Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (Quiz)

Select the 3 images of hell created by the use of personification.

• It is alive and beastly.

• It is cringing away from humanity.

• It is an uninterested observer.

• It is hungry for sinners’ souls.

• It is reaching out to grab sinners.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.8

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

CCSS.RL.8.5

Based on what you know about America in the 1700s, how would colonists react to Edwards’s sermon?

• They would be frightened.

• The would be hopeful.

• They would feel both frightened and hopeful.

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.7

CCSS.RL.11-12.7

CCSS.RL.9-10.7

CCSS.RI.8.7

CCSS.RI.9-10.7

Why does Edwards use the word provoked instead of the word angered in this passage?

So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell.

—Jonathan Edwards

• The word provoked suggests that God’s anger is fierce and irrational.

• The word provoked suggests that sinners bear responsibility for God’s anger.

• The word provoked suggests that God’s anger is sharp and deadly.

• The word provoked suggests that sinners do not want to change their ways.

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.5

CCSS.RI.9-10.5

CCSS.RI.6.5

CCSS.RI.7.5

CCSS.RI.8.5

What does Edwards mean when he says that sinners “hang by a slender thread”?

You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.

—Jonathan Edwards

• Sinners must climb that thread if they hope to reach heaven.

• There is little that protects sinners from God’s fury.

• Prayer is the thread that connects the devout to God.

• God’s fury is like a sharp, pointed needle.

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI. 9-10.1

CCSS.RI.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

What does Edwards' repetition of "nothing" imply and how would it impact the audience”?

You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.

—Jonathan Edwards

• It conveys Edwards’s personal frustration with his congregation, distancing the audience by portraying them as morally inferior and unworthy of spiritual guidance.

• It reflects Edwards’s logical reasoning that the congregations deserves their fate, encouraging the audience to improve their actions in order to earn God’s mercy.

• It emphasizes the audience’s helplessness, reinforcing the belief that human actions and morality are powerless without God’s grace, which would provoke fear and urgency in listeners seeking salvation.

• It highlights the audience’s ignorance of religious doctrine, suggesting that a lack of education is the primary reason they remain vulnerable to divine punishment.

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

In the context of the passage, what does Edwards most nearly mean by the phrase “form of religion”?

However you may have reformed your life in many things, and may have had religious affections, and may keep up a form of religion in your families and closets, and in the house of God, it is nothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction.

—Jonathan Edwards

• The emotional expressions of belief that demonstrate sincere devotion to God

• A personal moral code developed independently of organized religion

• The specific doctrines and theological rules required for church membership

• Outward religious practices and appearances that lack genuine faith or spiritual commitment

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.2.6

What effect does this image have on the reader or listener?

The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber, the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them, the flames do now rage and glow.

• It creates a calm sense of peace.

• It invokes boredom and detachment.

• It conveys fear and urgency.

• It inspires joy and excitement.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

“How can you rest one moment in such a condition?”

What effect does asking rhetorical questions like this one have on an audience? Check 3 that apply.

• It forces the listener to accept there is not one expected answer.

• It forces the reader to think about ways to answer the question successfully.

• It forces the reader to generate a set of related questions to ask the speaker.

• It makes the sermon seem directed at the listener personally.

• It makes the listener think about their actions.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.2.6

Edwards compares each of his listeners to "a spider or some loathsome insect held over the fire" in order to stress a human being's

• Ugliness in God's eyes
• Unimportance in God's plan
• Powerlessness in comparison to God
• Courage in the face of God's wrath

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.7

CCSS.RL.11-12.7

CCSS.RL.9-10.7

CCSS.RI. 9-10.7

CCSS.RL.8.7

The tone of the passage undergoes a significant shift in the paragraph beginning "And now you have an extraordinary opportunity" . This shift can best be described as moving from:

• Sorrowful to joyous
• Angry to authoritative.

• Condemnatory to hopeful and urgent

• Sympathetic to urgent.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4