This video initially describes how disturbing and graphic the sermon of Jonathan Edwards was, and then proceeds to give some background on the sermon giver himself. Edwards was living in colonial America when he gave the sermon, and it was so powerful that it started a religious movement in the colonies, giving them further motivation to break their ties with Europe. Because of this, one name given to his sermon was “The sermon New England never forgave him for”. Although many people made out Edwards to be a very cold and loveless man, in reality he was apparently very warm, sensitive, and a loving father. His sermon became known as the most important religious speech ever given on American soil.
Judging by what the video had to tell me, it seems like Edwards described in detail what horrible fates awaited sinners in Hell in order to further frighten his listeners. It also seemed like he dismissed the notion of a merciful god and made God out to be more than willing to punish his subjects. That would certainly put a scare into his colonial listeners. In order to make his sermon more powerful, Edwards likely had to be very specific in what punishments awaited sinners in order to make it more frightening. He also would have had to make it seem like he knew everything there is to know about heaven and hell, more than the priests even. This would have made his sermon even more convincing, because people will always be willing to listen to a self proclaimed expert.
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