You don’t want to have fun anymore?

This one is a little easier because more people are aware of the Puritan Era. Why have I decided that this blog would contain “Puritan” in its title? Because I like what the Puritans were about.

First and foremost, the piety of the Puritans is astounding. But before we delve into this, let’s get one thing straight…the Puritans were not a bunch of kill-joys. They pursued what brought the most joy to their souls: God! Their pursuit of Him rivals even the most spiritual people today. The asceticism that typifies this era is often misunderstood; they denied themselves only to gain Christ. It is this Aggressive Christianity and whole-hearted pursuit of Christ that is so attractive. Nothing was so valuable to them that it could not be removed in order to better gain Christ.

Second, as a result of denying themselves, the Puritans were able to make time for themselves which they filled with pursuit of God through spiritual disciplines. Prayer, study of God’s word, fasting, and other disciplines were practiced both individually and corporately. Can you imagine entire churches given to prayer, fasting, and deep study of God’s word? Better still, these disciplines were not merely external to Christians of this day. Judging from the diaries and journals of Puritans leaders, people were genuinely changed by pursuing Christ via these God ordained means of grace. Oh, that we today would be so conformed to Christ as those of this day.

Finally, the Puritan view of God was so high, yet so near. What a restoration we need today to this paradox. A God who is so grand that He transcends all that we know, yet at the same time draws near to those who draw near to Him. I want to be Puritan in this sense so that I can draw deeply from the strengths of both the relationship emphasizing camps of Christianity while at the same time drinking from the depths of the knowledge of the Unknowable as emphasized by those who stress theological accuracy in the Church.