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Examples Of Persuasion In Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

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Techniques of Persuasion in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
What would you do if you were worried a friend was getting involved with the “wrong crowd”? Jonathan Edwards, an eighteenth-century Puritan preacher, had the same worry about the congregation of Enfield, Connecticut. He delivered his famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God in 1741, and his incredible powers of persuasion were said to have caused people to fall into states of hysteria. By using the techniques of persuasion such as appeals to authority, appeals to emotion, and repetition, he filled his sermon with the descriptions of the horrors that awaited them who did not repent. The sermon demonstrates Edwards’s skills of persuasion and the religious fervor of the Great Awakening. Edwards began the sermon by quoting the Bible, the most important and authoritative power for the puritans, and thus establishing his authority. The entire sermon is based on Deuteronomy 32:35: “Their foot shall slide in due time.” By basing his sermon on the …show more content…

Oh, my cursed foolishness!”, and “The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present…” In fact, the word “wrath” is repeated an astonishing 51 times in the sermon. Another word repeated throughout the sermon is “restraint”. For example, “By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty…” and “God restrains their wickedness by his mighty power, as he does the raging waves of the troubled sea…” By repeating the word, Edwards convinces the audience how perilous their situation is that they convert while God is still showing “restraint” so they do not experience the wrath of

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Jonathan Edwards was a great American theologian who was an eighteenth century Puritan preacher who delivered a six hour sermon in 1741, Connecticut to a congregation of Puritans. The purpose was to convince the congregation into seeking salvation by accepting God and to convince the unholy if they continued their ways they would end up in hell. To convince his audience Edwards uses rhetorical devices such as metaphor repetition and bandwagon to invoke fear into his audience. During Edwards Sermon he uses metaphor when describing God. In his sermon he states that God is a higher being who's hand is holding us, the sinners, above the fiery pits of hell.

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It is 1741. The Enlightenment is spreading worldwide. The puritan people are leaving God. Johnathan Edwards gives a sermon on July 8th , 1741, trying to convince his fellow Puritan people to come back to God. He is going to try and accomplish this by giving his famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God '.

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At this point Edwards has grasped the attention of his listeners by using pathos to pertain to their emotions and feelings. Towards the end of the sermon his tone switches to one of reason in terms of not neglecting his words. He asks a series of rhetorical questions such as those who are unconverted and do not teach their children of Christ that they too will have to witness the wrath of God. As for literary devices such as metaphors, similes, and allegories, Edwards does not disappoint for his use of them most likely whipped a lot of Puritans back into their faith.

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Rhetorical Analysis Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

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Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Puritan preacher, Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God transforms how the congregation sees their relationship with God. Edwardss purpose is to show the sinners an opportunity to obtain salvation (104). He adopts a cynical tone in order to save the otherwise damned and helpless souls (104).Edwards immediately starts his sermon by evoking fear and solicitousness into the congregation. He achieves this by appealing to ethos, presenting God and himself as an authority figure. Edwardss purpose by doing this is to help the sinners in the congregation come to realization that they are held in the hand of God (102) and it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds them

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Edwards' distinct diction is put to work to descriptively describe the power of the Lord and the unpleasant Hellfire that awaits the sinners. Such words efficiently infiltrate into the minds of his audience and scare them greatly. Edwards held his congregation locked up with his assurance of eternal damnation if the correct course of action was not taken. The church assembly felt the great impact of his rhetorical tactics and had the fear of the power of God on their minds.

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Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and Benjamin Franklin’s “The Way to Wealth” while having a drastically different topic had similar subtopic and rhetoric language. While Jonathan Edwards warned his congregation of the eternal damnation that will be faced if they did not change their ways, Benjamin Franklin warned and gave advice on financial arrangements. Edwards communicates to his audience how their behavior has consequences, in this case, eternal damnation. Throughout his sermon, his use of pathos is overwhelming. Edwards uses confrontational language, descriptive images, strong fierce language to ingrain his warning into the hearts of his congregation.

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The most important feature of a sermon is the application of a scripture text to the personal experience of the listener. Especially this last part is what reduced many of Edwards’s listeners to tears. In Edwards’s sermon the scripture text is “Their foot shall slide in due time”. This meant that eventually, all sinners would be punished by God, which could be at any time. Edwards speaks of a wrathfull God, a God who by Puritan standards is considered forgiving for not letting all of humanity fall into the deepest pits of hell.

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Johnathan Edwards wants sinners to truly visualize what is to come in his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God". There is a great deal of imagery that is included, which is carried out through the use of similes comparing God's omnipotent wrath to many things, a call to action emphasizing the little time sinners have for salvation, as well as rhetorical questioning to highlight key points in his sermon. Edward points out distinct characteristics of his wrath, asserting that they are like "great waters [dammed] for the present, [increasing] more and more." He utilizes this technique in attempt to provide the audience with enough details to get a sense of God's anger towards the sinners. Stating that it is comparable to a flood gives reader a feeling of what is to come for them if they refuse to change the way they live their lives, which of course seems like an 'inconceivable' fate that no one should undergo.

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One of his well-known sermon is “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” preached at the meeting house in the village of Enfield, Connecticut, on Sunday, July 8, 1741, at the height of the great awakening. In this sermon, Edwards focused on the consequences of leading a sinful life, the power of God and repenting of ones sins, in order to be saved from hell. The purpose behind this piece of writing was not to terrorize or dismay the hearers, but to make them repent and believe in God again. This piece was aimed at those who lacked belief in God as well as churches.

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In crafting his highly effective sermon, Edwards utilizes his authority as a man of God and as an interpreter of the scriptures, a logical and direct organization of arguments, and violent imagery to convince his audience of the vengeance of God against man. Jonathan Edwards begins his sermon by quoting

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It was during the Great Awakening, when powerful preachers like Jonathan Edwards decided to intensify their ways of broadcasting their religious seriousness. The idea of secularism and religious neglect had been the cause for this religious movement. In his sermon, from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Edwards used strategies to guilt, persuade, and redirect the “sinners” into conversion, and to give a wakeup call to those who overemphasize their own worthiness as holy citizens. Throughout his sermon, Edwards used a variety of figurative language like imagery, metaphors, personification, and allusions to reveal his attitude towards “sinners” as unworthy and insignificant in the eyes of God, and his attitude towards God as being enraged

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"The God that holds you over the pit of Hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you..." God's hate is compared for how one might hate a spider, and as a spider is disposed of harshly, so is a sinners. In a spider's place in a human household, one is justified in being afraid, Fear is the most prevalent appeal throughout the sermon. "O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in!" Edwards fear to be a motivator in converting to Puritanism.

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