Benjamin Franklin and Deism

I know that we have used Deism in class a lot, but for some reason my brain can not think as to what that really means. I know that it has to do with God, but I do not know the full definition. Here is the definition of Deism, Deism is the knowledge of God based on the application of our reason on the designs/laws found throughout nature. Deism is therefore a natural religion and is not a "revealed religion." Deism also explains God through facts and evidence. I find this interesting because it is true that people believe that they believe in God just because they think he is always there."This library afforded me the means of improvement by constant study, for which I set apart an hour or two each day and thus repaired in some degree the loss of the learned education my father once intended for me" (Franklin 143). This shows that Franklin, where the library he worked at, gave him so much intellectual thought and he said that "it repaired in some degree the loss of the learned education my father once intended for me" (Franklin 143). This is big because Franklin said that his father was the one that made him want to learn. He said that his father pushed him to learn new things. Here is another quote as to when he was a Presbyterian, "...appeared to me unintelligible, others doubtful, and I early absented myself from the public assemblies of the sect..." (Franklin 144). This just shows that Benjamin really was a part of God, but then it was just to much for him and he decided to leave and study God in his own way. Another way that his writing was different to Pilgrim writing and similar to Deism was that he took Sunday to honor the Lord and still set to study about him and try to learn more about him. He wanted more facts about God. (Franklin 144-145). Deism shows in this part of the story because it shows that he wanted to learn about God and what he did. He did not want to not learn about the Lord especially on a Sunday. One of these quotes that Benjamin had said during this story would go against any Puritan writing because he basically said he would not attend worship (Franklin 145). During this time and age you did not have to go to church to say you were a believer of God. Just like Franklin you could just research stuff about God and still be a believer in him. People were all about the right and wrongs at this time and Benjamin really did not care at all as to what people thought about him which is how he got so far in his life because he did every invention in a unique way. Anyway, the thirteen virtues that Benjamin Franklin wrote up was a big part in striving towards excellence and learning about God. Deism is a great example as to why Benjamin made these up. It helped him along with everyone else with learning about God. It was a good way to strive towards excellence. Also these virtues took Benjamin a long time to think about. Just think that you were trying to start something up like Benjamin did back during his time. He was the first to try this and it took him a long time to try and come up with at least thirteen virtues.

Bibliography

"Deism Defined, Welcome to Deism, Deist Glossary and Frequently Asked Questions." Welcome To The Deism Site! Web. 25 Oct. 2011. http://www.deism.com/deism_defined.htm.

Franklin, Benjamin, and Leonard Woods Labaree. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. New Haven: Yale UP, 1964. Print.

Journal 14

If I was an apprentice of Benjamin Franklin I would definitely love being a part of his life. Learning new things and ideas from a man who was so inspirational during his time could be a life long dream for a lot of people. Especially if I was his apprentice I would of been able to help him out with his thirteen virtues and everything else he did during his time. Anyway, if Benjamin Franklin was part of my job, I would enjoy waking up and being able to go and see this man work. I find his ideas so interesting that if I was a part of his life then I would love to be his apprentice. Here is an example when I was an apprentice of the one and only Benjamin Franklin. It was a sunny afternoon, but little did we know there was going to be a very bad storm coming our way. We were busy with other inventions and we had a feeling that a storm was coming. Ben (Benjamin Franklin) wanted to know what the electricity from the sky was. So when the storm came in we tied a key to a kite and we started setting up shop. When we were getting ready the lightning started and we were getting excited. Anyways, we let the kite start to fly and after waiting their for a while the lightning finally hit our kite and electricity shot through the whole kite and the key. It was a great experience for me and it was one of many experiences that me and Benjamin had together. I found it a great experience and one of the best inventions that Benjamin ever made. That is one of my experiences that I had during my time with Benjamin Franklin. That is a story that I made up that Benjamin Franklin really did do during one of his great experiences. Benjamin Franklin was a man of many talents and he was a great man of what he did with society.

Journal 13

I think that today’s American Dream has a lot of factors that go with it. First, I would say that the American Dream could consist of a lot of money, having a job, and having a family that loves you very much. I think that people would have that American Dream because they have a job that could pay for them and they would make good money. Another advantage to that is they would be able to go out on vacations to new countries or just somewhere nice in the United States. I think that the American Dream is basically the definition of a good life. If everybody had their American Dream then everybody would be that much happier. The definition of a good life is maybe that a person could have a nice car, a lot of money, a huge house, being able to have free time off of their job and basically everything else I had said before. The reason I had said that a person would love having a great family is because people do not want to have a family that has a problem with getting in trouble.

Another part of the American Dream is living in a good part of the world. With everything happening today I think that people would love to not worry about having a burglar coming into their house during the night or just getting shot at. I think that if people would live in maybe the better part of towns they would grow up to maybe not be one of those people who robs houses or kills innocent people just because they grew up in the wrong part of town.

Anyway my American Dream would definitely be like this. When I grow up I would love to have a loving family, a lot of money, a job that could pay for me and my family, and having a big house for me and my family. That is what I think the American Dream is today.

Journal 12

If I was to make up my own rules by myself I think I would have it like everybody would be able to have their own opinion. I mean we could have our different opinions and one person could be right and could be wrong. But anyway, I would let everybody have their own opinions. I would not like everybody blurting out answers and thinking that they are always right. So in my defense I would have everybody have their own opinions and then that would end some of the arguments that people have to this day. So if Jenny and Kim are in an argument about who is better at baseball, they could have their own opinion and stop the argument and think you can like who you like and I can like who I like. Also, I would have like war would be unacceptable. If war would be unacceptable then we would lose a lot less people and we would have a lot more allies and a lot more respect for other countries. I think that my rules are acceptable because they do make sense and they are fair in every way possible. Like everybody has their own opinions, it is kind of what we have today, but it is a lot different because I did not say this before, but if I found people fighting then I would put them in jail for a day. I know that would be a ton of people because their are a ton of people that fight every single day of their life. But if I could at least stop it a little bit and have people think before what they say then the world would be that much better overall and for other people. Overall, I think that my rules are very acceptable because of the fact that they make sense and it let's other people have their own opinions rather than people who maybe aren't very outspoken, but they still have a little bit of say in the society.

