Benjamin Franklin- Deism

Deism is know as the "knowledge of God based on our application of reason on the designs/laws found throughout nature. (Welcome to Deism) From reading passages from the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, it seems clear that Benjamin Franklin was a Deist. It did not seem that he had a strong sense of religion in his life, but instead believed that people in their innermost being were bad, and that good deeds would not go unrewarded (Franklin). Franklin created a list of thirteen virtues that he vowed to strive to attain in his life. That shows that Franklin was taking matters into his own hands, and instead of letting God have control in his life, he was going to try to define the outcome of his future. And also, he set his own virtues to live by. Although many of the virtues were Biblical values, Franklin did not choose to live by values of a certain religion, but instead combined beliefs and implemented his own beliefs to serve as his moral code in life. In the thirteenth virtue, Franklin states, "Humility-imitate Jesus and Socrates" (Franklin 150). Although, he did want to model his life after Jesus, he did not state that his belief in Jesus went further than acknowledging that Jesus was a good man, like Socrates. This leads me to believe that Franklin was not a Christian, which is in line with the belief that he was a Deist. Also, he wants to follow the example of Jesus and Socrates, which shows that he does not have any one certain religion that he is dedicated to, but rather he is aware of God, but does not have beliefs of one certain religion more than another.

Benjamin Franklin in his autobiography tells of a Proverb that he held true to the values of in his life. He recalls the proverb from his father. The proverb is "Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shal stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men." (Franklin 143). Franklin still refers to the Bible ( a Christian book) even though he is a Deist. However, instead of applying all of the lessons from the Bible to his own life, he simply picks and chooses which of the things that he think will benefit him, and he uses those things in his life to live by. Deism is supposed to improve progress in society in helping people live their lives with goals and moral standards in mind, and allows people to decide what the truth is to them. (Welcome to Deism). Personally, I believe that this simply is a religion that cannot possibly be correct. It does not make sense that everyone can choose what works for them. If each person gets to choose the standards that they live by, that implies that there is not truth. Which I refuse to believe. What is true for me, cannot be different from what is true to you. It can't work like that. There has to be one truth.

Franklin, Benjamin, and John Bigelow. The Autobiography and Letters of Benjamin Franklin.London: Ward, Lock, 1891. Print.

"Deism Defined, Welcome to Deism, Deist Glossary and Frequently Asked Questions."Welcome To The Deism. Web. 27 Oct. 2011.

Franklin's Success

I believe that it was a very good thing that Franklin implemented the thirteen virtues in his life, however, I think it is extremely difficult to determine if he by that, he was successful in becoming a better person. To be able to analyze that, I first need to define what it means to become a better person. I guess becoming a better person to me means bettering yourself not for the sake of others, but because you believe it is the right thing to do, even if it is hard. This entire topic seems to be a very controversial topic that people could have many different opinions on. I definitely do believe that Franklin was trying to become a better person by implementing the thirteen virtues in his life. Although, that claim could be argued by giving the counter-example that Franklin published his virtues and a book about himself, therefore he was not bettering himself for the sake of himself, he wanted the fame from others. Although that idea is a possibility, I feel like if Franklin really wanted to have a good impression on people, there would be a lot of other less time consuming ways to do it. Since he took so much time and effort in making the autobiography, and openly wrote about his views, without any care as to if people would agree with him or not, I believe that he wrote it for himself.

The thirteen virtues that Benjamin Franklin tried to implement into his life are temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility (Franklin). That is a huge list of virtues to try to implement into your life! I think it took a lot of Character from Franklin to even try to accomplish this whopping list of virtues. Implementing this virtues would take so much time and effort. It would also mean giving up things that he enjoyed, which is something that most people do not do. I think that Franklin must have been an extremely wise man to realize that these things were the keys to helping him become a better person, unlike all of the worldly things he could have been doing to become a better person. Although many would say that because Franklin failed and made mistakes while implementing these virtues into his life, he was not successful in becoming a better person, I would say quite the opposite (Franklin). I believe that even the act of trying to implement these virtues made Franklin a better person. Even though Franklin slipped up on a few of the virtues, at least he tried. I believe that trying something and failing at is is way more honorable than not even trying it in the first place. It takes character and it takes humility to try something new.

All of the virtues that Franklin chose to try to implement into his life were things that all took much character and restraint to implement. It is a very honorable thing to sacrifice your desires and things you want, for the sake of bettering yourself. That is not something very many people do, and I believe that doing so did indeed make Franklin a better person, even if the implementation of the virtues were not permanent.

Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Henry Altemus. 1895. Print.

journal - 13

What is today's American Dream? Describe what it means to be successful today.

I believe the American Dream is just a skewed vision of what people think our lives should be like. Most people believe that if they attain all of the aspects of the American Dream, then they will be happy. I feel that in our culture, people are constantly searching for happiness, as if that is what will truly satisfy their longing desire for something more in their life. In reality, happiness is short-lived and usually quite dissatisfying and not all that it has cracked up to be.

Today, I there are many different aspects of the American Dream. One aspect is having a big and beautiful house with granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, wood floors and of course, the perfect family. Part of the American Dream is to have a perfect little family that is very proper and always happy. However, actually attaining that dream is hardly possible. I believe the American Dream actually is different for different groups of people. As an example the American Dream would look different from a teenager's perspective than it would look from the perspective of an adult. A teenager's American Dream may be to have a perfect looking body and all of the latest and most expensive clothes. It might be to have a lot of friends and be a star athlete. Whereas the American Dream to a forty year old would most likely look different and have to do with family, work, houses and cars.

