hates that reference, but is entitled to it) has woven the personal letters of JG with understandings of the time they were written to invite us, the readers, in engaging considerations of what was and has become culturally relevant and alleviate misinterpretations.  

In the short time span that JG lived, he saw his adult identity and work as a missionary.  A missionary for a new religion, a religion that eventually forced a group of people to create a sense of community and purpose.  The personal insight JG provides as one responsible for enticing others to join in a community building religious experience is very enlightening to our understanding of other individuals who joined the religion as well as understanding the leadership of that new religion.

I agree with Abe that JG had very high expectations of those he came in contact with and that his method of preaching was negative and condescending.  JG's personal conviction of the religion and his understanding of what he perceived as undeniably right or wrong leads to my agreement with The Enchanted Castle (not sure whose name in our group goes with that title) who stated in one of the first postings that JG seemed to have a big ego.  In chapter 3, Grant is "concerned about his own immediate future as an itinerant preacher" and recognizes his preaching skills as an invaluable asset to the religion.  He is impatient to wait for others to prepare to go on missions with him and seems to like to be on his own.  He laments the fall of other missionaries (Benjamin Winchester) and the perceived failings of church leaders.  He is intolerant of behaviors that are not in agreement with his new-found convictions.  

Although the new religion is in an infant stage, JG expects total commitment and understandings from those appointed to leadership positions within the branches of the church. The leadership, on the other hand,  still recognizes the need for human relationships, compassion, and tolerance of the failings of others. In JG's missionary service, he states, "I have however started a church" (p. 20) recognizing his own efforts, with expectations that those whom he has converted become committed to the extent that he is.  JG is continually hopeful he will receive recognition from the religious leadership for his productive work but rarely receives it.  JG sees himself as a missionary and powerful preacher more so than a husband and friend.  He was, as pointed out on page 18, more interested in converting non-believers than mingling with those already converted, which preoccupies his every decision.  He finds satisfaction and honor in the work he is performing.  He rarely feels the need to understand the predicaments of life, the other "work" that the leadership is involved in, and the lived experiences of those to whom he expects to convert. He holds his own ideal of how others should act and show conversion.  JG's life work and profession is being a missionary in an exceedingly dogmatic fashion and this life work becomes an obsession to him.  I think I would find him a difficult person to be friends with or be related to, yet, on the other hand, I believe he would say the same of me.