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Compare And Contrast Letter From Birmingham Alabama And Salvation

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“Beware of the Easter Bunny” by Charles Colson, “Letter from Birmingham Alabama” by Dr. Martin Luther King, and “Salvation” by Langston Hughes depict the ways human have the wrong definition of Christianity. People often expect from God and what He can do, but do not understand the true concept of Christianity. People often expect acts of God, but they themselves do not act or stand up. In “Salvation”, Langston recalls his aunt telling him how “when you are saved you [see] a light… and Jesus [comes] into your soul” (Hughes 345). Langston’s incorrect definition of Christianity ruined his experience and beliefs. Langston expected something but in order for that (see Jesus) to happen, he had to believe, Langston did not accept Jesus as his savior …show more content…

Colson explains how his first memories of Easter are looking for colored eggs and then putting on his “Sunday best” and going to church because “this one day [he] had to go. I didn’t know why” (Colson 63). Colson writes how one day you “secularize” a Christian celebration, but you are secularizing Christianity and Christians do not hold their beliefs sacred (Colson 64). In Salvation, Langston has a complete misunderstanding of the Christian experience which is accepting Jesus as his savior. Langston takes to heart the fact that when you accept Jesus, you will “see a light” and how “Jesus will come into your soul”, but in his case, it was different because you do not always see Jesus face to face when you accept Him as your savior (Hughes 345). Langston had the wrong concept of Christianity and the first Christian …show more content…

Charles Colson states that “without the Resurrection at the center of the Christian message, we all put our hope in the Easter bunny” (65). The true definition of Christianity includes Christ dying and resurrecting from the dead, nothing as pagan as the Easter bunny should ever re-define the true concept of an event in human history that is held sacred to believers. The “Easter bunny may seem harmless… but in truth it diverts our attention from the centrality of the resurrection (Colson 66). Many things often divert the centrality of Christianism that urge some to tell others to ‘wait’ just like the clergymen told Dr. King. Dr. Martin L. King with gracious and kind words explains to the clergymen his Christian reasoning and cause. He explains how the Bible contains examples of civil disobedience to obtain change (King 335), and writes how early Christians were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submitting to certain unjust laws” (King 365). King showed the clergymen how it is justified and a part of Christianism to stand up against

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Langston came to the conclusion he was not going to see Jesus, and

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On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King, a Civil Rights Activist and Church Minister, in his letter entitled Letter from Birmingham City Jail, demands equal rights for all people. He supports this claim by first asserting our American Heritage of freedom and our God-given right. Then, claiming the need for protest, which is better than protecting an unjust system, and finally declaring that it is everyday people who lead the protests and bring our nation to freedom for all. Through King’s use of tone, rhetorical appeals, and rhetorical tools he effectively persuades the church and America to end racial segregation and be united as brothers. Martin Luther King informative and optimistic tone calls to action the church and people of America

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1371 Words | 6 Pages

Many may believe that reading a book about religion would be challenging to accomplish for someone who is not religious. But those people have never read Anne Lamott’s, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith. If one were to ask non-religious college students to read a book by a random author about spirituality and “Finding God” through conversion, they would most likely roll their eyes and bear through it. In Lamott’s series of essays, one does not have to “suffer through the readings” because her writing style is one of a kind. She has strategically chosen every word because she is aware of how important her spiritual experiences are to so many people, religious or not.

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732 Words | 3 Pages

Christianity was, to the slaves of America, (something with a double meaning). In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave, Frederick Douglass, the author, argues about how Christianity can mean one thing to a free white man and something completely different to a black slave. The slave owners follow the ‘Christianity of the Land’ while the slaves follow the ‘Christianity of Christ.’ Frederick begins to build his credibility to a, white, northern, audience by including documents from trustworthy writers and by getting into personal experiences through his writing. Throughout the narrative, he is articulate in how he writes, and it shows the reader that he is well educated.

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King writes to the eight clergymen who were critical of his protests and to the indifferent people of the United States. In the essay, he claims that he has done nothing wrong by protesting peacefully. In paragraph 11, King says “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” He is saying that freedom is something they have to fight for because the authorities will not give it to them. He is directing this statement at the clergymen while reaching the apathetic people of the United States.

