Puritans Vs Christianity

The Puritans were a sect of individuals not content with the efforts of the Church's Reformation. They adopted extreme religious beliefs and despised those reliant on the Church. Instead, they promoted the Bible as God's true law and preached that believers were able to indulge worshipping outside the confines of the Church. The traditional values and teachings that Christians became accustomed to were yet redefined by Puritans who refused to subject to the King's leadership, and eventually travelled to America.

After their ships arrived in the New England area, they began to disperse and form colonies across the Northeast region. Their beliefs revolved around the customs of God's will. Puritans rejected individuals, but unified communities to strengthen morality and ethics. While many Christians believe that sins are cleansed and forgiveness is obtained regardless of your actions, Puritans were to enforce control over their actions to reduce sinful desires. If an individual was to deceive God purposely, they would never experience eternal life in God's kingdom. On the other hand, if you achieved morality and were deemed righteously faithful, you reserved a place among God. In fact, prosperity played a key role in determining your standing among divinity. The wealthier individuals were considered to be fortuned by God, and blessed with eternal life. Those who failed to meet Puritan expectations were quickly reformed, reprimanded, or exiled from the community.

The advantage of the Puritan beliefs allowed many students to prosper socially. Though the Bible was the foundation of divine success, knowledge and common education provided for success financially and reputably. A few examples of educational institutions founded by Puritan society include Roxbury Latin School and Harvard. The historical presence of Puritans helped mold our current society. While many other Europeans were engaged in conflicts with Native Americans in an effort to expand land; or living comfortably among the rural regions, Puritans were constructing the building blocks of America. In fact, even the religious perspective of Puritans was commonly interpreted as being relative to scientific studies and stimulus. Many may still refer to these unique, yet ideal extremists, as being similar to the Christian religion. However, Puritans did not simply assume the Lord would interact with their lives. Instead, their attempts at righteousness bound them to prosperity and fortune.

K. Kizer. Puritans. Retrieved Nov 18, 2009 from http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/puritans.html