Franklin & Deism Reflection

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin does in fact relate to Deism. I remember learning about Deism before, but for some reason I just can't remember what it means. Deism is defined as this: belief in the existence of a God on the evidence of reason and nature only, with rejection of supernatural revelation (Deism). In my own words this basically means that Deists believe in the existence of a God, but only in a rational sense. Deism is different from other religions such as Judaism and Christianity in the fact that they do not believe in revealed religion. Instead of just believing because they have been told to etc, they believe that as long as they can back it up with some kind of rational reasoning then it can be true. This is what we call a natural religion. It is basically the opposite of a revealed religion because instead of God guiding us through the Bible or other things of that nature, they believe that God is not revealing himself but rather we are just finding him (World Religions).

Benjamin Franklin was a Deist, which is kind of surprising considering that his father was a Puritan, and as we have learned in some of our previous reading, the Puritan faith is a great deal different from the Deism religion. As we already know, the Puritans definitely believed in a God. However, talking about some of the general Puritan communities, not all of them were so open for reason or rationalism. Many of them believed that everything that happened, whether it be good or bad, was God's doing. They did not ever consider there being a simple explanation for something unusual. They just assumed that it was either the devil's doing or God's doing (Miller 3). Benjamin Franklin was a Deist because he wanted to look at things from a more reasonable point of view. He did not deny that there was a God, but he liked to make sure his assumptions were reasonable and that he could back them up. He wanted to make sure that he knew the facts about his faith. Deists did not recite things that they had heard or read out of the Bible, they simply believe in what they can prove is true to them (World Religions). Ben Franklin was very smart and he knew that whatever his religion he wanted to be a better person and learn more about God in general and live a good life. Therefore, he decided to create his thirteen virtues.

These thirteen virtues were supposed to help him become a better person . Ben figured that you could always better yourself in some way or another. I really admire this in Ben Franklin because even though I do not always agree with all of his views and opinions, I do agree that you can always work harder to be a better person. I also admire him because I feel like he did not waste time. There are so many others things he could have been doing, but instead he decide to try and better himself. I think that is pretty impressive.

"Deism | Define Deism at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. .

"Deist Roots of America." Welcome To The Deism Site! Web. 26 Oct. 2011. .

"The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin." Archiving Early America: Primary Source Material from 18th Century America. Web. 27 Oct. 2011.

"World Religions." Religious Tolerance. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. .