Puritan View: God And Human Nature

puritan View god And Human NatureHistory is cyclical. That is the simple disposition of it. There are always old ideas, traditional shots of the way the public whole kit and caboodle that get been in pop for a long m that are supplanted by new, radical ideas. These new ideas stay in place and become tradition until they are replaced by newer ideas and so on and so forth. That is the way of history and it is no antithetic in the history of America. newfangled England was born with the puritan view of matinee idol and serviceman reputation and it stuck with that view for over a hundred years. Into this Puritan society, into a Puritan family, gum benjamin Franklin was born. Benjamin Franklin did non agree with Puritans views and challenged them, with his Deist views. Deist ideas on divinity fudge and pitying nature were vastly different than those of the Puritans, in that they disagreed on the nature of beau ideal and the afterlife which cause them to view human nat ure through different scopes.Deists, and for that matter Franklin, did not believe in the idol of the Christians (or of Jesus universe of discourse the Messiah). They believed in beau ideal as a creator, or as Franklin refers to him a First Mover and Maker of the Universe (Franklin, 6). The thought was that beau ideal executed the universe with its many laws and then simply let it run by itself, a belief which Franklin shared. The Deist God was all-wise, all-good, and all powerful (Franklin, 6). Franklin believed that because God was powerful that there can be nothing either knowing or acting in the Universe against or without his consent (Franklin, 6). Franklin furthered this thought with the belief that if it was true, and what he consents to must be good, because He is good therefore barbarous doth not exist (Franklin, 6). Franklin addressed a possible counterargument against this belief, sensation that readiness interpret things like murder of theft are inherently malign. Franklin counters this by formulation to suppose any Thing to exist or be done, contrary to the Will of the Almighty, is to suppose him not almighty (Franklin, 6). Furthermore, if these acts are of God and God is all-good, then these things are inherently good.Puritans believed God to be nigh involved in their lives, punishing them and rewarding them as they sinned and did good respectively. The Puritan view of God was of a very judgmental God who used both wrath and tenderness as He saw fit. Wigglesworth refers God being a judge several times in his poem. When bloody shame Rowlandson was taken captive by the Native Americans, she believed God was punishing her for not going to church and other sins and that it was righteous for God to cut off-key the thread of her life, and cast her out of his presence for ever (Rowlandson, 3). Upon reading a Bible given to her by one of her captors, Rowlandson found There was mercy promised again, if we would return to him by repentan ce (Rowlandson, 5). This is the way most Puritans viewed their lives in hurt of what they did to please and anger God. John Dane attributed each trouble he encountered, much(prenominal) as an allergic reaction to a wasp sting and palsy, to Gods revenge for sins he had committed. He then says that when he did reform It pleased God in a short time to ease him and he stood in fear of Gods judgments (Dane, 4). Puritans did what they could to please God, and accepted His penalization when they sinned. Yet, Puritans believed that deep down they were all nuisance and hardly a a few(prenominal) of them would be truly redeemed.The Deist Franklin did not believe that God created an afterlife for human beings, which is to say he did not believe in Heaven or Hell. Franklin instead believed in joyousness and botheration pain being the misfortunes and sorrows in life and joy being the satisfaction of the desire to be free from pain. Franklin believed that pleasure and pain are in balan ce in life and that one could not exist without the other. He believed that pleasure was wholly caused by Pain and, by his comment of pleasure, therefore pleasure must be equal, or in pack proportion to pain (Franklin, 7). Franklin really stresses this balance of pleasure and pain. He perceives a possible counterargument against this belief as well. Such an argument might quarry that there is no such(prenominal) balance in life because it is simple to see peck who live their whole lives in misery and pain and die without ever being relieved of this pain. Franklin counters this by saying that no one can be proper Judges of the good or bad Fortune of Others (Franklin, 8), which is to say that the balance of pleasure and pain is individualistic, and no one can say that was causes him or her pain causes anyone else pain. Franklin furthers this by saying that even if a person lives their whole life in pain, the stimulate release, and therefore pleasure, from this pain when they di e. He says, Pain, though exquisite, is not so to the finale moments of life and tis quite an exquisite Pleasure to behold the immediate Approaches of pass off (Franklin, 