Why Benjamin Franklin became a Deist

Why Benjamin Franklin rejected his Presbyterian roots

There are many reasons a politician might reject being affiliated with a particular religious denomination.  In his early teens Franklin had exhausted the books in his fathers library which for the most part were related to bible study and religion.  He left home at seventeen looking for work in the printing business and ended up in England for over a year.  Returning to America in 1726 he was about twenty years old.  As he began to prosper in the printing business he was consumed by reading.  Though he seldom attended church he never abandoned his belief in God.  His view of the Presbyterian religion however he came to reject.

"I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian; but though some of the dogmas of the persuasion, such as the eternal decrees of God, election, reprobation, etc., appeared to me unintelligible, others doubtful, and I early absented myself from the public assemblies of the sect, Sunday being my studying day, I never was without some religious principles.  I never doubted, for instance, the existence of a Deity- that he made the world and governed it by his providence - that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man - that our souls are immortal - that all crimes will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter."

In Philadelphia, a Presbyterian minister encouraged him to attend his church but it was short lived. "Had he been in my opinion a good preacher, perhaps I might have continued...but his discourse were chiefly either polemic arguments, or explications of the peculiar doctrines of our sect, and were all to me very dry, uninteresting, and unedifying; since not a single moral principle was inculcated or enforced; their aim seeming to be rather to make us Presbyterians than good citizens."

After five Sundays of this experience he gave up on public assemblies and pursued his own studies on Sundays with the help of a liturgy and form of prayer of his own that he composed (1728) entitled, Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion.  He admitted that his conduct might have been blameable but he made no apologies.  Of his thirteen virtuous goals the final was to imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Reverend Whitefield came to preach from Ireland in 1739 Franklin became one of his great admirers and supporter.  Whitefield was not shy about calling out the errors of clergymen who shut him out of their churches.

When it came time for the Americans to pick up weapons to defend themselves against their enemies Franklin was more than a bit frustrated by the hypocrisy of the pacifist Quakers.

The Rock ain't Peter

Who is the Rock?

So this is what the Lord GOD says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken. (Isa, 28:16)

According to Roman tradition
 Peter is the rock and  foundation of the church. 

 But what does the bible say?

Throughout the bible the rock is actually God.  A few examples make it clear.  In the Song of Moses (Deu. 32:4) we read, "The Rock!  His work is perfect."  This is certainly not something we could say about Peter who was prone to jumping to conclusions and being carried away by peer pressure.  Apostle Paul had to rebuke him publicly for hypocrisy (Gal. 2:11)  Who did apostle Paul say was the rock? "and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ" (1 Cor. 10:4).  So neither Moses or Paul thought Peter was the Rock.

Psalm 62:1-2

"My soul waits in silence for God only; from Him is my salvation.

He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken."

Notice that God is our salvation, not the church.

A Psalm of David reads, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge." (2 Samuel 22:2-3, Psalm 18:2)

Those that prefer Peter as their rock apparently do not read the Old Testament or care what it says.  When one places there faith in a church or person rather than Christ they are setting themselves up for a painful disappointment.

Esoteric Truth

Can you judge a CD by its cover?

So when the name of a city from the Book of Mormon shows up on a CD cover what does this mean?

The Mormons use many things to promote their cult.  They use names like this from the Book of Mormon to merchandise their religion and neutralize any critical thinking.  Google Zarahemla and watch what comes up.  There is more than one way to skin a snake.

Dangers of the Occult

There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,  or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.  For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you.  You shall be blameless before the Lord your God.  For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.  (Deu. 18:10-14)

Training for Life

How to bear much fruit and avoid the burn pile

Fruit trees on large commercial farms are shaped and trained from saplings to meet the needs of the harvester in later years.  This is an ongoing process that must start when the wood is green and pliable because after a few years there is no bending wood that has become hard.  Though this is costly and time consuming it has been proven that it saves the farmer labor costs and medical bills that may accrue when pickers once climbed tall ladders harvesting large trees.  Now much of the tree can be harvested from the ground or from a short ladder which also helps keep the fruit from being bruised during the process.

