The Impact of Religion in the New World

Religion was a major contributing factor for Pilgrims coming to the New World. They sought freedoms that they had been denied in England and thought a new start would give them just that. Their search for freedom was long and onerous, with many obstacles in their way. However, as evidenced in the writings that come from this time period, their faith in God was unfailing and they counted on him to provide. The devotion and faith displayed by the Pilgrims was an empowering force, one that I think lead them to ultimate success John Winthrop makes it clear in his sermon “A Model of Christian Charity” that they were to be better than England and do great things in the New World He describes the means as, “These we see are extraordinary, therefore we must not content ourselves with usual ordinary means, whatsoever we did or ought to have done when we lived in England, the same we must do, and more also, where we go”.

They had high ambitions for their new lives with Christ in the center of those ambitions, The end that was to be accomplished by these means was, “to improve our lives to do more service to the Lord”.

They thought that by doing great deeds in Christ’s name they would be rewarded with prosperity In Mary Rowlandson‘s recount of her captivity, readers can see that many of the Pilgrims and Puritans thought that suffering was a form of punishment for their sin. Rowlandson says, “I then remembered how careless I had been of God’s holy time; how many Sabbaths I had lost and misspent, and how evilly I had walked in God’s sight; which lay so close unto my spirit, that it was easy for me to see how righteous it was with God to cut off the thread of my life and cast me out of his presence forever.

Get quality help now

KarrieWrites

Verified

Proficient in: Christianity

5 (339)

“ KarrieWrites did such a phenomenal job on this assignment! He completed it prior to its deadline and was thorough and informative. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Yet the Lord still showed mercy to me, and upheld me”

Most of us would consider her admitted sin rather insignificant, but the Puritans did not see it as such. It was very important for them to uphold God’s law — as they interpreted it — or to accept the punishment bestowed upon them for their faults. As such, they wanted to do their best in the eyes of God in this New World Their works, as a result of their beliefs, lead them to thrive based on justice and law They attempted to model themselves after ancient religious civilizations; civilizations which had flourished before them for an extended time By using these models, they too were able to survive and eventually thrived Although I do not think that religion is directly responsible for the Pilgrims’ survival, 1 do think it empowered them to be better and, as a result, they were able to. Their dedication to God helped them through the hard times and kept them going Things have certainly changed since this era, but in times of great distress, faith is still what keeps us going. Religion is not the most important element in these stories; believing in something greater than yourself is.