To preach forgiveness is to preach the “good news” and lead the lost into the glory of God. However, in these times many Evangelicals have turned to a more dark interpretation of the “good news”. There are vivid descriptions of hell that cause fear into many. There are many laws created by churches that use fear to control their followers. With this going on, it is no wonder why others believe that Evangelicals are motivated by hate.
They both believe in the power of God and that he wants them to have generous and good lives. Jonathan Edwards approaches his congregations with what he feels to be the rage of God. The sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was meant to make Edward’s listeners aware of the fact that their behavior and conduct on earth was far more important than the wrath of the devil in hell which was the faith of those who did not adhere to proper religious values as expressed in the Bible. He tried to make an avid impact on the colony in this way but was more effective to discuss God’s wrath, maybe to instill fear into the minds of his followers, because many of them were taught you do bad you go to hell. To achieve his end of making his congregants aware of their dangerous positions on earth, in which he states “as they could be cast into hell at any time” he reminded them of the power of God and his capacity for doing away with sinners.
In “The Minister's Black Veil” Mr. Hooper, while talking to Elizabeth explains “If I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough...” (Hawthorne 447) In other words Mr. Hooper has no choice but to comply for his sin by wearing the veil. And in “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” Jonathan Edwards tell his congregation that hell is the place one will go if they commit a sin. Edwards describes with vivid details “ it is a great furnace of wrath a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that they are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the dammed in hell”. Saying that hell is where God will send the helpless evil
Jonathon Edward’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Starting in the mid-18th century, the people of Enfield, Connecticut began to lose their beliefs in Christianity. One man named, Jonathan Edwards, took it upon himself to preach to his congregation of sin and hell. In the hope of reviving their many other beliefs in Christianity, scholars refer to this time or even in early American history as “The Great Awakening”. One of Edwards’ sermons was called, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. The sermon explains in detail of the wrath God has and what Hell has in store for the non-believers.
As in Sinners the author uses strong metaphors describing hell and its eternal misery. Puritans believed in obeying the law of God. Any sign of the devil and they would judge you and betray you. As in the Crucible , a lady got angry with a man’s goat and cursed everyone to hell. They then took her to court.
We see a variety of responses but it is the inability of the majority to understand the roots of the plague that prevents them from undergoing personal transformation. The religious dogma that is directed towards them leaves them ignorant and inflexible their own ideas about God and their place within society for themselves. This causes many to direct their devastation and fear to misunderstood characters that disagree with societal conventions. The crazed mob that accuses the Gowdies of witchcraft exemplifies the notion that faith blinds people to reality in ‘Year of Wonder’. Faith in God is easily converted into superstition amongst the ignorance of the uneducated.
A few of the bad sides of religion include the way that different religions get stereotyped into the most terrible side of extremists. Another example of the past negativity the church has had in the past is the many crusades the church went on in order to force their outlook on the masses of Europe. There has also been many counts of corruption stemming from the Vatican all the way back to the beginning of the biblical era. Lastly the church has the ability to bring out the vilest sides of some people that turn into extreme groups that castigate and have even killed the people that didn’t follow their norms. The church we are talking about in this context is more the organized institution of church and not the sanctuaries some people confide in or, the community that the Sunday sermon can bring to people.
Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Benjamin Franklin’s The Autobiography, and Patrick Henry’s “The Speech in the Virginia Convention” each portray and increasing role for man in his own life.’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, written by Jonathan Edwards, is a sermon about how God is angry with mankind. At the beginning Edwards explains how God has control over everything and how God is able to strike us down to hell in a blink of an eye. At the end, however, Edwards explains that man has the choice to commit themselves to God or be struck down to Hell. Edwards says, “And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has flung the door of mercy wide open, and stands in the door calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners” (106). Edwards is trying to tell the people of his church that God has given them the choice to commit themselves to God and get away from God’s wrath that is coming for all the sinners of world.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Sermon by: Jonathan Edwards Rhetorical Device Recognition Project Tone Used: Hostile Words that describe tone: * Damned * Wrath * Rage * Abominable * Wicked 2 Examples of: * Antithesis -“To see so many rejoicing and singing for joy of heart, while you have cause to mourn for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit!” -“There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery.” * Metaphor- -“The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string...” -“You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment.” * Extended Metaphor- -“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, and is dreadfully provoked: His wrath toward you burns like fire; He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire; He is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in His sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in His eyes than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended Him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but His hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God’s hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking His pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending His solemn worship.
God eventually talks to Job making it clear that his actions need no explanation. The book of Job brings up the ever-present question of why bad things happen to good people and answers that question by saying God is above justice. When Job’s friends — Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar — hear of his calamity, they come to visit him and begin to argue their “theology” to him. Their theology is that a man’s suffering is always the result of his personal sin. Further, the more one has sinned, the greater one will suffer.