This is much like teaching small children good habits and social skills.  Once they have become set in their ways it is very difficult for them to unlearn bad habits.  Antisocial behavior costs society because there is a spillover affect.  Many innocent people may be harmed and ultimately everyone has to pay the price for reckless behavior.  Insurance costs go up and more police and first responders have to be hired to deal with the fruit of unruly people.  Churches and social workers often find themselves at their wits end trying to help people function in a civilized society.

When the Rapture never came

Americans are often citing verses about the rapture with the idea they will be delivered from persecution in the last days.  For fourteen hundred years Muslims have been burning churches and slaughtering Christians for whom the rapture never came.  Even in our day Christians in Muslim countries are having their throats cut, burned to death, raped and sold into slavery while western Christians live in a fantasy world of video games and Hollywood fiction.  And many talk big words of faith and power yet they have never been to a third world country where they would be killed for being a Christian.  It is easy to talk big until the fire gets turned up.

A Course in Miracles Examined

The Course in Miracles and Marriane Williamson

examined by Dale Brown

The following information taken directly from the CIM is an effort to point out some of the serious theological problems that it promotes.

CIM was first published in three volumes in 1976 by the Foundation for Inner Peace, P.O. Box 635, Tiburon, Cal. 94920.  It has been popularized by Marriane Williamson through her lectures and books.

It all began with Helen Schucman and William Thetford, Professors of Medical Psycology at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City.  Helen a professed atheist at the time, had what she claims was an experience with the Holy Spirit.  The "Voice" as she calls it gave a "kind of rapid, inner dictation" which she took down in a shorthand notebook.  She claims it was not automatic handwriting.  Though it made her feel very uncomfortable it never seriously occurred to her to stop.  The whole process took seven years.

Helen Schucman

Typical of most mind science cults, CIM promotes a method by which one may find their own Internal Teacher.  Although it claims to be Christian in statement, the Course deals with a universal means by which one may come to God.  It rejects nearly every essential doctrine of historical orthodoxy.  You are told not to judge the contend of the books.  You are simply to turn your brain off and use them.  Sin is defined as "lack of love" (forward). This logic neutralizes all critical thinking and opens one to any thing the Course has to offer.

CIM claims that we are each in charge of, and are a part of our own Atonement and actually the crucifixion did not establish the Atonement (Text p. 6).
BUT the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ.  God presented Him as a sacrificial atonement for sin, which we receive through faith and by his shed blood. (Romans 3:23-25).

CIM claims that God does not hold our evil against us and even rejects the biblical account of Adam being driven out of the garden (Text p. 32-33).
BUT the Bible tells us that because of Adam's sin, death spread to all men and separated us from God (Romans 5:12).

CIM says that sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God, and the Last Judgment is not undertaken by God but by us (Text. p. 30, 33).
BUT the Bible says that inasmuch as it is for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once (as a sacrifice for man) to bear the sins of many (Hebrews 9:27).  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10).  Jesus has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42).

CIM says that God's Word is written on everyone's heart (Manual for Teachers p. 61).
BUT the Bible says that a natural man (the unregenerated) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised (1 Corinthians 2:14).  It is for this reason we have such historical figures as Adolf Hitler.  The law is only written on ones heart when the message of the cross is applied by faith.  Then, and only then does Hebrews 8:10 become reality in the person's life.  Until that time the person is dead in his sins (Eph. 2:1).

CIM says that there are those who have reached God directly, they are not longer visible, they are the Teachers of the teachers and they can yet be called upon (Manual for Teachers p. 61).
BUT the Bible tells us that seeking counsel from the dead (necromancy) is an abomination (Deuteronomy 18:10-11).  King Saul was ultimately destroyed because he had a medium contact the spirit of Samuel the prophet (1 Sam. 28).

In summary of this brief examination of the CIM it is clear that it is far from biblical, and the spirit that revealed this information was not only not the Holy Spirit but was more likely a demon spirit.  The Bible tell us that if they do not speak according to the written word given us already, it is because there is no light in them (Isaiah 8:20).  And, we are to examine everything carefully, holding fast to that which is good (1 Thess. 5:21).

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