Jonathan Edward’s purpose in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is to persuade others that they must eliminate their sinful ways and turn to God for forgiveness before it is too late. Edwards combines imagery and pathos to appeal to his audience in the sermon to achieve his persuasive purpose. One important example of imagery in his speech is at the very beginning of the story. Edwards describes sinners as “heaps of light Chaff before the Whirlwind; or large Quantities of dry Stubble before devouring Flames” (line ), choosing this imagery because he knows that a majority of his audience are farmers and understand this analogy about corn and grain husks. Edwards choice of using the word “devouring” to illustrate the flames of hell creates
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is a sermon written by Jonathan Edwards about God. For most people back in the 1700’s, their whole life revolved around God. Edwards thought that the people just needed a wake up call to remind them of the consequences of acting against God. He pretty much said in his sermon that if we don't turn back to God, we’re going to hell, which definitely got many people’s attention. In "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," Edwards uses several rhetorical devices and appeals that contribute to the effectiveness of his sermon and help achieve his purpose.
In the "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards, he claims that those without God will suffer. Throughout his sermon he uses imagery and repetition. By using imagery, it helps the reader understand his persepective and have a better idea of what is happening. Edwards states, "... it is a great furnance of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath..."
In Jonathan Edwards' fiery sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," he describes the horrible fate of those who do not open their hearts to God. He accomplishes this by employing the persuasive techniques of fear and guilt and by creating frightening imagery. By repeatedly reminding his parishioners of God's anger and their transgressions, Edwards uses fear and guilt to accomplish his goal. Edwards states that the unconverted "are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God" to demonstrate the abhorrence God has for them. God's anger and the consequences of transgressions are used repeatedly to produce fear; Edwards actively induces fear by describing the dead unconverted as "those who are now in the flames of hell."
Individuals in colonial American society are similar and different to the individual in contemporary society. The author Jonathan Edwards delivers a sermon called "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is a colonial piece talking about how God will be angry with you if you don't listen to him. The author Patrick Henry wrote a political speech called "Speech to the Virginia Convention 1775" is a colonial piece giving reasons why America should rebel against Britain. The author William Jefferson Clinton made another political speech called "The Speech to the 2012 Democratic National Convention" is about wanting to reelect Obama for president.
In the story Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards would you different things such as thoughts or words in attempt to scare his congregation into obeying his word. First images of Hell would consist of the thought of fire, a burning room, fiery furnaces, and a gaping pit of flames. These thoughts alone would scare the people of his congregation but he also included the images of punishment or or the ways the God sees the people. These images would consist of God referring a human being to a spider that is being held over an open fire pit. This way of thinking did work in Edward’s time on his congregation but it did not last forever because his people became tired of hearing the same terrible thoughts every week.
In sinners in the hands of an angry God Jonathan Edward’s most effectively appeals to the people who have yet to convert to a puritan's by using rhetorical analysis. One of the first metaphors he uses was when he was describing the fire that God holds you over and if provoked (when you sin) he will drop you down to hell. He uses a great analogy when he talks about it because he says”The God that holds you over the pit of hell much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire”, and that is a real interpretation of what we are to God in Edward’s eyes. All these metaphors can also be used as imagery too because the author uses such good words and phrases it good that you can imagine what he is saying.
From Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God expresses the point that a parishioner should not fall away from the church unless they want to be permanently condemned to hell. Jonathan Edwards expresses his ideas through the usage of multiple persuasive techniques and different types of figurative language. This sermon puts fear into the congregation and this makes the parishioners not want to fall away from the church. Through Edwards utilization of figurative language, the picture of God's Wrath is painted clearly for the listeners of this sermon.
The Puritan belief has majorly shaped many places of the country using fear to convert people into their christian domination. They use orthodoxic ideas and threats against people who do not believe in their religion or lifestyle. They typically bring biblical references into it. In his famous sermon, Jonathan Edwards alters the readers' understanding of Puritan ideas in order to convince them to repent for their sins by using emotional appeals, accusatory language, and disturbing metaphors. The sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Johnathan Edwards, is about a man who discusses his personal belief in religion in a way to convince others that his religion is key.
God Gives Us Free Will Jonathan Edwards preaches that if people follow God and obey him they will experience his great mercy. “Sinners in The Hands of an Angry God,” he explains this concept in his sermon. Most people back in 1741 and to this day would be persuaded by his sermon about the Lord because of how passionately and strongly he spoke about his beliefs’. In this sermon Edwards refers to Gods everlasting wrath. He describes Gods anger towards those who do not follow and believe in Him.
In “sinners in the hands of an angry God”, Jonathan Edwards uses different types of literary techniques, such as, imagery, metaphor, similes, repetition, and rhetorical questions to emphasize his point. His point is to scare the people and make them want to repent, which is the theme of the sermon. In the sermon “Sinners in the hands of an angry god,” Edwards uses different types of
Jonathan Edwards’s sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and Anne Bradstreet’s “Upon the Burning of Our House” seem at first glance quite similar to one another regarding context, however, after taking a closer look, it becomes apparent that there are some substantial differences. These differences cannot be understood without the knowledge of cultural context concerning the Puritan belief system and their lifestyle. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was written with the sole purpose of scaring and intimidating the people that purtinans believed to be sinners. Edwards’s work contributed to a movement called “The Great Awakening”. It’s objective was to make the so-called ‘sinners’ aware of their wrongdoings and compel them to repent.
In 1741, Jonathan Edwards delivered a sermon called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” to a congregation in Enfield, Connecticut. This sermon was so influential and poignant that today it has transformed into a piece of literature that many study in classes. This bit of literature is so utterly jam-packed with the use of rhetorical appeals, often referred to as ethos, pathos, and logos. These three appeals are derived from ancient Greece, or more precisely, the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Ethos appeals to the audience’s sense of trust, pathos, to their sense of emotion, and logos, to their sense of logic.
This interpretation of God becomes the reference point for the rest of the sermon. All of the commands and accusations in the sermon rely on Edwards' portrait of God as an angry, all-powerful being that has no obligation to have mercy upon his creations. By convincing his congregation of God's wrathful character, Edwards is then able to convince the congregation that they are in danger of damnation and severe punishment at the hand of this wrathful God. Edwards characterizes God as a being that "abhors" mortal men and "looks upon [them] as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire" (200). Edwards then uses scriptural references to support his claims about the nature of God.
Jonathan Edwards, a preacher, wrote the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". In the sermon, Edwards argues that everyone was out of God's favor and they needed to return to a righteous path. The tone of the sermon is indignant and authoritative. Jonathan Edwards uses imagery, logos, and pathos to encourage the unconverted audience to turn to God in order to escape his wrath. Elemental imagery is used in the sermon to inspire fear in the audience.
In “Sinners in The Hands of an Angry God”, Johnathan Edwards uses fear to create images that help his audience experience the consequences of sinful behavior. He uses imagery and figurative language to persuade his readers. He wants us to get a mental picture of Hell in your head and he wants us to fear the wrath of God. One such image was when Edward wrote, “When men are on god’s hands and they could fall to Hell, natural men are held in the hands of God, over the pit of Hell.” God could let us fall into the eternity of burning flames anytime He wants to.