Imagine walking down the street on a seemingly perfect day. The sky is blue, the birds are chirping, people are smiling and laughing. Then, suddenly, people start rising into the air. They become microscopic as they rise into the clouds. These people are believers in God, says the Bible: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (The Bible of Daily Life). The dead in Christ are believers in God who have repented of their sins and accepted Jesus for who He is; the savior who died on the cross for all sins. Then there are others who will remain to face the Great Tribulation. A wife who cheated on her husband, a serial killer, even those overly proud will remain to receive the verdict; whether God will finally let them fall from his hands, or not: these are the sinners, the unbelievers. The Great Tribulation is a period of time in which everyone will experience calamity, disaster, poverty, war, pain and suffering, which will wipe out most life on earth before the Second Coming takes place. The Second Coming will occur when Jesus returns to Earth. This event is the Rapture, the end of the world, nature's most divine event, the moment when everyone will meet Jesus. In Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards, Edwards describes how sinners are seen in the eyes of God. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hawthorne describes the punishment for adultery. In both Edwards and Hawthorne's works, they share literary devices, convey similar cultural beliefs, have symbols, and create an atmosphere of condemnation throughout the text. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Initially, in both works, they begin with a sense of imagination. “We find it easy to trample on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so it is easy for us to cut or burn a thin thread on which anything hangs; so it is easy for God when he wants to hurl his enemies into hell” (Edwards 124). This statement captures the audience so they can feel connected to what is being said, while making the theme of the work known. “A crowd of bearded men, in clothes of sad colors and gray hats with bell crowns, mixed with women, some with hoods and others with bare heads, were gathered in front of a wooden building, the door of which was heavily covered with oak wood. , and studded with iron spikes” (Hawthorne 72). This aspect of the imagery allows the reader to see the setting as if they were there. Edwards shows that imagery can be used to create premonition when he writes, “The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation sleepeth not; the pit is prepared, the fire is ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames now rage and burn. The glittering sword is sharp and held above them, and the pit has opened its mouth beneath them” (Edwards 126). This quote is there to show that all people, sinners or believers, are at God's mercy and that mercy can be taken away at any time. Beyond the imagery, both works exude similar diction. Both use language that, in modern times, would normally be seen as incorrect: inverted syntax. For example, Edwards uses "God is not quite like them, though they may imagine him so." This means modernly: “God is not as composed as one might believe.” Writers who choose to reverse sentences can help the reader perceive?