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Rhetorical analysis on sinners in the hands of an angry god
Sinners in the hands of an angry god textbook
Rhetorical analysis on sinners in the hands of an angry god
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Repentance or Damnation
Is God wrathful or forgiving? Is the human race prepared for the Judgement day? Jonathan Edwards addresses these questions in his sermon Sinners in the Hands of Angry Gods. Edwards explains that at any moment this wrathful God above could drop the whole entire human race into the fiery pits of hell. Repentance and change of heart is the only way that they can save themselves. This means that they have to realize that their hands hold their faith and Puritanism explains this to its followers in away that will save them. The human race has to realize the power of this angry God, and he has the power to just give up on the human race and drop them into hell for their selfishness. Edwards shows the theme of accepting
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Edwards first portrays this message in his sermon when he writes “The bow of god’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow of your heart, and strains the bow [. . .]” (99). Edwards compares God's wrath to a bow to show how much God’s wrath can do. God’s target is the human race’s sin and selfishness, and the target is a big target that would be hard to miss. What can the human race do to make this target smaller? The only thing they have to do is repent and purify their lives through the Puritan faith. Edwards continues with this message when he writes “That world of misery, that lake of brimstone, is extended abroad under you” (100).Edwards emphasizes that at any moment drop the human race into hell like stone into a lake. This lake of hell forever changes and grows larger and larger around the human race’s sin. Finally, Edwards shows his theme when he writes, “You are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours,” (100). Edwards explains that the reason that the human race walk down the road to hell is because of their time. To see the theme of sinners and their wrathful god fully one had to look at all three literary devices not just
Foreboding and dreadful describe the tone of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. Edwards makes the tone very clear by saying “The God that holds you over the pit of Hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire” (154). He tries to convey the wrath of god that will come upon them if they do not devoted themselves to Christ by saying “Thus all you that never passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon souls, all you that were never born again, and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new, and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God.” (154).
In the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards, he preached about a stricter Calvinist theology of Puritanism. Edwards delivered it at the Massachusetts congregation on July 8, 1741. He blatantly uses rhetorical strategies to instill fear into his audience if they are to continue to not be active Puritans in religion. Edwards uses polysyndeton, harsh diction and tone, and the appeal to emotion along with the use of semicolons to develop his message.
Edwards applied masses of descriptive imagery in his sermon to persuade the Puritans back to their congregation. For example, he gave fear to the Puritans through this quote, “We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth, so it is easy for us to cut a singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by, thus easy is it for God when he pleases to cast his enemies down to hell…” (pg. 153) In this quotation, he utilized vivid imagery because he wanted the Puritans to visibly imagine what he was saying through his sermon, on how angry God is with them, which made them convert back to Puritanism. Through the use of vivid imagery such as “crush a w...
On July 8th 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in Enfield, Connecticut. Edwards states to his listeners that God does not lack in power, and that people have yet not fallen to destruction because his mercy. God is so forgiving that he gives his people an opportunity to repent and change their ways before it was too late. Edwards urges that the possibility of damnation is immanent. Also that it urgently requires the considerations of the sinner before time runs out. He does not only preach about the ways that make God so omnipotent, but the ways that he is more superior to us. In his sermon, Edwards uses strong, powerful, and influential words to clearly point out his message that we must amend our ways or else destruction invincible. Edwards appeals to the spectators though the various usages of rhetorical devices. This includes diction, imagery, language/tone and syntax. Through the use of these rhetoric devices, Edwards‘s purpose is to remind the speculators that life is given by God and so they must live according to him. This include...
Edwards, who also had Puritan beliefs, was a philosopher and theologian and his way of thinking was more in-depth and complex. He used repetition to drive his sermons home and convinced his congregations of the evils and wickedness of hell through the use of intense analogies. His “fire and brimstone” way of preaching frightened people and made them feel a deep need for salvation. Edwards believed that all humans were natural sinners and God was eagerly awaiting to judge them. He wrote "their foot shall slide in due time" meaning that mankind was full of inevitable sinners.
As many religious leaders before and after him, Edwards's source of inspiration and guidance is the Bible. His understanding of this cornerstone of New England society enables him to reinforce a persuasive dissertation with biblical quotes and passages; however, not all the quotes cited by Edwards support his interpretations exclusively. Often Edwards uses parts or sections of biblical verse rather than complete text because too much information might diminish the importance of his primary intent. These instances of manipulation occur in the doctrinal section where Edwards attempts to prove the basis of his application. "Cut it down, why cumbereth it in the ground?", Luke 13:7, is used by Edwards to illustrate God's justifiably immediate destruction of those guilty of sin. Absent from his selection is any mention of the moderation and patience that continues in Luke 13:8-9: "let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well." By omitting these verses of scripture, Edwards hopes to move his audience by his calling rather than at their own leisure. Another example of manipulation occurs as Edwards proposes that sinners are already Satan's property. In section five he states that Satan "stands ready to fall upon them and seize them...
