Essay about The Puritans - Creating the Perfect God...

The Puritans - Creating the Perfect God Fearing Society The Puritans dream was to create a model society for the rest of Christendom. Their goal was to make a society in every way connected to god. Every aspect of their lives, from political status and employment to even recreation and dress, was taken into account in order to live a more pious life. But to really understand what the aspirations of the puritans were, we must first understand their beliefs. â€Å"Their goal was absolute purity; to live with out sin in a sinful world was to them the supreme challenge in life. They were derisively called Puritans because they sought to purify the Church of England of the popish and antichristian stuff with which they believed the†¦show more content†¦Second they believed in working hard, and if one acquired wealth by working hard, saving, and staying sober, than that was evidence of God favoring that person. â€Å"Eating well, drinking well, sexual indulgence within the bounds of matrimony, and enjoying the comforts of life were not proscribed by the Puritans. In actuality, the Puritans were waging war upon certain human propensities that they regarded as evils: covetousness, materialism, the love of ostentation, and concern with the externals of religion rather than with the things of the spirit.† When a puritan felt that he had failed to meet the requirements set for him by God, he â€Å"flagellated himself remorselessly with introspective cross-examinations that usually took the form of thoughts of eternal reprobation and torment.† The puritan was in constant internal conflict, whether it was restraining his human desires, or if he failed in that, than scolding himself for faltering in his efforts. The Puritans believed that they were God’s select few that could carry out his original orders the way he had intended. Now that we have made clear the beliefs that the Puritans held so dear, we can better observe their aspirations when they arrived in Massachusetts. They came to the New World to erect a â€Å"City Upon a Hill† that would serve as a model for the rest of the Christian world. â€Å"Thus, in the eyes of the Puritan leaders, the settlement of New England appeared to be the most significant act in human historyShow MoreRelatedEssay about puritanism1242 Words   |  5 Pages The Puritans dream was to create a model society for the rest of the Christians.. Their goal was to make a society in every way connected to god. Every aspect of their lives, from political views and employment to recreation and dress, was taken into account in order to live a more pious life. But to really understand what the aspirations of the puritans were, we must first understand their beliefs. The Puritans believed that a man’s only purpose in life was â€Å"to glorify God on earth and, if he we reRead MoreJohn Winthrop : Puritan Fanatic Or Religious Realist1329 Words   |  6 PagesEd Reed, Section 06 ENGL 1001W John Winthrop: Puritan Fanatic or Religious Realist Attempts at English colonization of what would later become the United States of America in the early 1600’s had appeared wholly unsuccessful. Between 1608 and 1624, only 3,400 of the 6,000 English settlers of Jamestown survived due to starvation, disease, and attacks from the natives (Stahle). Notoriously, there is evidence that the settlers of Jamestown resorted to cannibalism to feed themselves (O’Brien). Even earlierRead MoreKhaled Hosseini And Nathaniel Hawthorne s The Scarlet Letter 1792 Words   |  8 Pages The commandment, â€Å"women must submit to the dominance of man,† (Roland de Vaux) counseled many societies, western and abroad. 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The distribution of political power in society is in turn determined by political institutions and the distribution of resources. Political institutions allocate de jure political power, while groups with greater economic might typically posse ss greater de facto political power. We therefore view