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When people started converting to Christianity the Africans realized that “none of them [were men] of title” (Achebe 119). The Igbo people put men of achievement on a societal pedestal and give them respect only because of their accomplishments, which also means that there are outcasts. The people that have not achieved much are looked down upon in society and are seen as subordinate. Another example of Christianity’s acceptance is how they “educated their converts” (Source C). In the novel, Christianity’s customs contrasts to the Igbo in that the Christians accept individuals as they are and not by what they have accomplished.

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You take Yong Goodman Brown, a man living in an area and time where it is deeply rooted in their Christian beliefs. Then you have Phillis Wheatley who is an African slave who is writing to privileged white men in Cambridge. Both are planted firmly in their Christian faith and the difference is one of them is a slave, and the other one is a free man with a wife and family. Yet, after reading Young Goodman Brown, it seems that only one of them

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439 Words | 2 Pages

As a far more knowledgeable person compared to the past, I find it suffice to say one should never succumb to the expectations of others. Of course, I knew this back then but still fell victim to peer pressure. Perhaps being more mature now, I know better than to submit to other’s expectations that I either cannot or do not want to meet. Hopefully Langston realized this as well, finding happiness and content without needing the approval of

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559 Words | 3 Pages

“ I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, woman-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.” (Douglass 100) Douglass does this to show how hypocritical people in the South were being. Churches were teaching the Christian practice of being kind and compassionate while not actually practicing it themselves. Douglass argues that the actions of some people are against religion.

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1064 Words | 5 Pages

Khadija Abdulahi God is Able In the book, “Strength to Love” by Martin Luther King Jr, focuses on the problem of racial segregation and discrimination in the United States. King was a leader in the civil rights movement. He used a non-violent tactic from his Christian belief. King argued that the Christian faith is what brings people together and it is key to their freedom.

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772 Words | 4 Pages

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, a document that granted African American slaves their freedom, but after one hundred years, they still were not given the freedom that was promised in the Declaration of Independence. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. uses his “I Have a Dream” speech and “Letter From Birmingham Jail” to compel people to make a change in the way African Americans are treated. Dr. King makes use of the persuasive language of logical and emotional appeal in his writings to defend African Americans’ freedom as well as to embetter the treatment of them. In Dr. King’s speech “I Have a Dream,” the rhetorical devices of logical appeal, otherwise known as logos, and emotional appeal, known as pathos, are utilized

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687 Words | 3 Pages

After the waiter politely corrects him, Charlie’s father picks a fight with the employee. Because of the father's explosions and indecent words, the tone of this passage, like that of “Salvation,” is unsettling. In “Salvation,” Langston’s description of the revival in his church

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404 Words | 2 Pages

Rhetorical Analysis of Jonathan edwards’s Sinners in the hand of an angry god: jeremiad Jonathan edwards, is known as one of the most important religious figures of the great awakening, edwards became known for his zealous sermon “sinners at the hand of an angry god”. During his sermon he implies that if his congregation does not repent to christ they are in “danger of great wrath and infinite misery”. Throughout this sermon edwards uses literary devices such as strong diction, powerful syntax and juxtaposition to save his congregation from eternal damnation. Throughout Edwards’s sermon the use of turgid diction is exceedingly prevalent.

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894 Words | 4 Pages

McDowell begins the book with an anecdote of his life; a familiar story of the sceptical university Agnostic, ready to fire back a retort at the slightest mention of God, Christianity, and anything (or anyone) within. He recounted the all too common feeling of a meaningless life, the seemingly innate itch of human existence, and how it brought him to various places in his life—until he stumbled upon a particular group of people and was changed forever. This introduction, though short, is crucial to understand, for it sets the stage for the remainder of the book. It tells not only the story of a former non-believer, but the story of everyone—it presents us the life of Jesus Christ, not as a gentle sermon or a feel-good retelling, but as an assertive, rational reply to the accusation: ‘Christianity is a myth, and so is your God.’

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757 Words | 4 Pages

We can define the word salvation as deliverance from sin and its consequences, believed by Christians to be brought about by faith in Christ. One can be saved by accepting Jesus Christ into your life, but this wasn’t the case for Langston Hughes when he wrote “Salvation”. Having portrayed himself as a young teenage boy when this piece was written and using the first person perspective, the pressure he felt wanting to actually see and feel Jesus is the main reason why he ruined it for himself, and he was not “saved”. The first two lines even say “I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved.”

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