Roger Williams is the modern day devil’s
advocate. He has positive intention to make the church better and wants
freedom. He is known as a Reformed Baptist and Puritan. He was born in 1603 without
a clear date on what month because his birth month records were destroyed in
the Great Fire of London in 1666. His parents were James Williams and Alice
Pemberton. His wife was Mary Barnard and had six children by the names of Mary,
Freeborn, Providence, Mercy, Dainel, and Joseph. The importance of doing
meaningful work is showcased early within the names of his children. Most
people implement the necessary tools or parts of themselves for legacy purposes
in their children. Their names are prophetic, revolutionary, and prominent for
his vision. Their names are the adjectives of who he is and his life.
Williams
went to Pembroke College in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he learned to speak
5 different languages. Learning to speak Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Dutch, and
French all contributed to his process of spiritual conversion at an early age.
He was apart of the Anglican Church, but he traveled to Massachusetts and soon became
a Puritan at Cambridge. The migration to the New World allowed him to understand
the corruption and false doctrine that spread in the Church of England. There
he served as Chaplin under Sir William Masham and his church reformation began
to develop. Before coming to America, he learned at the Anglican Church that he
believed people should separate from their church for the true and pure worship
of God. In his perspective, gifts from God were freedom of conscience, liberty,
and soul.
From that point, he was lead to teach at
Salem. He became Pastor, but felt Salem didn’t align with his views of being
completely separate. The court convicted him because he was trying to make
Salem separate. The Puritan leaders tried to expel him because they felt he was
giving dangerous ideas to others. When they tried to capture him he escaped and
founded the new land of what is currently known as Rhode Island. Roger Williams
went from Puritan to Reformed Baptist. He is a huge supporter of the Free Will
Baptist Movement and wasn’t about compromise.
“Anyone who was not born again,” Williams
said, “Was outside the will of God.”
Williams believed in true holiness and
wholeness. Albeit, he understood people shouldn’t be forced to worship.
Churches shouldn’t be built upon traditional and religious dogmas that forces
people to live in a bind. It has to be something
inside of your heart so you can feel the full of effects spiritually. Williams
had a serious plea of religious liberty. Preventing error in religion was
impossible which allowed Roger Williams to stand out most. He wanted everything
to be built on love and freedom. These are the experiences in different
denominations across the world. Everybody is focused on the traditions and
religious practices so much until they forget the most important reason for
church. The importance is to help, love, unite, and give glory to God.
Rogers was very friendly and socially
active too. His activeness was for the glory of God too. Most clergymen in that
time were mostly for government, but he wasn’t. He felt like government itself
made church a god. While in Rhode Island, he didn’t want this to be a problem.
Roger Williams made the decision to have individual worship with God. He felt
God was better alone than inside an institution. In today’s time, we see this
problem within communities and church. Lots of people have hidden agendas on
why they want to be the leader of churches and communities. Most times, it is
for money and power. This also goes with the protests going on in the world.
Roger Williams grew over time because his values evolved over time. This piece
of writing about Roger Williams is important because he shows us what’s
important and how we should look at life in a new perspective as time passes.
Government, black lives, gender, and other things should be viewed towards the
progression of freedom. He defended Native Americans and talked about the evils
of the Anglican Church because he knew it was a possibility the same ignorance
could happen in 2016. He was a prophet.
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