In the sixteenth century, Puritans in New England practiced a really rigorous faith that emphasized predestination, original wickedness, and redemption. Benjamin Franklin, who grew up in a Puritan family in Boston two hundred old ages subsequently, rejected these thoughts in favour of his ain virtuousnesss as he searched for moral flawlessness. Franklin ‘s perceptual experience of God and human nature immensely differs from the Puritan perceptual experience, yet both have similar implicit in constructs. Franklin does non believe in a Christian God like Puritans do, but they both strive to accomplish flawlessness, albeit for different grounds.
A A A A A A A The Puritans nucleus values include predestination and original wickedness while Franklin believes in Deism. Puritans believe in an Almighty Christian God who regulations with the thoughts of predestination and original wickedness. Predestination is the construct that God determines if a individual will travel to heaven or hell even before birth. However, the Puritans still seek to make good on Earth because your good workss can non salvage you, but transgressing will direct you to hell ( Wigglesworth 4 ) . Even if God determines a individual will travel to heaven, Acts of the Apostless of immorality can alter their finish to hell. Original wickedness relates to Adam and Eve, explicating that all people are sinners no affair what because of Adam and Eve ‘s first wickedness in the Garden of Eden. This thought means “ all people are born evildoers ” ( Winthrop 1 ) . By believing in an Almighty God, Puritans believe in an hereafter and they believe that if they go to heaven, it was because of God ‘s grace instead than something they really did on Earth. Franklin, nevertheless, believes in Deism. A freethinker believes “ that there is a God, but non a Christian God ; Jesus was a wise adult male and the Bible largely fables ” ( Franklin 6 ) . Franklin believes a God exists, merely non the same God that the Puritans worship. Along with this belief comes Franklin ‘s belief that the hereafter does non be. By believing in the absence of an hereafter, Franklin regulations out that a individual ‘s actions matter in footings of redemption. Predestination and original wickedness do non count if the hereafter does non be.
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Franklin and Puritans do non portion many constructs refering God, although they do value similar ideals. Most of Franklin ‘s major beliefs about God wholly contradict Puritan beliefs. However, both Franklin and Puritans place high value on constructs such as difficult work, celibacy and humbleness. Puritans value difficult work because it shows God that they want to be saved. Franklin values difficult work because difficult work leads to success. Puritans believe in celibacy because the Bible warns against sexual promiscuousness. Franklin includes celibacy in his 13 virtuousnesss because he does non desire sex to damage his repute or distract him. Franklin ‘s thought of humbleness resembles the Puritan position of humbleness most closely ; Franklin wants to “ copy Jesus and Socrates ” while the Puritans merely want to copy Jesus ( Franklin 13 ) . Franklin included humbleness because he did non desire to look proud or chesty in conversations. All of Franklin ‘s 13 virtuousnesss resemble Puritan values without the spiritual intension. Franklin uses thoughts that guide the Puritans toward God in order to steer himself to success. By taking faith from the values, these virtuousnesss become ideas towards a good life alternatively of Eden.
Franklin does non believe in an hereafter, yet he still tries to accomplish moral flawlessness. Franklin readily admits that “ Revelation [ God ] had so no weight with me ” ( Franklin 9 ) . He does non believe in God ‘s word or an hereafter. However he does believe that “ certain actions might non be bad because they were forbidden by it ” but that “ these actions might be forbidden because they were bad for us ” ( Franklin 9 ) . He besides believes the contrary, that good actions might non be good merely because they were “ commanded them ” but because that these actions were “ commanded because they were good to us ” ( Franklin 9 ) . Franklin thinks that the virtuousnesss that Puritans follow might be commanded merely because they are good things to follow, non because God says so. Puritans try to accomplish moral flawlessness because they want to be saved. Franklin follows his 13 virtuousnesss in order to accomplish “ moral flawlessness ” because while he does non believe in redemption, he still believes flawlessness is something to endeavor for ( Franklin 12 ) . Franklin wants to accomplish this because he values character in life. Merely because he does non believe that good character will assist him for the hereafter does non intend that it is non deserving accomplishing. While Franklin is non Christian, he still believes in the Christian value of flawlessness.
