"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" Post

 “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

                This is a video that gives background on a sermon that was made in colonial-time America. It was made by Jonathan Edwards, who was a preacher in New England. It talks about Edwards’ background, he was a kind, generous, and loving man, and a faithful husband. But in this sermon he inspired such great fear in his followers that it started a religious movement in the colonies. He was a good speaker, and he used imagery with great effect. The sermon would become known as the “sermon New England never forgave him for”.

                From this video, it seems that his speech was one about salvation or Hell. It looks as if he used imagery to paint a vivid picture of how awful it would be to go to Hell. His speech probably contains imagery about a scorching, fiery wasteland filled with eternal torment. He probably used images like these to scare his followers into living a religious and pure life, so they could get salvation. I imagine he also speaks about heaven as a miraculous place of wonder, but that it was only a small part of his speech. Most of his speech was likely spent describing Hell and what a person could do to either avoid it, or what they were doing that would send them there.  In the colonial times, many of the settlers held a fear/reverence attitude toward God, and this would paint an unmerciful picture of him, unless you lead a good life. The sermon is probably religious propaganda aimed at making its followers lead a better life.