Earlier this month we marked the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s death, or should I say his assassination, in Memphis, TN. Hours have been spent on radio and television commemorating the event. Articles, some at great length, have been written about what this Baptist preacher accomplished not only for his race but for the problem of segregation we have in America.
What never seems to be mentioned is what context, motivation and background motivated this great man. Sure, he was a Baptist preacher, but what made him do what he did, say what he said, motivated this man?
He was grounded and motivated by the very basic teachings of Christianity. He was so committed to these teachings that he was willing to lay his life down for them, and did. What are these teachings? Let me list just a few:
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.
Those who take to the sword will perish by the sword.
Love your enemies, do good to them that hate and persecute you.
Overcome evil with good.
Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
Render to no man evil for evil.
Owe no man anything but to love one another.
Be your brother’s keeper.
Follow after love, desire spiritual gifts that you may prophesy.
Without quoting more that made Martin Luther King the man he was, for those who are interested, the words of the Apostle Paul sum up who he was and why he did what he did. For those interested in pursuing what made this man the man he was, please read Ephesians 6:10-20
Rev. Earl R. Modean, Bend
This article appears in Apr 24-30, 2008.
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There really is nothing quite as exemplary as living your life based on childish myth created by ignoramus to explain the unexplainable to ignoramus.
One needs to remember that nothing Jesus was purported to have said was written down for well over 100 years. You can’t pass a sentence around the dinner table table and have it be the same sentence by the time it comes back around to you. Have tens of thousands of people do that for for over a century and then have the Sun God worshipper Emperor Constantine leave out 4700 relevant Christian texts when he compiled the Bible at The Council Of Nicea in 325CE, because he didn’t like them.
It’s no coincidence that Christs birthday is celebrated on Dec. 25. That was the major Sun God Holiday, “Day of the Emergence of the Sun,” and Christians usually worship on a day of the week Constantine named by proclamation to be “Sun-day.” a day of leisure and worship for the Sun God.
Martin Luther King was deluded in a good way. Some who thump the same blighted text are not. Ignorance might be bliss, but bliss is not necessarily truth.
AND HIS MARITIAL AFFAIRS WERE BASED ON CHRISTIAN BASICS.
It’s nice to see the “tolerance” crowd is being tolerant and respectful of others beliefs.
The people who believe in the talking snake and find value in the writings in the bible can continue to do so as long as they don’t use those beliefs to influence or exert control over me.
Because I lack faith, am I one of the ‘evils’ Paul rants against? Because I believe differently, am I a force of darkness?
People of faith often use their faith to justify their actions–whether they act from the left or right. At times the results of those actions are beneficent and do change wrongs–end evils–fight and defeat the dark powers. Usually, though, I find them intolerant of one another in addition to being intolerant of those who disagree with their core beliefs. One book both justified and condemned slavery. One book both justified and condemned Jim Crow. One book both justified and condemned the Civil Rights Movement. One book can both ratify and condemn MLK for his strengths and weaknesses.
Rev Earl–it must be nice to be able to justify the acts of a brave man who faced hatred, violence and ultimately death because he wanted to end the senseless belief that one man was superior to another because of the amount of melanin in his skin. He drew people to him because of that courage–and not all of them were Christian. If he dealt with his fears and doubts with the Good Book, I can’t pretend that I admire him for it. From his personal failings–as so aptly pointed out by Ann–it is obvious that ‘loving his neighbor’ at least extended to his neighbor’s wife, and was not in the Old Testament vein of ‘not coveting the neighbor’s wife.’
Go ahead. (Apologies to Bill Maher) Believe in the talking snake and the flying Jew. Use the book and its often obscure passages to explain portents and history–people and places.
But, I believe that MLK acted the way he did because he was one courageous Black man, tired of being treated badly, who finally said, “Enough is enough.” There were millions who believed in the dogma of the Christ you quote–but they were not as capable or as talented or as brave as the one man assassinated not because of his Christianity, but by another man who was so empowered to do so by a doctrine of hate rooted in the same Christianity.
And why don’t I believe?
The interesting thing about Bible thumpers is that I’ve never met a single solitary one of them who had the slightest clue of how the tome they thump came into being and why.
MLK was a very flawed dude who spoke well and used the Bible against the ignorant to make a good living.
Not uncommon.