Jumpstarter 1 of 10

Ideas to help restart your discussion

Question 1

John Winthrop warned that if the colony “deal falsely with our God,” it would become “a story and a byword” that would cause enemies to “speak evil of the ways of God”; looking at the examples Bercot gives (treatment of Indians, intolerance, witch trials, smuggling, slave trade), what does this lesson suggest God cares about most when He puts “the eyes of all people” on a Christian community?

Another way to ask: Looking at the harms Bercot lists (to Indians, dissenters, accused “witches,” and through smuggling and slavery), what does this suggest God cares about most when a Christian community is on public display?

Direct Answer Based on David Bercot’s teaching, God especially cares about whether a Christian community actually lives out justice, mercy, humility, and kingdom ethics in public—not just whether it speaks Christian language or has “orthodox” structures.

Support from Transcript:

Winthrop’s stated “only way to avoid this shipwreck” was “to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God,” and to live with “meekness…patience, and liberality.”
Bercot says their later actions did the opposite of bringing glory to God: “instead of their actions bringing glory to God, it has done just the opposite.”
He calls out “completely disregarded the rights of the Native Americans,” highlighting the Mystic Massacre and later “exterminated most of the Indian population.”
He says their “religious intolerance” became a lasting “black eye,” including hanging Quakers until England forced repeal.
He argues the witch trials harmed the witness: people “still speak evil of Bible believing Christians today as a result.”
He links dishonesty and greed—rampant smuggling and a slave-trade economy—to the claim that “the new god of Massachusetts was mammon.”

Discussion Follow-ups Which of these failures most “opens the mouths of enemies” today—violence, coercion, injustice, or greed? Why?

Jumpstarter 1 of 10