Comparing The Faiths Of Deism And Puritanism Philosophy Essay

Comparing The Faiths Of Deism And Puritanism Philosophy Essay The 18th century and the age of the enlightenment was a period in American history which saw a proliferation of many new scientific ideas as well as an increase in religious tolerance. During this time many intellectuals explored new possibilities and interpretations of religion that were sometimes quite contradictory to the Puritanism that had been the standard religious practice since Puritans first settled the New England region. Deism, which was quite radical in contrast to the Puritan faith, came about during this time, and Benjamin Franklin, a famous enlightenment figure and a founding father of America, was one of its first spokespersons. The Deist doctrine he wrote as a 19 year old preaches a starkly different message from the writings of famous Puritans such as Mary Rowlandson, Michael Wigglesworth, and John Winthrop. While their works paint a portrait of God as a severe, demanding creator and man as a sinful, wild beast who must be restricted in his actions, Franklins piece on Deism portrays a more benevolent God who has released man into the universe to pursue his own goals without fear of Gods interference and wrath. It is these ideas of Gods intent and the nature of man which set these two religious philosophies and their writings apart.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Puritan understanding of God as a vengeful and commanding ruler of men is one that dominates the writings of all of the most famous and widely read Puritan authors of the 17th and 18th centuries. Michael Wigglesworths poem The Day of Doom is particularly useful in highlighting this belief as its content focuses on Christs return to earth on Judgement day and how he deals with the sinners. He opens the poem with the quotes The Mountains smoak, the Hills are shook, the Earth is rent and torn, and Straightaway appears (they seet with tears) the Son of God most dread, (Wigglesworth, 3.) From the first lines of the poem there is a sense of helplessness and despair in the face of an angry God who is going to judge and punish his subjects on his terms. The descriptions of Gods destruction of the physical earth demonstrates his awesome power, and the use of the word dread to describe peoples perception of God is very telling of the Puritan bel ief. Even though they dread his second coming and his vengeance, they have a profound respect for his power and submit themselves to his will. The poem goes on to describe who is going to hell and why, and this passage serves to demonstrate the strict qualifications for getting into heaven that the Puritans believe God employs in his judgement of souls. Children who are too young to read the bible, Native Americans, and the mentally challenged are all unworthy of heaven in the eyes of God because they lack the ability to understand the Puritan faith (Wigglesworth, 4.) Along with these people unwelcome in Gods kingdom are all non-believers, sinners, and anyone who is simply not predestined to be saved by God. These harsh qualifications preached by Wigglesworth and other Puritans to a very accepting public are all strong testaments to the harsh nature of the Puritans God.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In contrast to the harsh God of Puritanism, Deism preaches that God is a benevolent, all knowing creator who does not find evil to punish in the world of men and can for the most part leave them to their own devices. Franklin outlines this idea at the beginning of his doctrine on Deism, A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, with the idea that If [God] is all-powerful, there can be nothing either existing or acting in the Universe against or without his Consent; and what he consents to must be good, because he is good; therefore Evil doth not exist. (Franklin 26.) This statement is radically different from the Puritan system of belief because it eliminates the existence of evil and therefore demonstrates a more pleasant interpretation of God. Rather than stressing the need for Gods constant exertion of authority over humankind and its evils through interference and punishment, Franklin asserts that since God made every thing and knows everything, there is no reason for him to even bother with the trivial affairs of humans, much less reprimand them. This is a very Deist concept of a God who is less involved in the daily business of man. The common Deist perception of God, which embodies this image of a wise and somewhat removed God, is often illustrated by the image of God as a clockmaker who has set the universe into motion to play out without his influence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The idea of Gods constant