“Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples’ Temple”

He preyed on their need for change and he offered a colorless environment to them before the civil rights movement kicked into full swing. They jumped at the opportunity because it wasn’t being offered anywhere other than Jones’ church, The People’s Temple. Jones pushed an integrated society which is what drew in a large percentage of his following, along with its ability to push prejudices to the side and focus on faith. Catherine Abbott took notice of his recruitment patterns and said, “He brought so many young college kids, so many old black women in, so many people from diverse backgrounds who realized that there was something bigger than themselves.” (Abbott) Not only did Jones have ideas that interested people, but he was just an all-around charismatic man. He was able to make people think that he cared for them and their well-being, he helped people when they needed, and he was just a like-able guy.

Individuals had to ensure their salvation by having a personalized relationship with the Lord instead of just doing good works in the hope of going to heaven. The thought was that the Pope was human and could make errors, but the Scriptures were infallible. As such, obeying the Lord was more important than obeying the Pope or the king, and the colonists themselves looked into the scriptures and read about the basic human rights that were granted by God - and often withheld by the monarchy. Believers of this new doctrine were called New Light Worshipers. Old Light Worshipers such as Puritans, Anglicans, and Calvinists, which originally made up the religious majority, decreased as New Light beliefs, such as Evangelism and Modernism, became more

James Delaney said “a major influence on social, moral, and political life at the time was the church.” (Delaney). This quote relates to the time

Lastly, in the incident with Jonestown, showed the most extreme case of conformity and obedience. Jim Jones was a pastor at Peoples Temple, he was the leader of an interracial church. For its time, Jim Jones was pushing past race and ethnicity and introducing a new church that welcomed all people. Jones was the type of man that made people feel comfortable and at home; maybe that is why so many people followed him when he moved his temple across the county and then to Guyana. I think what made people interested in Jonestown was how the community seemed very close and simple, but who would have guessed that those 900 townspeople would all commit mass suicide just because one man said to. The question that remains is, why did so many people obey

Those who when against God were severely punish, going against God was going consider an act against society. Those who committed a sin were highly penalized. The benefit of clergy was a doctrine only priests and monks could use. A priest had the ability to claim the privilege of his status and was able to be ecclesiastical trial courts.

to live and living,they did not like how the christian churches did not fully allow the right of the

They believed that those who were not perfect and did not follow rules should be rooted out of the community. Since the ideal system of a community was to be a perfect society, anyone who did not pursue this was considered to be a sinner. And if one were thought to be a sinner, then he or she would

During this time, the Church was everything- everyone believed in their teachings and would go by their rules- and so did

After a century had passed in the colonies of America, religious piety had diminished. Some churchgoers felt like the sermon being preached were old and over-used. Some ministers, felt like the parishioners had lost zeal of their original belief in Calvinism. Many conflicts and opinions arose challenging the old religion. Some said that individuals might be able to save themselves from predetermined damnation by good works. Others, specifically the Arminians, said individual free will and not divine predestination determined a person’s eternal fate. Due to these challenging concepts, dubbed heresies, the clergy decided it wasn’t completely necessary for members of the church to be converted. However, this plan, known as the Half-Way Covenant,

James Weldon Johnson made a major impact in the world throughout his life. He had many roles in society and each one affected and helped others in different ways. Much of his work was done to help other African-Americans who were being oppressed at the time as a result of racism throughout the country.

Jim Jones had many jobs before he became leader of the peoples temple. As a child he spent much of his time alone. He began preaching at 10 years old after going on weekly trips to church with a neighbor of his. He continued his strong religious beliefs when moved to Indianapolis with his mother. Jones became a minister at a local church and held racially integrated services to the church’s displeasure. During the mid 1950’s Jones opened his first church of The People’s Temple while still living in Indiana. As the cult grew in the 60’s Jones relocated to Northern California and soon after opened churches in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Followers of the People’s Temple often referred to him as ‘father’ or ‘Dad’.

The experiences of the SJ, Lucy, and Wesley Williams in, The City of Refuge are deeply penetrating. Their experiences overflow with heartache, sacrifice, love, and rebirth. In the novel, we are introduced to Lucy Williams, a troubled soul, with a generous personality. Lucy’s brother, SJ Williams, a heartbroken carpenter, who was always willing to lend a hand. Last we have Wesley Williams, Lucy’s misguided son, who loves his mom with all his heart. This family faces many trials through the novel.

The second ‘category’ being church discipline, which focused on upholding key beliefs and put decrees in place to abolish all bad practices, the following reforms were decided on to put the church back in order;A seminary,which was a place where priests were educate and was set up in each diocese, Decrees were also passed against pluralism and absenteeism. This meant that bishops and others who held religious officers could no longer be appointed multiple positions. Indulgence selling was also abolished.

The first public challenge to Jones’ leadership of the Temple came in 1972 from the media, which then increased his paranoia that his followers would turn against him. Jones went to greater lengths after being challenged by the media to declare his control by constantly testing his followers. He would organize “white nights”, which required his followers to drink a red liquid which may have contained poison, then Jones would see how many of his followers wouldn’t hesitate to drink the red liquid. Jones was still paranoid and made the decision to move Peoples Temple to Guyana and start a community called Jonestown.

Church history reveals that a number of serious biblical doctrinal controversies occurred during the late 1800s and early 1900s that gave occasion for the formulation of certain fundamentalist principals to be implemented as a clarification and remedy against unbiblical manifestations. The authority of the Bible was brought into serious question.