Rhetorical Analysis Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

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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 creative usage of pathos in Edwards works builds a faith in parishioners like no other. The audience for this sermon was persuaded through expressive thoughts translated onto paper: “but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood.” -Edwards (pg. 103). The parishioners emotions are grasped because it states that most of the things that they do can ultimately be susceptible to sin. The fact that everything in the eyes of an angry God can be sinful and most parishioners realize that they sin more than they think they do. …show more content…

The amount of imagery, personification, and similes’ makes his sermons energetic and impactful. Edwards compares the power of God over his followers to the power of a person over a spider: “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over a fire… he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast in the fire.” -Edwards (pg. 103) Edwards states that God's followers are not worthy of anything. In order to earn God’s trust and help, a person cannot fall away from a church or God will look at them like a spider, or a worthless item. This aspect of fear in Edwards sermon was hoped to make people stay in the