8). In the end, there will be a balance of pleasure and pain. Franklin sees that as there is this balance, there is no need for an afterlife. One would not need heaven to make up for earthly pains, as they would have been balanced out in life.Puritans believed fiercely in Heaven and Hell, and that God had created both places of afterlife. God predestine allones fate, and chose only a select few to be saved and spend eternity in Heaven. Most good deal were damned to spend eternity in Hell because of Original Sin. doubting Thomas Shepard state, Your best duties are tainted, poisoned, and mingled with sin (Wigglesworth, 4). Thus, because of Original Sin no human action could be inherently good and he went on to say your good duties can not save you, yet your bad works will damn you (Wigglesworth, 4). It was only b y Gods grace that a person could be saved. The pain one experienced on earth was punishment for sin, and only received relief if they were chosen by God to go to Heaven. According to Wigglesworth, the greatest relief of Heaven is that saints are made right and finally do not have to fear forfeiting Gods love (Wigglesworth, 4). Puritans believed that the tribe who went to Hell deserved it, even so much as Wigglesworth describes a father learning of his son being sent to Hell and says he doth rejoyce to hear Christs voice/ adjudging him to pain (Wigglesworth, 4). Puritans accepted the fact that most of them would be condemned to Hell.Because Franklins God was all-good, everything created was all-good, and there was no afterlife, he viewed life (specifically human nature) differently than most people. It allowed Franklin to believe that human beings were naturally good-natured and to place richness on the baneful life. Thus, Franklin believed in the richness of self-improvement a nd virtue without God demanding a need for it. Franklin believed that anyone could improve their station, both economically and morally. Franklin even said hed formd most of his ingenious acquaintance into a club of mututal improvement which they called the gang (Franklin, 10). In Franklins words, this club was designed to discuss Morals, Politics, or Natural ism (science) with the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth (Franklin, 10). Franklin truly believed that people could grasp their purpose in life by pondering these things and thereby better themselves. Yet, perhaps the most important concept Franklin came up with in regards to human nature were his thirteen virtues. Franklins thirteen virtues were temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility (Franklin, 12-13). In this, one can see how Franklin placed value on virtue right(prenominal) of a religious need for it. Franklin said th at in these virtues there is no mark of any of the distinguishing tenets of any particular sect. He had purposely avoided them so that it might be serviceable to people in all religions (Franklin, 15). Franklin said his virtues were in every ones interest who wished to be happy even in this world (Franklin, 15).For Franklin, the individual life was all one had and it was ones duty as a human being to become morally perfect and achieve ones fullest potential.Puritans had a totally different take on human nature, formed from their belief about God and the afterlife. To Puritans, human beings were naturally evil and they placed heavy importance on the afterlife. Dane was so convinced of his evil nature, he thought that it was a greater evil to live and sin against God than to kill himself (Dane, 6). The deadly life was about living in ways to please God or else risk his wrath and punishment. The Puritan life was centered altogether on God because of his intimate involvement in thei r life. Dane puts it as flogging my thoughts on Gods infinite love took such an impression of my heart as that I thought I could do anything for God or pain anything for God (Dane, 7). Dane warns that if one does not live their life like this they will bring sorrow and affliction on their heads and hearts to their great regret and sorrow (Dane, 7). It was not by their own hands that they could make themselves better, only by Gods providence. Because Puritans accepted that most of them would go to Hell, it was their responsibility in the individual life to do all they could to please God. At the same time, those predestined to be saved had the same responsibility or else risk double-dyed(a) damnation. Yet most Puritans did not know what fate awaited them, so all had to live as if they were among the saved.The Deist Franklins God was all-good and did not create an afterlife, therefore it was human nature to be good and live their mortal life to its fullest potential. The Puritan God was intimately involved in their lives, judged them harshly for misdeeds, and eternally damned most of them. Therefore, it was human nature to be evil and sin and they had to live their lives by what God wanted in the rely that they were the ones God had chosen to save. It was because of their differing views on God that cause Franklin and Puritans to have such a different view on human nature.