Puritans vs. Rationalists

The main difference between a Puritan and a Rationalist is their beliefs. Puritans believe that mortals had no business trying to find out the mysteries of the world. They believed that we were put here and that was it, that everything else was God’s business. The Rationalists, however, believed that God put us here for a reason and that he gave us our brains for a reason. They believed that the mysteries of the world were supposed to be solved and that God put humans on this earth to solve the mysteries.
The main argument today between sience and religion is the theory of evolution. In a way, the creationists or the religious folk are the Puritans. They believe that evolution is false and should be left alone because God put us on this earth and by coming up with evolution they are crossing the line. They think that it is God's will and that it should not be questioned. On the other hand, we have the sientists who are looked at as the Rationalists. This is because they have shown reason that evolution is true. They say that we have evolved from other species acording to our genes.

Playing with fire by Melody Carlson

Playing with fire is about a young girl who gets messages from God while she is sleeping. In her latest dream there is a fire and she is not sure what that means but she thinks it has something to do with her brother who has just come out of rehab for a meth problem. Besides that, Sam is facing other problems as well. This includes getting arrested by the police for having meth in her friend’s car. The only problem is that she doesn’t know how it got there. To prove herself innocent, she takes a drug test and the charges are dropped. Only her close friend Garrett, who was in the car when the police came, refuses to take the test and Sam is becoming suspicious as to who put it in the car.

two beliefs

I decided to talk about the Puritan’s belief of Total Depravity. As you saw in my first post it is the belief that because of what Adam and Eve did, all people are born sinners. To this religion this means that God hates all people and only some are saved. In the clip of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, the preacher explains that there is no way of salvation for these people and that they will meet their destiny in Hell. He also expresses that God has no reason for even keeping these people on this earth. I personally think this is stupid, just for the fact that if God hates us so much and he doesn’t even want us here, then why make us? Why put us on this earth and give us life if he already knows what our destiny is? The other belief that I wanted to talk about is their belief known as the Perseverance of the “saints”. This is the belief that certain people are elected by God himself to interpret his word however they please. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, the preacher is telling everybody that they are going to Hell. He is saying this in a way of which he knows that he is not one of them. I don’t understand how he is so special, and what is it that he has done so right that everybody else is doing so wrong. Their beliefs just don’t make sense to me, how can everybody be going to Hell for the sins that Adam and Eve committed, but oh wait, some people are okay. For what reason, they don’t know but that’s just suppose to be how it is.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God vs. Of Plymouth Plantation

After reading Of Plymouth Plantation and watching Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, I have come to a confused halt. Of Plymouth Plantation shows normal people experiencing life in a new place. These people seem kind and smart in the way they talk to the Indians. They even made a treaty with these Native Americans. In the treaty they decided this:
1) That neither he nor any of his should injure or do hurt to any of their people.
2) That if any of his did hurt to any of theirs, he should send the offender, that they might punish him.
3) That if anything were taken away from any of theirs, he should cause it to be restored; and they should do the like to his.
4) If any did unjustly war against him, they would aid him; if any did war against them, he should aid them.
5) He should send to his neighbors confederates to certify them of this, that they might not wrong them, but might be likewise comprised in the conditions of peace.
6) That when their men came to them, they should leave their bows and arrows behind them.
I believe that these points of their treaty are pretty rational. The Puritans even took one of the Natives in with them, Squanto was his name. They treated him like a friend and keep him with them until the day he died.
The first harvest even seemed normal. They caught the fish, rounded up the turkeys and the Indians harvested corn for the Puritans. There was enough for everybody. The houses were fixed up for winter and everyone was happy and in good health. This was nothing like what I watched in the sermon.
Its almost like these people cannot be the same. They seem so nice and free spirited in Of Plymouth Plantation, but everything seems so scary in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. The preacher talkes of how everybody in that church is going to hell and that there is no salvation, no hope for them. That God looks at these people with disgust. He says that the way a human hates the most venomous snake in the world, God hates these people ten times more than that. I just don’t understand how these people act so normal when they are convinced that their fate is hell.

Puritans Beliefs

The Puritans believed in something called Total Depravity which means that because of the sins that Adam and Eve committed, all people are born sinners. They also believed in Unconditional Election. This means that God only saves certain people and there are only a few that he gives salvation to. Limited Atonement is a very odd belief to me. It is the belief that Jesus didn’t die on the cross for everyone. He only died for the ones that God chooses and nobody can earn salvation from God. The last belief they had was called Perseverance of the “saints”. This belief was that the chosen few were allowed to live their life the way they wanted to and they could interpret the word of God any way they pleased.