Why the Pilgrims Really Came to America ByTracy McKenzie

  Religious persecution had prompted the Pilgrims to move from England to Holland in 1608. By their own account, Holland was a place where God had blessed them with “much peace and liberty.”  They cited factors other than religious persecution in explaining their decision to seek a new home across the ocean. The Pilgrims had two major complaints about their experience in Holland and why they decided to come to America: (1) They found it a hard place to raise their children and (2) an even harder place to make a living. Pilgrim William Bradford commented on “the great licentiousness of youth” in Holland and lamented the “evil examples” and “manifold temptations of the place.”                                                                                                                                                               The Pilgrims’ justification for relocating to America reminds me of Jesus’ parable of the sower.  You remember how the sower casts his seed (the word of God), and it falls on multiple kinds of ground, not all of which prove fruitful.  The seed that lands on stony ground sprouts immediately but the plant withers under the heat of the noonday sun.  The seed cast among thorns springs up and then is choked by the surrounding weeds.  The former, Jesus explained to His disciples, represents those who receive the word gladly, but stumble “when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake” (Mark 4:17).  The latter stands for those who allow the word to be choked by “the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things” (Mark 4:19).  As the Pilgrims saw it, the principal threat that they faced in Holland was not the scorching sun, but strangling thorns.                                                                                                                                                                                            This makes the Pilgrim story so much more relevant to us.  When we hear of the Pilgrims’ resolve in the face of persecution in England, we may nod our heads admiringly and meditate on the courage of their convictions.  Perhaps we will even ask ourselves how we would respond if, God forbid, we were to endure the same trial.    I condensed this article by Robert Tracy McKenzie who is professor and chair of the History Department at Wheaton College and president of the Conference on Faith and History, a national organization of Christian historians.    I wonder what the Pilgrims would say about our culture today.                                                        Bob W.                                          If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.                                                                           2 Chronicles 7:14