interference in the lives of men, which Franklin refutes as unnecessary because Gods has already predetermined the fate of the entire universe and its inhabitants, is another cornerstone of the Puritan belief system. One of the best examples of this idea in Puritan writing is Mary Rowlandsons A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson which describes the destruction of her town at the hands of a band of Native Americans and her subsequent captivity among them. This work gives a slightly more benevolent description of God as her protector through these hardships, but her easy acceptance and rationalization of the massacre as Gods will and punishment still alludes to the harsh nature of God and highlights his interferences in the lives of Puritans. One of the most telling quotes of the account, which Rowlandson uses to sum up her beliefs, comes in the final paragraph when she says, yet I se e when God calls a person to any thing, and through never so many difficulties, yet he is fully able to carry them through, and make them see and say they have been gainers thereby, (Rowlandson, 20.) Rowlandson cites Gods hand throughout the piece in every aspect of her captivity, and in this conclusion she makes it quite clear that it was God who put her through the terrors of these tribulations. The idea of God carrying her through her troubles and making her see and say that she is better for the experience not only indicates that God is responsible for what happened, but that he was actively focused on her for every instant of her captivity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The nature of man is another key point of disagreement between the two religious beliefs, and the Puritan stance views man as a beastly creature whose primitive instincts must be controlled by the authority of God. John Winthrops famous essay On Political Authority and Liberty, which is both a description of Gods intent of how the people should be ruled and a pitch to be reelected as governor,   gives examples of this belief in mans unruly nature. Winthrop makes a point of driving home exactly how God feels about mans more primal, natural liberties when he says, This [kind of liberty] is that great enemy of truth and peace, that wild beast, which all of the ordinances of God are bent against, to restrain and subdue it. (Winthrop 1.) The kind of liberty that he is alluding to is mans freedom in nature to do whatever he wants. According to Winthrop, this freedom, which man shares with all beasts and other creatures leads to chaos and must be controlled. This concept of the natural evil in men and the fact that God must constantly restrain men pervades Puritan doctrine and directly carries over to the Puritan style of governing that stresses adherence to authority figures.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Unlike the Puritan idea of mans evil nature and his need to be controlled, Deism states that mans nature is inherently good and that control over his actions is unnecessary. Franklins writings illustrate this idea when he says, If a Creature is made by God, it must depend upon God, and receive all its Power from Him; with which Power the Creature can do nothing contrary to the Will of God because God is Almighty; what is not contrary to [Gods] Will, must be agreeable to it; what is agreeable to it, must be good, because He is good; therefore a Creature can do nothing but what is good, (Franklin, 27.) In this quote Franklin asserts his belief that since the all-good and almighty creator made man and gave him his nature and abilities, man must be naturally good. He also makes the point that all of mans actions are actions of which God made him able; therefore, man can make no natural action which is not inherently good. This idea of man as g ood from the start clearly breaks from the general Christian and especially Puritan belief of original sin, and this stark difference demonstrates the progressive nature of Deisms. The idea that man is inherently good removes the need for overbearing authority and allows for man to rule himself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The overwhelming differences in the beliefs of Deism and Puritanism on the subjects of God and the nature of man illustrate a clear break in the religious ideas of 18th century America. The contrast between Franklins writings and those of his Puritan predecessors demonstrates the shift from the nearly uniform belief in religion of the 17th century to a more progressive atmosphere in the time which Franklin writes. The Deist beliefs of the goodness in God and man explore an alternative to the strict Puritan faith, and in both Franklins time and today they serve as a mode of beliefs which fit the understanding of many religious Americans.

