Puritans and Methodist

Puritans and modern religions like Methodists are very different, they view forgiveness very different, by the way someone would become a member of the church, the role of government in the church, and how the pastor lives his or her life while they are working at the church. At the same time both religions have a few ways they are in common they both believe in God, they government plays some kind of role in the church, and they also believe in being baptized.

The Puritans broke away from the Church of England to start their own church and religion. The reason the Puritans left the Church of England was because they believe that the church was corrupted. When the Puritans left, they left England for good. They went off to the western colonies. They thought the church was so corrupted because the people of the village had to have the same belief as the ruler over them. This could become very confessing for one person to try and fellow.
How the denomination of Methodist came around was by John and Charles Wesley founded the Methodist church in England during the early 18th century. The word Methodist means a member of an evangelical Protestant church and characterized by active concern with social welfare and public morals.
The Puritans believed that if someone were to have sinned they would have to confess their sin to the whole town. The punishment of not confessing their sin was to be kicked out of the church or die. If a person were kicked out of the church all Puritans would look down upon them, almost as if they were damned. The person who was kicked out of their church would have a very hard time trying to becoming member of another church. The Puritans do not really believe in forgiveness. They would always be gossiping about other people and their sins. This would make them very bitter. The Puritans also believed that a person’s fate was already predetermined and they could only hope that they were one of the chosen ones to get into heaven.

The Methodists believe if a person who has sinned, and confessed or repented their sins, they will be forgiven. Forgiveness is a very big part of the modern Christian view today; Christians believe that their faith is based on grace. They believe that a person will get to heaven by the grace of God, not by hoping they were chosen, or by them commenting good deeds. If a person ever did anything bad enough to get kicked out of a church, they would just not be allowed to return to that one. They are not kicked out of every church in the U.S.

To be apart of a Puritan church the male of the family would give his testimony about how and what God has done in his and his family’s life. If the man were accepted as a member of the church then the whole family would be allowed to be members too. Only the men were allowed to speak in the services. This is why the male of the family would give his testimony and not the woman of the family. If someone were a single individual man or woman would probably have a very hard time finding a church that would let them become a member. Even if they were a male it might even be hard for them to get into the church. It was not very well accepted to be a single person and try to become a member of the church.

Methodist believes that the individual can be male or female, single or not and still become a member of the church. All they have to do is go through confirmation. In some Methodist churches the individual can start to go through confirmation at age 11 or 12. If the person moves from another church they can just pronounce their faith and say that they still believe that Jesus saved them from your sin.

The Puritan religion was a large part in the government. Whoever the pastor was had a very high status in the community. The pastor would be given his very own house to live in; which was usually close to the church. It was almost against the law to skip a service. People were also not allowed to work on the Sabbath Day. They were expected to attend Sunday service. There were no excuses for missing, and there were no excuses for working on Sundays, either. A person would be looked down upon if they skipped church and were, caught working.

In today’s society the law—Separation of Church and State, separates the church and the government. In the some churches the pastor will be given a home to live in while he is the pastor at that church. In the Methodist church, the pastor is not given a house to live in. The church expects the pastor to have his or her own place to live that is not given to them. If a person were to miss a few days of church, they would not be looked down upon just because they missed a few services. People in the Methodist church and other churches are more opened-minded and understand the fact that a person might not be able to make it to service.

A few ways that Puritans and Methodist are a like is that both religions believe in Jesus and that He died for their sins. Government is a part in the church. In the Puritan Church the government helped run the church and in the Methodist Church the government has forced the act of prayer out of public schools. Both religions believe that a person should only be baptized once in their life.
The Puritans and Methodist have a few ways they are in common with each other. A person can see how both religions are so different; in the way they came along, their ways of forgiveness, and how the role the government might have in the religion. Times and beliefs were very different back in the Puritan times.