Puritan Belief In Predestination Essay

“Johnny, I better not catch you lying or you will go straight to hell,” said no Puritan mom ever. The Puritans believed in predestination, which is the belief that God has already predetermined who would receive salvation (Heyrman). People could do nothing to change their fate because they had no free will, but the Puritans still believed in strictly following the Bible. Extremely harsh punishments were administered for everything including sins we today consider inconsequential (Cox). The Puritan belief in predestination contradicted itself and other beliefs within the Puritan religion.
First, the belief of predestination does not follow other Puritan beliefs. The Puritans believed in the pure interpretation of the Bible, so the Bible should be followed strictly (Heyrman). Puritans had extremely harsh punishments for all sins. Some punishments included jail time, death, and public shame; sinners suffered a cruel and torturous death, humiliation, or both for everything from lying to murder (Cox). If your salvation was already decided, why would there be a need to follow such severe moral standards? Puritans received no credit for their good works, so there was little reason to do them let alone kill people for not complying with them. This shows how predestination heavily

contradicted their belief in sternly following the Bible.
Secondly, predestination is based mostly on the Bible verse “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29) (Slick). Puritans interpreted this as the belief that salvation is predetermined, but other Biblical scholars interpreted it to mean that God knows who will receive salvation because he is omniscient not because he preselects people to receive salvation (Slick). A god who loved the world so much would not reserve salvation to only a select few; the Puritans ignored this contradiction.
On the other hand, people argue that predestination gave the people hope during trying times because they were predestined to play a meaningful role in life.

They followed the Bible because they wanted to not because it was required to receive salvation. They lived a moral life for the benefit of others not themselves (Heyrman). This belief can, however, be applied to religion in general and predestination is not needed. The hope and desire to live a moral life described by predestination is already found in the basis of the Puritan religion and the Bible. The belief that salvation is not dependent on good works is taught today with no reference to

predestination.
The Puritan belief in predestination contradicted their whole religion by undermining their strict moral standards and ignoring other teachings in the Bible. The harsh punishments administered to sinners and stern morals refuted the belief that people had no free will and salvation was predetermined, and the verse used as the basis is open for interpretation. The Christian religion itself provides hope and preaches living an ethical life without predestination. The Puritan belief in predestination was unsupported.