Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

In this passage, John Edwards was a well known preacher in his time era. His aim was to frighten the puritans from God. This priest got into the minds of the puritans and had them on the edge of their seats. He made the puritans believe that if they did anything wrong, they would behold the power of God and be punished. One sin was enough to go to hell and be done away with. Many of the puritans listened and followed him, scared that their lives were on the line because with each sin, God grew more angry.

God is a very powerful man that has the ability to do whatever. In the reading, he was portrayed as a nasty mean character. Life was so strict and a person couldn't have peace of mind without being cautious of every single move they made. Looking at their religion, it was absurd to think in this manner. To think that everything had to be perfect or else.. Religion in today's society is more about forgiveness. God knows that we all cant be perfect human beings, but he loves us unconditionally. Even though we sin, all we have to do is ask for forgiveness through repentance.

I think it is nearly impractical that there was a society where people truly believed God was going to punish them if they committed a sin. It's not like God would appear out of thin air at that given second and torture the person. Wouldn't someone come to realize that nothing would really happen if they did something wrong? Was there mind really that messed up and taken over that they had no good reasoning left over?