The Hand Of An Angry God By Jonathan Edwards

Edwards instills fear in his congregation by threatening the wrath of God and what will happen if one does not omit their lives to Him. “So that thus it is, that natural men’ are held in the hand god over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it;” (102). Here Edwards uses sharp descriptions to show his congregation that any wrong move can put one in Hell, promoting the practice of religion, more specifically; his church. Edwards also writes and speaks very poetically in such a way that his sermons are delivered with an intense amount of imagery that it seems as if those in attendance are watching a movie. Comparing the earth to God’s hand and the mention of God’s wrath being a loaded bow that is ready to rain down on sinners at any moment, helps add the the fear and the image. Another way Edwards creates his atmosphere is by referring to the mass in front of him as ‘you’. When spoken to in such a personal manner one is more likely to be afraid or concerned about the subject as opposed to the sermon being delivered with a more general

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” by Jonathan Edwards, is a sermon where Edwards appeals to sinners, warning them that God will punish them for their actions. Edwards begins his sermon by talking about the Israelites and how they betray God. Throughout the sermon Edwards tries to convince the congregation to let God into their lives so they can be saved from eternal damnation. Edwards uses metaphors and similes as language devices, along with setting and tone to preach about how God has the ultimate power over al.

​In Jonathan Edward’s sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards uses fear and intimidation to persuade his congregation to escape the wrath of God. In the sermon he uses metaphors to gain control over the congregation. Another reason why Jonathan Edwards uses metaphors is to prove his point to the congregation. Edwards also links the spiritual world to the physical world of the listeners. He uses metaphors to dramatize human powerlessness. He states that human has much chance of keeping out of hell.

In Jonathan Edwards Sermon he uses scare tactics to force people to convert to Christianity or burn in hell for internally. This strategy is intended to manipulate public opinion about a particular issue by arousing fear or alarm. One strategy is using scare tactics explaining the anger and wrath of god that is what expressed by hell. “And the reason why they do not go down to hell at each moment, is not because God, in whose power they are, in not then very angry with the; as angry as he is with many miserable creatures now tormented in hell, who their feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath.” He explains the ones who are in gods congregation are at ease with his wrath but the many more who sin daily are now burring eternally in hell.

Jonathan Edwards, a famous preacher in pre-colonial times, composed a sermon that was driven to alert and inject neo Puritanical fear into an eighteenth century congregation. This Bible based and serious audience sought after religious instruction and enlightenment. Through the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," Edwards offers a very harsh interpretation to humankind. Edwards utilizes various rhetorical techniques to evoke an emotional response in his audience and to persuade the members of his congregation that their wicked actions will awaken a very ruthless and merciless God.

The Puritan author Jonathan Edwards was most well known for his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, in which he vividly described the hell waiting for all sinners. Edwards used fear tactics to get listeners to abide with what he was preaching. Jonathan Edwards uses repetition and imagery to get his point across in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”.

There is evidence of this in pg. 3 section 8. It is read that “Preserve their own lives, or the care of others to preserve them, do not secure them a moment”. The meaning behind this line is that a person should protect each other and to follow the rules in order to successfully avoid a sin. Edwards’ use of words such as “preserve”, “care”, and “secure” all represent cautionary. If this line were different, then the audience would only realize that the god is angry with them. They would never get the message that no matter how angered god is by humans, he still would warn them what not to

In Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards delivers a powerful sermon to his congregation about the horrors of hell. Throughout the piece, the author explains there is no escape from “eternal destruction,” and one must join God to reach salvation (para. 27). Edwards uses dark, gruesome imagery along with gloomy diction in order to instill fear into the audience, and persuade them to more devoutly worship God.

Edwards misused many texts and took a verse out of context. He used it to prove what context denied : God will not restore his people. He applied the imagery of fire to frighten unidentified listeners into repentance. He invoked God’s temporary negative corporate sanctions to scare men regarding permanent negative personal sanctions and invoked God’s wrath against public corporate apostasy top justify preaching against invisible personal

In the works of Jonathan Edwards “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” uses numerous persuasive techniques and biblical allusions. Edwards’ sermon lectures Puritans, people who strictly pursue to live by the bible, on how they are straying from the path of the bible. During his sermon, the Puritans were terrified of what he had said ,because every little sin each Puritan had committed they thought they were going to go to Hell. Edwards’ play on words, as well as his use of persuasive techniques, and biblical allusion convinced the Puritans that they were severely in trouble of going to Hell.

Jonathan Edwards’ passionate sermon, “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God” creates a state of fear to make “sinners” aware of their sinful state and the wrath of God that they will face sooner or later. In order to warn “sinners” of their future involving God, he approaches fear as a motivator by using metaphors to emphasize God’s disgust towards man, imagery to for the imagination to dwell upon and repetition to build guilt into his readers which helps him enforce his condemning tone.

The fear of eternal damnation turns people against one another when in life-threatening trials. God’s wrath is being contained upon them as these test occur. In “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” and “The Crucible”, Edwards and Miller use metaphors, imagery, symbolism, and allegory to display how they unveil their message with fear and persuasion.

The Great Awakening was a revival of religion in the early American colonies. Some will say that the awakening had negative effects on the colonies, maybe, but overall I believe the Great Awakening had a positive effect and opened the eyes of the colonist, showing them truths of living in the New World and of things that could come for its future. These effects that the Great Awakening had on the early colonies is greatly studied and looked at, because it was what set the ground work for the religious views we have today in our country. Three sources, given to me, telling of the effects that the revival of religion had on early America was quite interesting to me. I found them to be a great insight to the basis of how the revival effected

Edwards' creative choice of words that he uses describes the power of God and the terrible Hell awaiting sinners. These words easily infiltrate into the minds of his congregation and frighten them beyond belief. These choices of words and his use of such vivid images are mostly successful in their intent, to scare and put fear into his audience. Edwards held his audience locked up with his promises of eternal damnation if proper steps were not taken. The congregation felt the intense impact of his rhetorical strategies and lived on the fear of the power of God. In this way, he was able to keep his followers from sin and away from the fiery pits of Hell.

Edwards illustrates the power and wrath of God by using emotional language and playing on his audience’s fears in order to persuade them to believe in Christ. He explains all of these potential dangers and tragedies that might happen and if it wasn’t for “God it would immediately burst forth upon you” (3). Edwards uses their uneasiness to better educate the readers of God’s power over their lives. He not only instills a sense of nervousness in the reader, but also motivation to act upon those feelings. By