The Puritan Dilemma
The Puritan Dilemma shows how a group of people from England come to New England with a charter from the king and setup a community based on God. They were led by John Winthrop, the Governor, who chose to separate himself from an impure England and set up a purer Christian community. The "Puritan Dilemma" is trying to live a religious and spiritual life in a secular world, "the paradox that required a man to live in the world without being of it." "But to young John Winthrop it principally meant the problem of living in this world without taking his mind off God." "Puritans must live in the world, not leave it." Puritans must set up a community, government, have families, work hard and devote time to human existence but at the same time balance all of this against a spiritual life of prayer. Also one must interpret the bible and imply its ideas and laws to everyday life. "Puritanism was a power not to be denied. It did great things for England and for America, but only
The problem with separatism is that if everyone decided to follow their own interpretation of religion this would cause society to disintegrate. In a sense he paved the way of future government by establishing a cohesiveness of government officials and making laws and regulations for the people to follow. His basis was "to found a society where the perfection of God would find proper recognition among imperfect men. " Winthrop's Puritan Dilemma was "the problem of doing right in a world that does wrong. In order to prevent this there must be some common agreement as to what everyone's idea of religion should be. The colony was founded through a charter which meant the Government had a blank slate to make their own laws as long as the laws were of allegiance to England. The problem with despotism is that it is controlled by very few people, and those that disagree with the power were either persecuted or fled. The type of Government in the Massachusetts Bay Colony was a despotism run by a few men who set the direction of the government. John Winthrop was a fair, simple, wise and independent man as showed by his leadership in governing the Massachusetts Bay Colony and his attempt to protect the independence of the colony from Britain. by creating in the men and women it affected a tension which was at best painful and at worst unbearable. " He came as close as he could to making a colony of God on earth. The Puritan religion is not tolerant of anyone who dissents and therefore they felt that people who were dissenters would have to change their beliefs or separate and go found a new colony. Winthrop didn't want the new colony to be too similar to England but at the same he had to recognize the overall relationship the colony had to England. Puritanism required that a man devote his life to seeking salvation but told him he was helpless to do anything but evil.
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