I think what our culture has defined as being successful is not actually what it means to be successful, however that is a matter of opinion. These days people are successful if they have a lot of money. Success is also defined by happiness. If people are happy, then they are successful. I think happiness is a good thing, but most definitely not the means of which to define success. In my opinion, our culture has become very shallow, and has a skewed thinking pattern on success, but it would take a lot to change that thinking pattern of Americans.

Journal

If I were to make up my own rules about right and wrong, they would be very messed up and selfish rules. I say this because it is in my nature to be sinful. And it is in my nature to be selfish. It is in my nature for me to be the first person I think about when I wake up and the last person I think about before I fall asleep. It is human nature to be that way. Therefore, if I were to make up my own rules about right and wrong, I would not use myself as the source of the rules and would not be the one to determine right and wrong. I do not have the power to determine that. Only God has that authority.

So if I were to make up my own rules about right and wrong, I would use values from the Bible. I would not only use values of the Bible to determine right and wrong, but I would have the Bible set the rules, not me. In fact, this is how I try to live my life now. I know that if I let myself choose rules and moral standards for how I live my life, they will be very skewed. But if I let God choose the moral standards for my life, I will be living a life of much more value than anything I could ever try to come up with. One way I help myself determine what God wants me to do versus what I want to do, is by comparing my life circumstances to those in the Bible.

Why I would let God choose the rules between right and wrong in my life, instead of choosing them myself is because God has the ultimate say in my life. What does my opinion count for anyway? In the grand scheme of things, I am just Morgan Demczak. But God is God, the creator of the universe and everything amazing in this life and the life to come. So why would I rely on my own rules. when following God's rules promise so much more than I could ever find here in this world.

Journal - 11

A common aphorism is "no gain without pain". This aphorism is actually quoted by Benjamin Franklin in the "Poor Richard's Almanac". I have found this aphorism to hold true in my life. I have yet to find a time in gaining something without some sort of pain. My greatest example is in track. I run track, and there is no way I could gain by minimizing my times in track if I did not have any pain. Conditioning for track is extremely brutal and very painful, but for me it is worth it. Without conditioning for track I could not experience the great joy of cutting down time in my races and being able to contend for first place in my races. This example of "no gain without pain" seems to be quite extreme, but there are many other examples of it.

I sincerely have found that there is almost no gain I can make without pain, even if it is the smallest gain. If I gain a friendship, there still is some small pain involved in that, because I sacrifice my selfishness for putting my friend's needs before my own. If the gain is good grades in school, you must first face the pain of hard labor and a good work ethic. If it is gaining a good reputation, you must endure the pain of having good character. It sounds strange to say that having good character is painful, but good character is not easy to have. It is something that you must work at. To me, it really seems like you cannot make a gain without some form of pain, and there are countless examples I could give to show that to be true.

I believe that Franklin was correct in saying "no gain without pain". "It has definitely held true in my life and for that matter, I believe this aphorism to be true.

reflection - 9

I believe that Paine wrote this piece to all of the people in the newly found America. He wrote it to inspire a revolution in them. To inspire a revolution against Great Britain. People from England had already inhabited America for some time now, and Paine wanted them to join together and rise up against Great Britain. Paine wanted independence from Great Britain and wrote this to help others see that we should have independence even if it means war. Paine felt very strongly on the topic, and gave a strong argument as to why it should be that way.

Paine's writing was most definitely not written in Puritan writing style, and clearly reflects writing of the Rationalism Period. In one instance, Paine states "Throw not the burden of the day upon Providence, but show your faith by your works, that God may bless you. It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach you all. The far and the near, the home ties and the back, the rich and the poor, will suffer or rejoice alike." (.....) The values that Paine implies in the above quote are not values of Puritans. He says to not rely on the providence of God, but to show your faith by your works. (...) This is a passage from the Bible in the book of James. However, this is not a belief that Puritans held true to. The Puritans solely believed in the providence of God and that is everything that they hoped in, counted on and believed to be true. They entrusted their whole lives to the providence of God, and in one sentence, Paine rids of that belief all together and opens the doors to the belief that the people should show their faith in God by the works that they do. (...) Also, when Paine says that it does not matter what rank you hold, you still will receive evil or blessings all the same, this was strongly against the Puritan ways. (....) Puritans believed that only certain people were going to be saved and go to Heaven. Puritans believed that a select group of people were more righteous than the others. (...) This way of thinking is not as Paine thinks. Therefore, Paine is clearly not of the Puritan era.

When Paine tells the eople to show their faith by their works, so that God may bless them, (...)it may elude the reader to think that Paine is a Puritan. However, this is incorrect. Just because he mentions God, does not mean that he is a Puritan. He is a part of the Rationalism era. It may also seem to the reader that all people that partook in the ways of the Rationalism period were not Chrisitians, however this is not the case either. The people in the Rationalism period were exploring their world and trying to see what things were like on their own. Although many people did drop God or make assumptions on their own not according to God, I believe that many of the people in the Rationalism period were Christians.