ben franklin: diest
The Age of Reason; this is what the eighteenth century is often refereed to. It was called the Age of Reason because people were interested in logic. Being concerned with logic, people began to loose faith in religions that said humans were evil by nature and only a chosen few would be going to heaven. Moreover, people didn't want to believe in a religion that didn't make sense to them; from that fact sprang Deism. Deism was the belief that God is perfect and humans could also be perfect but only through bettering themselves (ex. a good education). Deists also believed that God, after creating the universe and man, went away and had nothing more to do with earth; this meaning the bible was just a book, Jesus was just a man, and there was no heaven or hell since God was not available for judgment. Some Deists couldn't believe that there was no heaven or hell and that when one died, one died so they believed that when one died God could judge them; this is because of their Christian background. Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706 and died in 1790; most of his life, he lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Benjamin Franklin was a Deist. He believed that through hard work and a good education one could
achieve perfection. He wrote many things that have influences of his beliefs. One knows Benjamin Franklin was a Deist because there are proofs of Deist beliefs in "A Witch Trial at Mount Holly ", The Autobiography, and the aphorisms he wrote; all of which he wrote. During this time period, witch trials were not uncommon. In one instance, Ben Franklin had to write an article on a witch trial in Mount Holly, New Jersey. In a witch trial the accused were weighed against a huge bible; it was believed that the word of God could out weigh an "evil" being. Late in the trial, the accused were stripped, had their hands tried behind their back, and were thrown in water; if they were a witch they floated, if they were not, they drowned. In this particular event the accused made a request that if they were going to be tried, then two accusers had to be tried with them. Ben Franklin's opinion of it or style in which he wrote the article was satirical (humorously criticizing). Franklin's logical look on life showed when he points out that, when explaining the weighing outcome, "...flesh and bones came down plump, and outweighed that great good Book by abundance.... their Lumps of Mortality severely were too heavy for Moses and all the Prophets and Apostles (Franklin, 1730.)" Franklin was saying that, logically, it wouldn't matter if the person were "good" or "evil"; it was a natural law that something heavier will always outweigh something lighter. Also, when Franklin explains the drowning part of the trial he adds, "The more thinking part of the spectators were of opinion that any Person so bound and placed in water (unless they were mere skin and bones) would swim till their breath was gone (Franklin, 1730.)" The "more thinking part of the spectators" was Franklin; he was stating that, logically, a person would float no matter if they were "good" or "evil", it is
Some common words found in the essay are:
Franklin Deist, Richard Richard's, Apostles Franklin, Deism Deism, Holly Jersey, Age Reason, Ben Franklin's, Mount Holly, Ben Franklin, Deism Religion, witch trial, franklin deist, benjamin franklin, benjamin franklin deist, mount holly, witch trial mount, trial mount holly, trial mount, franklin wrote, franklin 59, aphorisms wrote, thinking spectators, proof franklin deist, believed hard, tomorrow franklin 59,
Approximate Word count = 1259
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
