During the 15 and 1600’s a group of Christians known as “Puritans” began migrating across the Atlantic from England to America. They mostly set up shop in the Northeast part of the country, and pre-dominantly New England. They were a group of people who truly desired to live out the Image of Christ, and were escaping the tyranny, and political climate of English churches. At their core they desired to start a nation founded on God, and living out biblical principles as Christ intended. In short they used the early churches of the new testament as their model, and they were wildly successful here in this new land. The foundations they laid led to a Christian American nation, and ultimately led to God being a part of all original American documents in the 18th century.
They were a remarkable group of people who desired to live in community, and see God glorified above all else. Now they had their faults. In their attempt to be “not of this world” they formed colonies, and took themselves out of the world. Ultimately outcasting the “sick” Jesus said he came to save in the Gospels. Additionally certain sects of Puritans took their desires, and wants a bit far at times as their treatment of women in the church, and the witchcraft trials can attest to. This is what they are ultimately remembered for in society, and I guess it does have its place. However to overlook their view of Christianity, and especially the bible would be tragic.
As Christians today we can learn a lot from these 500-year-old Puritans. Especially the way they studied the bible. They LOVED the Word, and desired for all their people to TRULY understand it, and live it out. As a result they had an ENORMOUS impact on America, and it all started with the Word!!
Today we love, especially in our church kids programs, to push scripture memorization to the point of absurdity. We give trinkets at church to the kid that can memorize the most verses. However how many of those verses do our kids TRULY understand? How much of that scripture had an impact on their life, and how much of it are they living out? Scripture is God’s word given to us to help us bring Him glory while in our temporal home on earth. The only way thats going to happen is to UNDERSTAND God’s word because you WANT to!! Not because you are rewarded with trinkets. I am not against this or saying its wrong. I’m just saying we have to be careful in what we teach our kids about scripture.
Now I understand there are some key advantages to teaching children to memorize scripture. The bible tells us to “hide the word in our heart”. Teaching kids at an early age to read the bible is always good, and can instill good habits later. Please understand I am not saying that teaching kids or anyone else to memorize scripture is wrong. To the contrary. What I am saying is MEMORIZATION in and of itself is NOT going to help you. We might know the most verses, but if we do not understand what they mean then what good is it? We need to get back to MEMORIZE AND UNDERSTAND!! Understanding scripture can live apart from memorization, but memorization cannot live apart from understanding. They go hand in hand with understanding being the most crucial. Ultimately memorization is the act of the individual, and understanding is the act of the Holy Spirit. We should be teaching our kids to submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and to pray for an undertanding of what they are memorizing. Imagine what THAT could do to them when they are adults!!!
THIS is where the Puritans had it right!! They placed an emphasis on understanding scripture, and not just memorizing for recitation and pandering as was common in the English church. Puritan pastors would often take just ONE verse for their sermons, and preach on it. ONE VERSE!!!!! I have had the great opportunity, by the grace of God, to preach a few times, and I need all the scripture I can reference to fill 30 minutes. Puritan pastors had such a thorough understanding of the Word they could preach for HOURS sometimes on ONE VERSE!!! That is unbelievable, but goes to show their desire to UNDERSTAND scripture and not just MEMORIZE it.
The Word can change lives if we strive to understand it, and live it out. So the next time you read your bible pray that the Holy Spirit guide you to understand what it is you are reading. Then go out and live what you’ve just learned!!!
[…] March 3, 2010 by tobyward A few weeks ago I posted a blog about the Puritans, and their freakish (freakish is a GOOD thing ) desire to understand, and follow scripture. You can check that out here : https://tobyward.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/much-does-not-matter-if-you-do-not-know-what-it-means-part-… […]