Pastor Jonathan Edwards, on July 8th, 1741, delivered a sermon in the Church of Christ in Northampton. Upon hearing his preaching, people were shocked. The imagery it contains is supposed to be so compelling and vivid that it brought horror upon everyone who witnessed it. Edwards was not at all a bad-tempered or insensitive man, he simply wanted to “awaken people to the need for salvation.” His sermon definitely accomplished this: it sparked controversy, and caused a spiritual revolution called “The Great Awakening.” Worship changed from being made up onf detached rituals to people putting their heart and soul into theconnecting with god.
Because it did have such an effect on the way people worshipped and lived their lives, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" must be very powerful. It is mentioned in the video that people could barely handle it because of the strong emotions it brought out. I'm guessing the sermon described what sinful people could anticipate when they died. Edmonds, I imagined, portryed God as a merciless being. Before, people may have thought of God as being kind and forgiving. I picture something like this: "God throws your body in a firey furnace to burn, then lets your soul rot and suffer in the darkness of Hell." The imagery must describe some kind of extreme pain and torture to have scared people so much.
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