God And Human Nature Concepts That Interconnect Religion Essay Example

God And Human Nature Concepts That Interconnect Religion Essay Example God And Human Nature Concepts That Interconnect Religion Essay God And Human Nature Concepts That Interconnect Religion Essay Ralph Waldo Emerson one time said, The creative activity of a 1000 forests is in one acorn. Mankind views the facets of life in a assortment of ways, but those thoughts come from the same heads of all work forces. The thought of God and human nature are constructs that are interconnected and affect all worlds, but how those constructs are interpreted are left to each adult male s ain beliefs. Those of similar heads so fall in together and organize their ain set of values. In the 16th century Puritanism quickly grew in the New World ; nevertheless, a immature Benjamin Franklin strayed from the Puritan faith he was raised, and took on the followers of Deism. Both Franklin and the Puritans had strong beliefs in God and human nature ; nevertheless, these beliefs were really diverse. Franklin viewed God and human nature in a more positive and edifying position, while the Puritans viewed God as condemning and human nature to be inherently evil. However, the Deist position in which Franklin followed deemed that God was a loving and lovingness God that did non penalize his people. Peoples were created in his imagine in the eyes of Deist ; hence, believing that God should non hold to train the people he created. It was believed that immorality did non be in the universe harmonizing to Franklin, and stated that, If He is all powerful, there can be nil either bing or moving in the Universe against or without his Consent ; and what He consents to must be good, because He is good ; hence no evil exist ( Franklin, 6 ) . This position differed greatly from the negative intension in which the Puritans viewed God as holding when affecting world. : Refering the interaction of God in the lives of Franklin and the Puritans, the Bible is another affair in which the two can non associate. In Puritan rule, the Bible is a map to life. They believed that in every experience in life, the Bible relates to all work forces and is a usher to which Christians are to populate in the most righteous manner. This belief is illustrated in the narrative written by Puritan Mary Rowlandson. When Mary Rowlandson was captured by Indians, and made to populate in the most tormenting environment, she was able to transport on through each dismaying event with the aid of the word of God. She described how her religion in God through the books of the Bible and God s ability to supply allowed her to persist. She states in her personal history, I can non but take notice of the fantastic clemency of God to me in those afflictions, in directing me a Bible ( Rowlandson, 5 ) . Franklin, along with all other Deist, did non hold with such devotedness to a book. They did non care for the Bible or happen it holistically sacred, as did the Puritans. In Franklin s autobiography, he describes that the Bible was simply a book of fabrications and that the narratives of Jesus were merely Acts of the Apostless of a good and wise adult male ( Franklin, 6 ) . Deist did non see God as a Christian God ; hence, they did non back up the narratives written in the Christian Bible. Franklin and the Deist followings lived by the virtuousnesss in which they felt were to the benefit of world, non narratives in which they would seek and parallel their lives with like that of the Puritans. Not merely were at that place differing positions and sentiments on the function of God, but Franklin and the Puritans differed on the manner in which human nature played a function in faith and day-to-day life. Deists and Franklin believed that adult male was inherently good-natured, while the Puritans strongly believed that adult male was inherently iniquitous and of bad nature. In Deist belief, it was thought that all work forces were continuously working to be better people. They valued the good workss of world, and those good workss and behaviours in life would subsequently be rewarded. Franklin demonstrates the thought that Deists, like his ego, lived consequently in making a list of 13 virtuousnesss in which adult male should populate by. These virtuousnesss included properties such as moderation, silence, order, and others of this kind. Franklin recorded these virtues for rather some clip, every clip he completed or failed to finish such virtuousnesss. He did this in order to chart his ability to better himself in order to be an overall better individual lending to and interacting with society ( Franklin, 11-15 ) . The belief in human nature to the Puritans took the opposite mentality than that of the Deist faith. Puritans believed that all work forces were inherently evil. They believed that all of society was born evildoers, and that if the Lord were non accepted as one s savior so he or she would be shacking in snake pit in the hereafter. This strong belief besides included babes and those with mental disablements, all because they are unable to grok God and his intent due to mental development. This deficiency of understanding made people of that kind inherently bad. In Michael Wigglesworth s verse form The Day of Doom , he illustrates the coming of the Lord on judgement twenty-four hours, and how God chooses the concluding finishs for all of world and where they will be harmonizing to God s foreordained program for all. The verse form portrays God as this intimidating, overmastering God that is at that place to reprobate all, but the really few chosen 1s God will hold reside in Eden. Wig glesworth says Before his Throne a Trump is blown, Proclaiming Thursday Day of Day: Forthwith he cries, Ye Dead arise, and unto Judgment semen ( Wigglesworth, 3 ) . These lines in Wigglesworth s verse form depict the God-fearing ways of the Puritans, and how they were in much fright of God because of their inherently bad nature. Puritans believe that this thought of human nature can non be changed, even with good workss as the Deists do, but that God created worlds with evil nature. With the inability to get the better of the wrongs of world, people must change over to a different belief as Franklin did, or simply accept the thought that the huge bulk of society was traveling to hell. Political authorization John Winthrop addresses the nature of worlds in a address he gives before the Massachusetts legislative assembly. In this address, Winthrop makes a differentiation in autonomies of world and how there are two sorts, natural and civil. The natural autonomy in which he addresses is the thought that adult male has the autonomy to make as he wishes, but that those actions may be evil because all work forces are evildoers ( Winthrop, 1 ) . Winthrop was a Puritan, and this thought was strongly Puritan based on the topic of human nature. In traveling with the thought that people were inherently bad and of evil nature in the eyes of the Puritan trusters, they besides did non believe that predestination could non be tampered with. Predestination was strongly relevant in the Puritan belief because of the bad nature of world. Because adult male was inherently evil, God must make up ones mind where in the hereafter one will partake. Good workss, spiritual devotedness, and other positive properties could non assist one from disapprobation ; nevertheless, bad behaviour and evil behaviors would be effectual. This belief seems rather contradictory, but is what the Puritans believed must be followed to populate the Christian life. Franklin did non comprehend the thought of predestination as one of truth. Deist Franklin believed in the virtuousnesss mentioned antecedently, and those were the ways in which 1 could sufficiently come in the hereafter of Eden. Good workss in Deism were recognized and noted by God, leting world to continuously better themselves and non transport the load of being unable to lift supra wickedness as the Puritans had to make. With the thought of God merely making good in the universe, this applied to the nature of human existences and that they could non hold predestination because there was ever room for adult male s betterment. Franklin and the Puritans are cogent evidence of how all worlds relate in the ways of life, but the thoughts in which they are based upon vary. Franklin allowed more room for mistakes in human nature, and did non seek out the ways of the Christian God. However, Puritans were devout in their Devout behaviours and rigorous ritualistic beliefs. All worlds interact in ways refering God and human nature, but the perceptual experiences of both greatly differ between world.