Reflection: Ben's virtues

The definition of Deism varies but with the one I am using for this blog, I strongly think that Ben Franklin's virtues are of the Deism thought process. One of the beliefs or actions of Deists that I have found is that Deists do not actively evangelize the public(Deism: Its). Now I may have had to ask my younger sister what evangelize means but I have never known Ben Franklin to be a person to preach in public. Benjamin Franklin does not even reference God that often in his writings. A Deist is a person who believes that God is the creator but they do not think that he has any involvement in our day to day activities(Deism: Its). They also do not think that a person can communicate with God and some Deist do not even know if God knows that we exist(Deism: Its). I have also read that Deists believe that the only paths towards knowledge are logic and reasoning. In Ben's autobiography that Mr. Langley sent to us it says "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). I think that this quote is important to the ideas of Deists because if the only paths to knowledge are logic and reasoning then what he was doing makes sense. He was not taught correctly at a young age and now he was able to teach himself. He makes it make sense to himself because he was not taught at a young age so why not teach himself since he has the place to study now. One of Ben's virtues was chastity could also be considered a tad religious. Silence also is one of Ben's virtues and this goes with how a Deist may live their life in the fact that they do not actively evangelize the public. He does not talk about business things in public and does not talk about public things when he is conducting business, which I think is a good idea because I do not think that people need to know your personal or work business and I think that you should keep public discussions at work to a minimum so that you can get more work done and be more productive. Benjamin was able to improve his life through his virtues and how he lived his life as well. He did not combine his work with his play and in doing this he could be more productive as well as being a good man to his friends and neighbors. Benjamin also tried to be modern which I also think has a lot to do with Deism. Deists believe more in technology and logic than God. Deists do believe in God but they do not think that he can communicate with us or some of the things that Christians or Jewish people believe. Franklin was able to successfully live his life by his ideals and he was able to not give up on them.

"Deism: Its History, Beliefs and Practices." Religious Tolerance. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.

Franklin, Benjamin. Autobiography. Harvard University, 1895. Print.