Theos-Talk Archives (June 2002 Message tt00025)

Hi all of you,



Here are some excerpts from Martin Luther King Jr. (shot in 1968 by who ?)



Some of the good quotes:


1.

"As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him. Always avoid violence. If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in your struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos." 

Excerpted from "The Most Durable Power", a sermon delivered on 6 November 1956 in Montgomery, Ala. (Reprinted in Christian Century 74 [5 June 1957]: 10-11.) 


2.

"I think the first reason that we should love our enemies, and I think this is at the very center of Jesus' thinking, is this: that hate for hate only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. If I hit you and you hit me and I hit you back and you hit me back and go on, you see, that goes on ad infinitum. It just never ends. Somewhere somebody must have a little sense, and that's the strong person. The strong person is the person who can cut off the chain of hate, the chain of evil. And that is the tragedy of hate, that it doesn't cut it off. It only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. Somebody must have religion enough and morality enough to cut it off, and inject within the very structure of the universe that strong and powerful element of love." 

Excerpted from "Loving Your Enemies", a sermon delivered on 17 November 1957 at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala. (full text) 


3.

"A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: 'This way of settling differences is not just.' This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

"America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing except a tragic death wish to prevent us from reordering our priorities so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood." 

Excerpted from "Beyond Vietnam", an address delivered on 4 April 1967 to the Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam at Riverside Church in New York City. (full text) 


4.

"Now let me suggest first that if we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather that sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone; no nation can live alone, and as long as we try, the more we are going to have war in this world. Now the judgement of God is upon us, and we must either learn to live together as brothers or we are all going to perish together as fools." 

Excerpted from "A Christmas Sermon on Peace", delivered on 24 December 1967 at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga. 

******* 

Some suggested questions: 
Has Dr King's dream come true?
Do you think we have achieved equality for all people?
Do you think America and the world be a better place if Dr. King had lived?
Can a gun change history? 

What does Dr King mean when he says "one's sense of manhood must come from within him?" 

What does this say about "the content of one's character?" 

Why is it important for each of us to be heard?

*******

So why support hate and voilence ?

from
Sufilight with peace and love....



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