The Making of a Preacher's Family - Prep

Cultural Setting

The culture of ZoNed4 has much in common with the cultural divide of America in the 21st Century. However, this Society is quite similar to the society of pilgrims aboard the Mayflower in 1620. Half of the passengers were Christians. The other half were atheists, agnostics, or simply didn't care about the subject of belief.

The earliest explorers of ZoNed4 arrived with Diotrephes Broadway didn't really have any time for God, since they were always exploring, but DB's attitude didn't help. "I have no need of a god. I can make it on my own. Thank you very much!" The foundation of no churches and "no need for God" created a secular culture through the early years of ZoNed4.

Matthew Paul Marks and his spaceship load of missionaries changed the dynamics of this newly-settled planet. Now, ZoNed4 was full of Christians, agnostics, and soon everything in between.

ZoNedians soon found that they were like the Christians and the Strangers of the Mayflower. They needed something to unify and to smooth life around the edges. The two groups of the Mayflower became known by the agreed-upon title of Pilgrims. They drafted the Mayflower Compact as a set of commonly understood and agreed-upon laws, which all parties could accept and live by and live with. The ZoNedians, under the leadership of Broadway and Marks followed the basic tenets of the Mayflower Compact, creating ZoNed4's Intraplanetary Covenant.

1. As a Society at large ZoNed4 has come to accept the probability of God by permission. No one is forced to believe in God. This is maintained by Statute AG8. However, no one is forced to relinquish his or her belief in God, either. This is maintained by Statute Tri-G3. Considering the fact, that these former Earthlings were so far from Home, they universally thought it prudent to be much more accepting of others, even if not their beliefs than the NYLA Accords of 2030 on Earth in which agnosticism became the law and the belief of the country, forcing Christians into hiding, facing daily physical and legal jeopardy.

2. The Christians, who came to ZoNed4 were mostly Protestants and Evangelicals, but some Catholics came as well. They all had worship services, filled with singing and the spoken word. Belief in Jesus Christ as the only Lord and Savior was pretty standard, but how come into relationship with Him as Lord was still as divergent as it was on the Homeworld, that they left. "We don't leave our problems behind. We take our problems with us." (JOT)

3. The laws are based on The Mayflower Compact. This variation on ZoNed4 was dubbed "The Intraplanetary Covenant."

4. To date Diotrephes Broadway has been the de facto "King of the World," but the residents are considering their options, such as President, Prime Minister with a Mosaic of leaders to help the top man to carry the load. This idea is based on Jethro's advice in the Book of Genesis to keep Moses from "wearing out." Since his arrival on the planet, Matthew Marks has been Diotrephes' unofficial advisor, even though he believed, "I don't need one."

5. Much of the technologies, which were available on Earth had the benefit of infrastructure already in place. For many years during the Construction Phases of building infrastructure, ZoNed4 has much in common with Earth of the early 1800s, probably even earlier, since horses could not make the trip to the planet and since vehicles were not easily built from the known elements on ZoNed4, transportation by foot was common.

6. Life was much harder for Matt and his family as well as the rest of the residents since the advancements of 21st-Century Earth was not available to the ZoNedians. They learned to adjust to a more primitive life, which meant that life was forced to be restored to be much slower pace. This was much more conducive to building family relationships and friendships among the residents of ZoNed4.

7. Amusement is lost by and large to the residents of ZoNed4, but this is a good thing since their lives became more thoughtful and relationship-oriented, especially the consideration of God and their lives beyond the physical world, that they presently inhabit.