Puritan Value System essays

Puritan Value System essays "The Puritan ethic: the haunting fear that somewhere, someone is having a good time," annonymous. This qoute is an amusing example of the Puritan ethic. The modern American ethic is quite different. The Puritan value system is different from the modern American value system. Puritans valued God over everything in their life. For example, from Anne Bradstreet's poem "Verses upon the Burning of our House," she writes that her house is burning down and all her things turn to ash, but she doesn't care because she knows she has a home in heaven. She realizes that all the stuff in her house is vanity and that all she needs is God. If something like that happened today, most people would curse God, and they would only care about their designer furniture burning up. Puritans did nothing to distract them from worshipping God. For example, the only paintings Puritans had in their house were portraits. Puritans had portraits to pay respect to their elders, but felt that anything else would take their mind away from God. Today Americans collect paintings and other types of art to decorate their houses, which clearly shows that we do not find this value important anymore. In conclusion, the Puritan value system has clearly changed over the years. Modern Americans put more values on material things, and many don't believe in God. If a 16th century Puritan met a Modern American today, he would probably be disgusted. ...