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Similes In Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

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American citizens do not realize how everyday actions contribute and continually influence both the American and puritan societies. In Jonathan Edward’s sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards asserts that with continuous sin, puritans will be released to hell by God and by also not following the puritan way of life. Throughout the sermon, Jonathan Edwards uses similes, repetition and scare tactics to emphasize the fact that with sin, any Puritan will be sent to hell. Faith and fear have extensive contributions to the overall influence of the American society which Edwards addresses in his sermon. Faith plays a role in the society due to the fact the puritans know they are not supposed to sin, however they do so anyways which …show more content…
Throughout the sermon, Jonathan Edwards reminds the Puritans that in a pure society, they are supposed to be pure with no sin in order to go to heaven instead of hell. Edwards states those who sin on a continuous basis are the ones who “are heavy as lead” (Edwards, Par. 3). When Edwards states this statement, the point is to prove to the puritans that with any sin, they are weighing down gods hands and decreasing the chance of avoiding hell. With this comparison of puritans, it shows the sins are weighing down what is supposed to be a pure life and increasing the chance of going to hell. In addition, Edwards also states that with a pure life, “the wrath of God is like great waters” (Edwards,Par. 4). With the pure life in which Puritans are supposed to live, God has an easy life which is relaxing because everyone goes to heaven instead of hell. However, the Puritans did not follow this pure life. When the puritans sinned, Americans are negatively influenced amongst their faith and believe sin is the right way of life even though it is not. Throughout the whole sermon, Jonathan Edwards uses similes to show the negative effects of sin on a …show more content…
Towards the beginning of the sermon, Edwards reminds the puritan society that “if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descended and plunge into the bottomless gulf” (Par. 3). Edwards wanted to emphasize the fact that no matter what any puritan may try to do to avoid hell, God controls everything that happens, because their fate was predestined. When stating the bottomless gulf, Edwards is referring to hell and shows that hell is not a place any puritan would want to be sent to. Jonathan Edwards also reminds the puritans that no matter what, “if God should only withdraw his hand from the floodgate, it would immediately fly open and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God would rush forth with inconceivable fury” (Edwards, Par. 4). Edwards effectively uses repetition to scare the puritan society and wants to emphasize the fact God controls the puritans’ lives and can let any them go at any given moment. Repetition ties into the fear than that of an American society can face because when continuously hearing about something most people become scared and worried for what is about to

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