I had a professor once who really loved Benjamin Franklin, and there is a lot to love in Benjamin Franklin. He was really the greatest American, in a human sense. He had his bad points, but he was a very spiritual man. One of his best friends was George Whitfield, Wesley’s friend and the great gospel preacher. He would go to hear Whitfield preach, but sadly, the year that Franklin died, there was a letter that he wrote to a Presbyterian minister who was burdened about his salvation. The minister said,
Look, you’re dying; you need to profess the gospel.Franklin wrote back and said,Oh, I admire so much about Jesus and His grace, but I cannot accept this idea that He is the Son of God.Well, that is bad, and whatever else he may be, great man that he was, he could not be a Christian while he refused to submit to the deity of Jesus Christ. There are things that we must believe. This is why we teach, and this is why our children must be instructed, in the things of truth.1
Dr Richard D. Phillips
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: