Our Irrational Roots Flashcards
1
Q
Who were they?
A
- Thought of selves as a pilgrimage
- On earth to serve god then go to heaven
- Puritan = purify
- Wanted to purify the Church of England because of their corruption
- Hated Catholics
- Thought they could connect to god directly (Bible) didn’t want to go to church to talk to God
- Wanted Money
2
Q
The Bible
A
- Strict adherence to teaching of The Bible
- Literal word of God
- Not to be questioned
- No metaphors, myths, etc.
- Used Bible to connect to God
3
Q
Religious Extremeists
A
- Conservative morally
- religious zealots (fanatics)
- Political revolutionaries
- -political intentions in England
- -persecuted and harassed England
- -so they left for Holland/Netherlands
- Nothing funny about life-super serioud
4
Q
Why go to America?
A
- To escape persecutions
- Wanted religious freedom
-Didn’t give any others religious freedom
(Indians)
- Highly intolerable
- Focused on making money
5
Q
“City on a Hill”
A
- Arrived at plymouth rock on the Mayflower (1620)
- An exemplary religious community that all could see, admire, and emulate
- Could only do this in an uninhabited, uncivilized, and undeveloped land where they had total freedom and where they were not overshadowed by other cultures
- Ignorant: believed they would be viewed as the perfect way by everyone
- Believed they had the right way, emulated by others
- Confident, admired by others
- Want to influence others
6
Q
Theocracy
A
- God Government (gov’t based on religion)
- No seperation of church and state
- Leaders of church and state often the same
- Religious leaders called the shots
- **Gods law = Man’s law / Legality=morality **
- No seperation between the two
- Legislation based on bible
7
Q
**Predestination- core of religion **
A
- Theological thinker - developed influential ideas that became core of Puritan belief
- God selects those to be ‘saved’ (taken to heaven) before they are born
- One cannot influence God’s decision during life; fate can’t be changed
- One can’t know for sure whether they’re saved or damed
_*All Humans deserve damnation; only through Gods bestowal of grace due to his literal infinite mercy are a few saved*_
- Theory does not reflect directly on practice AKA believe in predestination, take actions to go to heaven
8
Q
The Elect vs. The Damed
A
- Elects are chosen for heaven
- Damed go to hell
- Everyone deserves hell due to our depraved and evil nature
- Only through God’s infinte mercy is a single person saved
- Hell: Literal fire and brimstone for infinity with no relief burning in hell forever
9
Q
Human Nature and “the fall”
A
- God created Earth and all it’s creatures
- Molded first man with his hands to look like himself; Adam
- Named and took care of animals
- became lonely- put Adam to sleep took rib to create the first woman; Eve
- Orders them to multiply in Garden of Eden; A perfect place for people only job to live, one rule: cant eat from tree of knowledge of good and bad
- Become curious(human nature) serpant shows up-tells Eve to look at tree, gets Adam to eat from tree with her
- Instant loss of innocence, feel shame for being nude
- God comes looking for them, knows they are ashamed and knows why
- Gets angry “I gave you life, I brought you to the world, all I have done is care for you”
- All sacrifices- Get out no longer allowed in garden- now life will be hard for you
- No ticket to eternity, you are going to die, life becomes hard and painful
- Called the Original Sin
- Every human born, inherits stain from original sin
- Gods anger is righteous- you deserve hell
- Human nature is evil, to disobey, to rebel despite God’s great kindness in creating us
10
Q
The Nature of God
A
- Omnipotent: All Powerful
- Omnicient: Perceives and knows all
- Knows what kind of person you will be, if you will be worthy of heaven or hell
- Loving, merciful, and just beyond measure
*
11
Q
Providence - fate
A
- _Providence: God acting in history _
- not predestination
- Gods fingerprints are on everything
- Tried to read Gods messages through events of history
- This plus predestination = no free will
12
Q
Grace
A
- Feeling of Gods presence in self
- Live life for these moments
- Pay off for being on earth
- Entering you- “Gods grace”
- Overwhelming feeling of joy
- Searched their lives for presence of grace
- Sign of being an elect
*
13
Q
Why do good instead of evil
A
- If your action on earth do not influence whether you go to heaven or hell, why do good?
- Typical twisted, irrational Puritan logic:
- God wouldn’t choose someone to go to heaven who was evil or corrupt
- So, you act holy to try to convince yourself that you would be good enough for God to have chosen you
- Grace is the only “proof” you might have
- However, we are imperfect and we have an evil nature, so we will naturally always revert to sin . . .
14
Q
Nature vs. Community
A
- Didn’t understand natural world (fearful of nature)
- Further you get away from chruch (into wilderness) the more likely you will disobey
- Source of temptation/ distrusted nature
15
Q
Morally Strict
A
- Public Punishment: creates motivation in community to not sin
- Sobriety- serious life, pilgrimage-cradle to grave
- Temperance- control your passions
- Industriousness- idle hands are the devils workshop
- Simplicity- in dress, lifestyle, worship
- self-reliance
*By Chance these are exactly the characteristics it would take to survive the New World*
- No faith in self/ don’t trust self
