Happy Martin Luther King Jr day. Before I say anything, I respect and admire Martin Luther King Jr, and despite how this post will sound, this could not be more true.
Why do people always forget the Junior of his name? Biggest pet peeve associated with this day(and there are a lot of them). Seriously, when you say Martin Luther King, that means nothing to me. I don’t even know who you’re talking about. For all I know you could be talking about MLK senior. Seriously people, if you’re going to sing a man’s praises at least get his name right!
Also…. the Wednesday after halloween we talked about reformation day in youth group. We asked the people “Do you know who Martin Luther is?” the answer was “oh sure, he was that black guy who faught for civil rights.”
erm, no.
Why don’t we have a Martin Luther day?
Also! Since we’re talking about the civil rights movement, why don’t we have an Abe Lincoln day or a William Wilberforce day or a Grace Menter day? What makes MLKJ so special? IN the history of the world there are a lot of people who gave their lives so the we as Americans can have freedom and equality. Hell, we need a Jesus Christ day. We need a George Washington day we need a Ben Franklin day. We need a John Locke day and a Paul Revere day.
I think we really really really need a Martin Luther day.
And this is the part of my post where I recommend a book(I biography) entitled “Here I Stand” by Roland H. Bainton. My freshman year of high school I wrote a few papers on why Martin Luther changed the world. The majority of my research(ok, a fraction of it) came from this book. Bekah, I know you will read it, so do it soon! Completely changed my perspective on religion and revolution and, of course, Martin Luther. You think MLKJ was a good man? I think he learned it from his namesake.
Hear, hear.
Completely agree with the Junior.
But don’t we already have a ML day? Isn’t that what Reformation Day is? I think the difficulty with ALL of these holidays is that we limit our appreciation to the day itself. May every day be reformation day, and every cry be “Sola Fide, Sola Gracia, Solo Christo, Soli Deo Gloria“. Except that, being good little reformists, we would use the vernacular and proclaim salvation “by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone–to God alone be the glory.”