Benjamin Franklin and the Designer

Since Benjamin Franklin was a diplomat, practitioner of science, influencer of culture, and considered very wise, it is not surprising that he is still known worldwide over 300 years after his birth. Secularists who try to rewrite American history say Ben and others were Deists.

The Deist claim is mostly false, but Franklin? His views are hard to pin down, and they changed over the years. Deists typically view God as someone who wound up the universe and stepped away. That kind of thinking does not describe Ben Franklin's views.

Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky / Benjamin West (1816), PD

Deists and theistic evolutionists I have encountered online (I believe TEs are essentially deists), typically show disdain for the authority and reliability of the Bible. Franklin took the time to examine creation and arrived at the firm conclusion that there is a Creator. Indeed, he is an example of what Paul wrote about in Romans 1:20. Also, some people have hated God because of bad things that have happened in their lives. Ben did not.

Franklin is famous for his aphorisms and science experiments, but fewer people know he also had a keen interest in theology. Like many of the Founders, he had a complicated relationship with orthodox Christianity, neither fully an atheist nor fully a believer. In his younger years, he ruffled feathers by taking aim at some sacred cows, but he mellowed with age. Meeting and befriending Whitefield gave him a healthy respect for sincere evangelism, along with lots of juicy content for his newspaper. The preacher would spend decades gently trying to coax Franklin into a deeper relationship with the Almighty, but the polymath remained implacably his own man.

To finish reading, visit "Young Benjamin Franklin: The Goodness of Nature’s Design."