Simone Sutton

9/02/09

AP English III

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

Puritans believed in something called predestination that from before you were born God has chosen whether you would go to heaven or hell. Jonathan Edwards is preaching that the Israelites were predestined for hell. “Their foot shall slide in due time”, means they will be cast down into heaven when the time comes.

Edwards is using the name of god to establish a source of credibility. God is his ethos because you can’t ignore the word of God. If Edwards says this is what God, says the puritan congregation he is preaching to has to believe him.

He doesn’t speak of a kind or forgiving God either. He only talks about the “vengeance”, “punishment”, and “destruction” that comes to the so called “Sinners”. Never does he mention any kind of reward for not being a sinner. It’s just “If you do bad things you will go to hell, but if you don’t…”

Edwards mentions a certain passage in the bible that says “Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; though castedst them down into destruction”. He mentions this passage several times, using repetition to make a point. They are in that environment that puts them in bad standing in the eyes of God. Then he says “…needs nothing but his own weight to throw him down.” This indicated that it is not only your environment but your own self and actions that can get you thrown down into hell.

The reason they are in this “slippery place” is because God has predestined them to go to hell. They won’t go to hell yet because it is not their time. God has his own plan for how things are going to go for the sinners. It is too late for them.

The only reason that God doesn’t just get rid of every sinner is because he doesn’t have to. There is nothing stopping him except his own kindness. It would be easy for Him to do so.

In the end if you accept Christ and everything you might go to heaven if you are destined to. If not then oh well. But this brings up an interesting point. If you are chose to be saved from the beginning regardless of what you do in life then you don’t need work so hard to be saintly.

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

Jonathan Edwards went to Yale where studied theology I school and became a preacher. But he made it so one would have to prove that they were converted to take part in communion. He was a very important figure in history, because of the revivals in religion his preaching brought.

"Edwards, Jonathan." Almagest - A multimedia database for teaching & learning. Web. 04 Sept. 2009. .