When solving a problem, or looking to understand the world around them, many people use either reasoning and emotion. Reasoning is looking for a practical explanation for why something has happened. Emotion, in this case, is just saying that God is responsible, or something of that nature. For a long period of time, many people, including the Puritans, used emotion to explain the world around them. Whenever something good or bad happened they said God was responsible. An example of this is the Salem Witch Trials. The villagers believed the little girls when they said that they were being corrupted by witches. Without any real evidence, the juries convicted many people of being witches and sentenced them to death.
Reasoning is looking for a logical answer as to why something happens or occurs. An example of a rationalist thinker is Benjamin Franklin. He is famous for experimenting with lightning and politics. He created a plan, called the Albany Plan, which was meant to unite the colonies and bring them together in making a strategy for defense and Westward expansion. Although this plan did not work, it showed Franklin's potential and genius. Franklin experimented with lightning to learn more about it. He did not believe in saying God causes everything and he tried his bets to find answers. Through experimenting he invented a new stove that uses less fuel and many other important inventions. Franklin is a very good example because he excelled at using reason to find answers.
Neither one of these is right or wrong. It all depends on what our beliefs are. Personally, I like to take the reasoning approach. To me, it does not seem right saying God is responsible for things like earthquakes or hurricanes. I like to hear what the scientists say is the reason, like in an earthquake the cause is the plates running against each other. When it comes down to you're opinion, you just have to go with what you believe in most. I believe that reasoning is better because people need to expand their views.
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