Game and Dynamically Generated World

Minecraft: A World at Your Mercy By If you're one of those people who quite likes computer games, but finds the endless mayhem and slaughter a bit unseemly, there is another option: putting imaginary things on top of other imaginary things. There are no scores, no obvious goals to aim for, no point at which you can punch the air and say that you've triumphed; you simply move around a randomly and dynamically generated world, collecting objects and building things. All at your leisure.Does that sound sufficiently exciting? Well, Minecraft allows you to do just that; it may have been billed as the â€Å"coolest game you've never heard of†, says Senior Emily Marchese, but it has about as much in common with Call Of Duty or Angry Birds as hopscotch or basket weaving. It's created by Markus â€Å"Notch† Persson, developed by a very small team, but has had more than 12 million people buy the 20 dollar game. But what exactly do you accomplish playing Minecraft?Head over to You Tube, where home-produced videos of Minecraft creations litter the top 10 most popular videos each month, and you'll find such delights as a 1:1 scale model of the USS Enterprise, roller-coasters, reconstructions of the Titanic and much else. FHS Alumni, Soham Roy gives us a few examples of what he thinks are his greatest accomplishments in Minecraft: â€Å"I have created a pyramid out of water, pushed Haroon Ahmad into a pit of lava, and tamed a gigantic pack of wolves to rip into the flesh of my enemi†¦I mean, to cuddle and play fetch. † How you make these structures is much like how you make things in real life. You need tools and resources. You use the wood from trees to make tools and then you mine underground and start looking through caves for resources. As you go deeper you’ll find rarer resources which you can upgrade your tools with or make structures with. And when you have the resources you need, like Legos, you start putting them all together and star t making anything your heart desires.You can also set up servers and create a massive world with your friends. Junior, Mike Salzarulo is one of the many students to own a minecraft server here at Freedom. â€Å"You can do anything you want. If you wanna be a nomad and travel the world you can do that. You can be like me and just set up camp and make a town with all your friends. I made a huge castle with them. † The comparisons with Lego have provoked a debate over whether Minecraft is even a game at all; maybe it should be considered more as a lowly â€Å"toy†?But when the sun sets over your Minecraft world every hour or so and darkness creeps in, monsters (or â€Å"mobs†) emerge – and if you're not tucked up safely within your construction – your game may well be swiftly curtailed. The different types of mobs include spiders, zombies, and skeletons that are equipped with bows. The two most infamous mobs in the game are the endermen and the creepe rs. The endermen are passive and non-hostile and sometimes cute creatures that only attack you if you look directly at them.And finally, the creepers are the most feared of all Minecraft mobs, because if you get too close they make a hissing sound and then explode. The explosion decimates everything around you. So be careful when you look out the window of your house made out of diamond, a creeper might be trying to creep on you. Minecraft is still being made and the full version will be out in November, but will then cost $30. If you buy the game now, not only will you be able save $10, but you’ll also be able to get your hands on the game that has everyone either sitting on their computer all day or designing buildings on graph paper.

