When I read up on the Puritans, it reminds me of how I was raised as a Seventh-Day Adventist in Australia and California.
I think I have a fair idea of the strengths and weaknesses of Anglos vs Jews. Both groups take good care of their own. Jews tend to be more flexible in their ethics, more creative, and place more emphasis on socio-economic success. Jews do better in business. Jews tend to be higher achievers, more groundbreaking, innovative, transgressive, and experimental.
The Seventh-Day Adventist clergy I knew growing up tended to be more honest than the rabbis I’ve known but not nearly as smart. Seventh-Day Adventists I knew never boasted about cheating on taxes, business, customs and the like while many Jews I’ve known do make such boasts. Lying is a big sin in Adventism. Truth has an instrumental value in Judaism. If presenting a moving story as true when you know it isn’t, that’s OK for rabbis if they think it will inspire Jews to greater observance of Torah. A typical Seventh-Day Adventist pastor would shy away from that.
Adventists strike me as simple, caring, nurturing people (who love to argue about theology) while Jews are complicated, contradictory and confusing (with no interest in arguing about theology). Jews strike me as more realistic about how the world works and they have fewer hang-ups regarding frank talk about and the natural passions such as the pursuit of sex, money, power, and fame.
On average, Jews are about a standard deviation smarter than Adventists.
If every Adventist in the world disappeared today, the world would be largely unchanged. If all Jews disappeared, the world would be unrecognizable.
Jews tend to be more expressive of their emotions. Adventists tend to be nice and controlled. Both groups venerate education, but Jews more so. Money plays a bigger role in Jewish life than in Adventist life. The more traditional the form of Judaism, the more hierarchical.