Puritans believe that God intervenes in their day-to-day lives in order to do them better Christians. Rowlandson thinks God put her through the hardship of being captured by Indians to demo her “ the amour propre of these outward things ” ( Rowlandson 8 ) . She even feels thankful that “ the Lord had his clip to scourge and chastise ” her ( Rowlandson 8 ) . Alternatively of being huffy at God for seting her in a atrocious state of affairs, Rowlandson feels like a better individual and thanks God for the opportunity to turn. Puritans believe that God gives them their bad lucks and agonies because they have sinned. This belief leads them to fault themselves for transgressing and so to seek to go better people. Rowlandson blames herself for God seting her in this state of affairs because of the “ Sabbaths I had lost and misspent, and how wickedly I had walked in God ‘s sight ” ( Rowlandson 3 ) . Similarly, Dane skips church to travel see a friend, and an insect stings him. The insect sting “ was taken by the Providence of God ” for his wickedness ( Dane 4 ) . To relieve the hurting, Dane prays and promises to be a better Christian and the lesion heals. Dane puts the incrimination on himself and believes that God punishes him in order to maintain him on a good way.
On the other manus, Franklin believes that God most probably does non interact with the universe. In Franklin ‘s autobiography, when he discusses major events in his life, he does non advert God or God ‘s influence. When negative event occur in Franklin ‘s life, he does non believe God intervened to learn him. Likewise, when things go good in Franklin ‘s life, he does non thank God. He merely believes that his difficult work and dedication eventually pays off. Alternatively of stating Providence affects him, he states, “ the sort manus of Providence, or some guardian angel, or inadvertent favourable fortunes and state of affairss, or all together, preserved me ” ( Franklin 9 ) . Franklin does non immediately believe that Providence saves him ; he leaves his redemption unfastened to other options. That uncertainness and uncaring of what his redemption comes from differs from the Puritans automatic belief in God ‘s Providence.
Although Franklin is a Deist, his thoughts about Deism differ from other Deist beliefs. Franklin ‘s Puritan roots impact his thoughts of Deism. Because Franklin grew up in a Puritan family, he still values many Christian beliefs, taking to his creative activity of the 13 virtuousnesss. By puting value on Christian ideals, Franklin differentiates himself from many other Deists, who are non pro-Christian. Franklin besides differs from other Deists because he believes in the power of faith, more specifically, Christianity. He understands the value that organized faith has in society. As people began to follow Mr. Whitefield during the Great Awakening, Franklin thought the alteration in “ the manners of our dwellers ” was fantastic ( Franklin 19 ) . Franklin recognizes that people work better and concentrate more when they have strong spiritual beliefs. Because of this, Franklin still attends church and contributes to the aggregations, something other Deists do non make. Franklin wrote “ A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain ” merely a few old ages after he became a Deist. However, he realizes that while this philosophy “ might be true, was non really utile ” because society would non accept it ( Franklin 9 ) . By accepting that his Deist philosophy is non really utile, Franklin merges his Deist beliefs with some Christian beliefs. Because of this, he ends up with the 13 virtuousnesss and a different return on Deism than most Deists, which was more applicable at the clip.
Franklin ‘s beliefs semen from a combination of his Christian upbringing, his Deist transition, and his observations of society while Puritan beliefs stem straight from the Bible. His parents gave him “ spiritual feelings ” and raised him “ devoutly in the Dissenting manner ” ( Franklin 5 ) . This childhood upbringing in a really Christian family gives Franklin a healthy regard for Christian virtuousnesss. When Franklin converts to Deism, he rejects many Christian thoughts about redemption and God, but keeps thoughts about how to accomplish flawlessness. Deism allows Franklin to look at the virtuousnesss Christians value in a non-theological manner. By depriving the spiritual facets from the virtuousnesss, Franklin creates his usher to moral flawlessness. He still believes moral flawlessness is deserving accomplishing partly because he was raised to believe in it, but besides because moral flawlessness leads to success and regard. Many of Franklin ‘s patterns change because of his observations of society. When Franklin realizes that his Deist thesis is non good received, he combines his Deist positions with his Christian positions. He even changes his 13 virtuousnesss when a “ Quaker friend ” tells him that people think he is proud ( Franklin 15 ) . Franklin allows his spiritual values to alter whenever the demand arises, in order to hone his beliefs and virtuousnesss. Puritans believe in God because the Bible says so. Christian religion has been around for 1000s of old ages and is the major faith in England and the United States. The Puritans follow Christianity because they are brought up to believe in it, the Bible says to, and because a bulk of people are Christian.
Franklin and Puritans portion a common end of moral flawlessness, even though their spiritual positions differ. While the grounds they try to accomplish flawlessness differ, they use similar values as a usher. Puritans strive for flawlessness in order to accomplish redemption while Franklin strives for flawlessness in order to be a good individual. Franklin takes Puritan values and ends and strips them of their spiritual elements. Franklin uses Christian thoughts to make his ain moral usher and spiritual beliefs as he tries to accomplish flawlessness, while Puritans follow the rigorous guidelines set by the Bible in order to make the same end.