These literary works portray how differences in societal circumstances, expression, and other people can change the way a person interprets the paper. The authors offer different perspectives in order to get their points across. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” the audience of the sermon is being persuaded to follow God because He is the only one who can keep a person from spending an eternity in hell. The story “Young Goodman Brown” proves how easily people are influenced by the decision of others and also includes how witchcraft was changing the faithful of that time. In comparing the two stories the reader will come to know the influence of the time era, the differences in which the characters are being approached, and the impact the clergy has on people.
...e wrath of God be seen as a primitive or obscene concept? Is the very notion of hell an insult? If so, it is clear that the God one worships is not a holy God: thus, He is not a God at all. If we despise the justice of God, a person is not a Christian. One stands in a position which is every bit as dangerous as the one which Edwards so graphically described. “If we hate the wrath of God, it is because we hate God Himself. We may protest vehemently against these charges but our vehemence only confirms our hostility toward God” (Sproul “God In The Hands Of Angry Sinners”). But a God of love who has no wrath is no God. One who does not love God in this present world is considered a loser, as he has lost all peace, comfort, strength, and even hope. A person’s greatest detriment in the hereafter is found in the loss of the sight of Christ and the beholding of His glories.
“Their foot shall slide in due time.” This biblical verse is core to Jonathan Edwards’ speech to the congregation in several churches. Edwards preaches against nonbelievers, warning them of their imminent retribution from God. He highlights that God’s wrath is upon them and will annihilate their entire being to the highest degree. Through a complex incorporation of various descriptive imagery tools, Edward invokes fear and despondence to his audience; his audience are bullied into believing in his God. Edward provides requisite imagery through well structured arguments, use of relevant evidence, and appeal to fear.
The sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” was written by a priest named Jonathan Edwards, in 1741. In order to scare his companions into asking for forgiveness instantly, or there would be a major outcome in the future. Edwards employed very expressive and convincing writing to impel fear into the hearts of those listening to his speech. After Edwards presented “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, many people were very frightened. Jonathan Edwards gave the speech to bring to the eyes of his followers the fact that it was necessary they repented soon by using imagery, figurative language, and repetition.
Sinners in the hands of an Angry God was an argument by a Christian evangelist who wanted to make sure non-Christians were so terrified of hell that they would immediately turn to God. In order for Edwards to accomplish his mission he had to give several appeals to the people listening. Edwards successfully did this and many people ended up becoming “born again
In 1741, Jonathan Edwards, a Puritan preacher of that time, had one thing on his mind: to convert sinners, on the road to hell, to salvation. It just so happened to be, that his way of doing that was to preach the reality to them and scare them to the point of conversion. Sermons of this time were preached to persuade people to be converted and to me it seemed that Edwards just had a special way of doing it. Just as people are being influenced by rhetoric appeals today Edwards used the same method on his congregation. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Jonathan Edwards positively affected his readers using pathos, logos, and ethos, while trying to convince the unconverted members of his sermon to be born again.
In his famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", Jonathan Edwards installs a terror on the wrath of God. He conveys the consequence of sin through metaphors that deliver and place the same fear today in an appropriate and visual manner. The three following metaphors and similes convey the notion of inadequacy in the eyes of God. Together affecting the notion we are not as high as we thought we were. Within the first two pages of the written talk of sinners, we find the quote “We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth. . . thus easy is it for God when he pleases to cast his enemies down to hell.” (Page 102). The second presented metaphor is that “…if God should only
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Rhetorical Analysis “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards uses imagery and symbolism to persuade the audience to become more devout Christians by channeling fear and emphasizing religious values. Jonathan Edwards was a Puritan minister who preached during the time of the Great Awakening in America. During this period of religious revival, Edwards wanted people to return to the devout ways of the early Puritans in America. The spirit of the revival led Edwards to believe that sinners would enter hell. Edwards’ sermon was primarily addressed to sinners for the purpose of alerting them about their sins and inspiring them to take action to become more devoted to God.
For example, he argues that “every unconverted man properly belongs to hell” (322). Right before he makes this claim, he quotes John 3:18, and right after, he quotes John 8:23. By bracketing his claim with direct quotes from the Bible, he provides evidence that defends his belief about where non-Christians are destined to end up. This pattern of justifying his arguments with biblical scriptures continues; for instance, when Edwards proclaims “All the kings of the earth, before God, are as grasshoppers . . . The wrath of the great King of kings, is as much more terrible than theirs, as his majesty is greater.” (328) he immediately quotes Luke 12:4-5. This provides validity to his claim that God’s wrath is infinitely more terrible than any earthly king. He goes on to expand on God’s powerful wrath and asserts that “Nothing shall be withheld, because it is so hard for you to bear.” (329); he follows this up by quoting Ezekiel 8:18. Through once again following up his claims with a reference, Edwards proves that his argument of a non-pitying, wrathful God is biblically