Franklin on God, Man, and Life

Benjamin Franklin declared himself a Deist: someone who believes in God, but doesn’t believe God actively works in the world. Deists believe that God created the world, but then decided to ‘sit back’ and watch how it turned out. Deism was based on the idea of reason: an extension of the Enlightenment. God created the world, is all-powerful, all-knowing, and is the ultimate judge of our actions. In all these qualities Deists are in complete agreement with the other sects of Christianity. The difference lies in that the Deists’ god doesn’t interact with us or the world, as opposed to being intrinsically involved in everything.

It seems that to Franklin, man is, or should be, ruled by reason. Man is neither naturally good or bad, but will act good or bad depending on his ability to reason. One who reasons correctly and well will act in good ways, while one who does not reason, or allows his desires to cloud his judgments will act badly, or contradict God’s directions. Through reason, man has the ability to make himself better, but only so long as he obeys reason rather than desires.

According to Franklin, God’s role in our lives is to judge our lives, and reward or punish us as deserved. Franklin declared temperance, avoiding meaningless conversations, order, resolve, frugality, hard work, sincerity, treating others well, being moderate in all things, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility admirable qualities that God would look kindly upon. As a Deist, Franklin did not believe God would directly interfere or act within the world, but he did believe that the actions and behaviors prohibited or encouraged in Revelations were handed down from God, and as such should be obeyed.

Franklin’s beliefs are similar to the Puritan’s in that he believed hard work would be rewarded by God, and that we should obey God in all things. He also shared many of the same beliefs as the Puritan’s in terms of what God is. The main difference between Benjamin Franklin’s and the Puritans’ beliefs was that Franklin didn’t believe God is an active participant in our world, while the Puritans believed He is everywhere. The Puritans also believed in predestination, while Franklin seems to have believed our actions would be judged at the conclusion of our lives, rather than before they began.