Reflection- Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

I am going to differentiate and compare Bradford and Rowlandson to Franklin because all of their stories have so much differences in each other. Alright well the first different thing that I am going to point out is that Rowlandson and Bradford were definately Puritan writers. Basically everything they were talking about had to be around God. Just like in Mary Rowlandson's story she was talking about how she was carrying her dying baby and how God was with her the whole time on the trip that they got taken (Rowlandson 83). She was just sitting their with her baby speaking to God saying that he would do the right thing and he would help her in any way shape or form (Rowlandson 84). Just to give you and idea here is what she said, "but God was with me in a wonderful manner, carrying me along, and bearing up my spirit, that it did not quite fail. One of the Indians carried my poor wounded babe upon a horse: it went moaning all along, I shall die, I shall die! I went on foot after it, with sorrow that cannot be expressed. At length I took it off the horse, and carried it in my arms, till my strength failed, and I fell down with it" (Rowlandson 83). There were many other instances like that one where Rowlandson talked about how God's strength helped her through this tough time. The other story was William Bradford's story which was another Puritan writing style. Just like Rowlandson's style except he did not speak of God that much as to what Rowlandson had done. There was an instance where he talked about how his men prayed to God once they got to the harbor (Bradford 65). Here is that instince, "Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm adn stable earth, their proper element" (Bradford 65). This is just another instince with Bradford talking about how his men were praying that they came to a good harbor. The Puritan writing was based on God and the Rationalist writing was based on logic and scientific reasoning which shows there is a big difference between the two writing styles. The last author I am going to talk about is Benjamin Franklin. He is a definite pick for a Rationlaist writer because he would use logical thinking and he made no relation to God in his story at all. Not one word was talked about with God in his autobiography. Here is an example of his Rationalist writing style, "passing by the door of Mr. Read, my future wife's father; when she, standing at the door, saw me, and thought I made, as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous appearance" (Franklin 108). This is what Rationalist writing looks like. This is how Franklin wrote his stories, which was having to do with logical thinking and what not. Anyway this is how different the Puritan style of writing and the Rationalist style of writing could be.

Bibliography

Bradford, William. "from of Plymouth Plantation." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 15, 62-67. Print.

Franklin, Benjamin. "from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 104-108. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 82-85. Print.

Journal 11

The aphorism that I am going to use is "it's not over until the fat lady sings". Which means in the opera if you have ever seen one, the fat lady basically always comes last to sing. Sports newscasters and in a lot of movies they always use this saying. This saying basically it is not over until it is over. I use this saying a lot to because in the past my teams whether it was for baseball, basketball, or soccer we would sometimes be down by two runs in the seventh inning or down by ten points with a minute left or down two goals with fifteen minutes left and sometimes we would come back to win and I would always say it is not over until the fat lady sings. I'm not really sure as to who had said this but I would think it would be anonymous because a ton of people have said this saying and I have heard my whole life. I really enjoy saying it because it really is true and it is kind of funny thinking a fat lady singing. Anyway, my life experiences with this have really shown me what this meaning really means. Like last year, we were in our super sectional game for baseball and we were playing Teutopolis. We were up by one with the last inning coming up and we were about ready to explode because we thought we were going to head to state. Anyway we were up by one and the first batter came in and our pitcher was throwing a gem the whole game. The first batter hits a double. I got scared because then I knew that they were going to attack because the top of their lineup was up. They ended up scoring four runs in that inning and we lost four to one. A perfect example it is not over until it is over. That aphorism really has been key throughout my life, and it will always be a big saying in my life.

Reflection- Thomas Paine

First of all I would like to point out that I am not much of a reading type. So these kind of stories do not really appeal to me, but I guess that is what I get for being in Honors English. Anyway back to the story, I find that Paine is trying to make a statement/argument throughout the story. I noticed throughout the story that he would always talk about I know God would not give up on us and leave us with the devils (Paine 135). One of the quotes I had highlighted in the text of the story was, "Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to tax) but to bind us in all cases whatsoever; and if being bound in that manner is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth (Paine 134). He is talking about all the taxes that Britain has put on them and that it would be like slavery. This brings up another part of his argument that he has done throughout this story. It seems to me that in the story he always brings up God and what he should do and should not do. He said that like I already said before he would not leave us to be with the devils (Paine 135), which shows that he believes that God had done this for a reason. Another quote by Paine that helps him with his argument, "Whether the independence of the continent was declared too soon, or delayed too long, I will not now enter into as an argument; my own simple opinion is, that had it been eight months earlier it would have been much better. We did not make a proper use of last winter; neither could we, while we were in dependent state. However, the fault, if it were one, was all our own; we have none to blame but ourselves. But no great deal is lost yet (135). This is just another example of how the Rationalism period was portrayed in this story. He is says that it is nobody else's fault except for his own. He is excepting the fact that the British did everything to them for a reason and it was him and his people's fault for not doing anything to help them. The quote is another example of how the Rationalism Period was portrayed in this story. I find the reason Paine wrote the piece was to make an argument out of all the things that were happening to him and other people around him. He wanted to make a statement as to what he was going through and wanted people to know what it was like for him and other people around him. This story shows a great deal of the Rationalism Period.

Bibliography

Paine, Thomas. "The Crisis, No 1." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 134-136. Print.