An Essay

Even though Romans is not a complete worldview r a Christian worldview it certainly directs us in the right way of how we should view the world. What does Romans inform us regarding Creation When we look at Romans chapter 8: 19-25, believe here Paul is talking about Adam and Jesus. Everybody thinks that God knows everything going to happen, and the truth is I believe he knows. The one thing I really believe that God knows everything, but he does give us free choice and maybe just one time he's hoping he doesn't know that were going to, and maybe instead of choosing the wrong we would choose Him.The curse is Adam when he first mined not just for his self but also for every birth from then on. Jesus then comes as the sacrificial sheep. One man to curse all of mankind and one man to save all Of mankind. Natural Creation There is no doubt about finding God's creation in Romans. In chapter 1:20-21 proves of his existence and power, verse 20 states that since the creation of the world God' s invisible quality -his eternal power and divine nature. God has no doubt that this is his creation and God is always made himself available to us. God created verse man and woman to have a natural relationship, which man and woman.Man started to make idols out of gold, of birds and animals and reptiles. Man's heart was not in the right place for the creator it was for sinful lust, since their heart was not right with God and instead had all this unnatural lusts God let it happen. Men started having sex with men and even their women was having sex with other women. Their acts were unnatural from one God one God wanted of the most one man one woman until the end of time. Sins in Roman Sin is mention several times in Romans, Paul tells us that we all have sin and we all fall short of the glory of God.Paul also explained to us that through the away no one will be saved, but the law lets us recognize what sin is. 6:23 tells us that that the punishment for sin is death. Whereas if we el ect to serve Jesus, we are promised eternal life. This is a condition that cannot be fixed by any man, that only Jesus dying on the cross for us was the only way we as mortal humans and sinful by nature could be saved. Salvation In Romans Paul talked to us about salvation and the only way that we could ever be saved with salvation was through Jesus dying on the cross for us.We know that Jesus was a descendent of David, and the one thing that he as supposed to do was to be the sacrificial sheep for our sins. So without Jesus we would never found salvation because we were not covered under the first covenant, but under the new covenant we were accepted because Jesus gave his life for us. So this was the nature and mission of Jesus Christ and justification by faith is believing and Jesus the son of God. Because of our faith and our believe Christ the moment that we accepted Jesus we were given the Holy Spirit which would sanctify us and give us empowerment to do the things that Jesus d id himself.Eschatology In Romans 5:20 we see were Paul is saying that because of the law being added was so that basically trespasses might increase. You would think of Paul is against on is that we have no hope, but he is also that were sin increases grace will increase also. God has new mercies for us every day in new Hope always be there no matter what we've done we can go and repented God because Jesus made a way for us to live that one day we may have eternal life. When we look at Romans 8:18-25 Paul is telling us that we should not compare are suffering to the glory that will be ours when the time moms.The glory Will be greater than any suffering we have ever been subject to. Romans 13:11-14 Paul is telling us that our Christian worldview and the obedience that we have Jesus through our faith one day we will be victorious against Satan, death and sin Ethics In Romans 8:8-21 we will find that Paul bases the ethics on love. In verse eight Paul is telling us that no matter what w e do we need to do it cheerfully, delicately and we need to show mercy follows is all up in nine telling us that love must be since. That anything evil we should hate, we should cling to what is good.And the next versus is instructed how we should, and we should never commit adultery we should always respect with love. Chapter 8 sums up the things that we should do we love and not be afraid to do them. Theology There are several verses in here were Paul talks about God even though his letter is non-about God its more about justification. When we look at 1:17 here Paul is trying to tell us that there is a righteousness that is revealed from God. Paul states it is from first to last the righteousness will live by faith.

A Brief Note On The American Civil War - 920 Words

One consequence of the American Civil war is that it was the largest catastrophe in American history. â€Å"Approximately one in four soldiers that went to war never returned home.† There weren’t any cemeteries, burial details or messengers of loss. The army didn’t have the mechanisms needed to handle the amount of deaths the nation was gonna experience. It was the bloodiest conflict and there had been an unprecedented violence of battles such as Gettysburg, Shiloh and Antietam. â€Å"The Civil war was America’s costliest war, with 623,000 dead, with approximately 33,000 from Pennsylvania.† The wounded individuals were amputees that struggled to overcome the perceptions of disabled as less than members of society. There was a lot of diseases during the civil war. â€Å"The worst out the bunch was by far Dysentery.† It had gotten around 45,00 deaths in the union army and 50,000 in the Confederate army. Contaminated water had caused the diseas e. In those days, hygiene wasn’t a big issue. Another major killer was typhoid. This was also a result of contaminated water or food. It had killed 30,000 confederate and 35,00 union troops. Another consequence during the civil war was the economy. â€Å"Of all the disadvantages the Confederacy experienced during the Civil War, its lack of a sound currency was particularly damaging.† There was limited resources available with more than $1 million in hard currency or specie which the confederacy relied mainly on for printed money. It went down rapidly inShow MoreRelatedA Brief Note On The American Civil War1540 Words   |  7 Pages The American Civil War is the bloodiest war in American history, claiming the lives of 720,00 solider and an indeterminable number of civilians. But these four years were a larger battle for survival against a third unseen enemy: disease. A battle that took two out of three soldiers from disease; most commonly pneumonia, dysentery, typhoid, tuberculosis, smallpox and malaria. 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