In this document, Carl Degler focuses on how unlike the conviction of most historians, the Puritans were not an overly ascetic group of people who denied all worldly pleasures, but instead they enjoyed a reasonable amount while still following moral values and social ethics. The Puritans agreed with most Calvinist theology. One belief they agreed with was that God had not only created things out of sheer necessity, but also so that people could enjoy them. It was only until pleasurable activities disrupted productivity and the pursuit to follow the will of God that they would ban such pleasures. The prohibition of cards and dice while allowing public lotteries best displays this. Cards and dice were seen to lead to wasting time, while the lottery
