Martin Luther King was a man who followed the Sermon on the Mount and was a true Christian. He spoke out for what he believed in. He believed it so much that he sacrificed his whole life and died for his cause. His dream was that racism stopped in America between black people and white people. He said that all Christians were the same despite their skin colour. He was a Baptist. Despite that he was a great leader to his people who were all African Americans. He organized speeches and marches in order to accomplish his beliefs. Everything was done in a peaceful manner and no violence was used.
His importance to human rights were that he supported that all people should be treated equally despite their religion, background or skin colour. He fought for this all his life and thanks to him all people are now treated fairly. He was a huge importance to human rights today. He showed that every person should be the same despite skin colour. He got people to look past skin colour and hatred and see that all humans in the world can be different but have the same rights. Martin Luther King’s teachings were very similar to the Sermon on the Mount and that made him a true Christian.
The main teachings of Jesus through the sermon on the mount were the Jewish law, anger, adultery, divorce, promises, revenge, and love enemies, charity, prayer, fasting, wealth and possession, and judging people, Jesus thought different things about these things. He believed that the Jewish law should not be looked at as something to follow the law, but the actual spirit of the laws and not just obeying them because you have to. Jesus taught that anger was wrong and led to death and murder, and that adultery was completely wrong and that even thinking of adultery is wrong. Divorce seen through Jesus’ eyes was wrong except if a partner committed adultery. A promise by swearing on God’s name was not needed, he said because a person’s word should be good enough. Revenge was also taught to be wrong and charity to the less fortunate was emphasized. Jesus said that this could be done by giving stuff away or by praying and fasting while feeding others that are hungry. Also Jesus preached that wealth was not the most important thing and that everyone should be forgiven, as no one is perfect.
Martin Luther King did teach similar things to the sermon of the mountain such as fighting for things you believe in, not showing anger, and that judging people is wrong. He himself fought for things he believed in as Jesus said to. Even though black and white people did not want to associate with one another, but taught them to learn and accept each other. Martin Luther King did not show any anger to the people he was bullied and beaten up by, and did not fight back with fist but just turned the other cheek as Jesus said in the sermon on the mount.
When Martin Luther King stood up against racism, different groups reacted differently. Some black groups thought that he was crazy and was going to get himself killed. Others supported and joined him. Some people made their own groups and became violent and started to fight physically against the white people. Most of the white people in the beginning thought he was crazy too, but when he started to get popular, the whites hated him and wanted to exterminate him. Some white people stood up for Martin’s beliefs and so he gained more power. Some of the people Martin Luther King taught trusted him fully and did what he said while others could not help temptation and forgot about the things he taught them like forgiveness, peace, and brotherhood. They often got into fights and were wither severely damaged or died, but some were luck and some even joined these violent groups. Martin Luther King did not like these groups even thought they were on his side because he disagreed with their actions.
Christmas Becoming Commercialized
Christmas for Christians is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It symbolizes the birth of the man who saved them and the founder of their religion. Every year on December 25th Christians remember the birth of Jesus. December 25th is not originally the birth of Jesus; it is just a date on which Christians celebrate his birth. Most Christians did not know when Jesus was born so they accepted 25th of December. Soon the festival was forgotten but the traditions were passed on through Christmas. The reason for choosing the day December 25th as Jesus’ birthday was because that same day was chosen as the pagan festivals that took place around the winter solstice (clocks go back an hour). Northern European people celebrated their festival of Yule at the winter solstice to show the importance of the rebirth of the sun. The roman Saturnalia (a festival dedicated to the God of agriculture, and to the power of the sun) also took place at this time. Some Christmas customs are taken in this pagan celebration. Christmas became very important because of all of these festivals and because of Jesus and the miracle of his birth and life. At this festival they celebrated the sun god and families eat food and spend time with each other like today. Families’ would get together and have a good time.
The customs for Christmas are Christmas trees, holly, mistletoe, and Eucharist. Eucharist is a service that Christians do which is the most important part of Christmas. When they do Eucharist, they believe the bread they eat is Jesus’ body and the wine they drink is his blood. The Christmas tree, which is decorated with colorful lights to celebrate Jesus’ way home and offerings are made to him to show a symbol of respect. Holly represents the crucifixion of Jesus and the mistletoe represents happiness.
Christmas has been forgotten for its meaning and has changed overtime. The countdown to Christmas is a example of how Christmas has changed. This is called advent. It is the time celebrated that Jesus entered the world. Originally Christians would use and advent wreath for counting down. An advent wreath has four candles, which are lit one by one on each of the four Sundays before Christmas. This reminded Christians of Jesus as ‘the light of the world.’ On the other hand, nowadays more modern ways of counting down to Christmas have been used, like calendars which are small little pockets filled with a chocolate which would be opened once a day from the 1st to the 25th of December.
Different things like Santa Claus influence children. Santa Claus is believed to be like god. Lots of things are similar to Santa and Jesus. They are bother to live in sacred places, both immortal, both say, “ho ho ho,” but with different meanings. Jesus said “ho ho ho” in the bible. Santa is also supposed to give you a present that you have wished for throughout the year if you have been a good child. Children even pay to see Santa Claus. Santa is one of the most popular young people’s characters. The only problem is that Santa is just a made up person used to boost promotion, first used by Coca-Cola. Santa takes away from the religious reasons for Christmas and people forget what the true meaning of Christmas is. The good thing about Santa is that they give hope and can bring money to people. People look up to Santa and think of you and happiness. Santa is supposed to represent giving without receiving, but nowadays children are forgetting because of TV, radio, posters and the media hype. Commercials show so many products around Christmas time because so many people buy gifts for one another. So many people buy things because everywhere you see is Santa and gifts so people are influenced to buy. The atmosphere around Christmas time also persuades people to buy gifts.
I give gifts to my family, eat a Christmas dinner, put up a Christmas, hang stockings and decorate my house even though I am not Christian. I think this is because everyone around me celebrates it and the commercialization around gets you into the spirit. Every year we celebrate Christmas, and that’s how we grew up. That’s why I don’t think children take it as a holy day anymore; just as an extra birthday or holiday from school. By living in such a wide cultural range and so much commercialization even people who don’t even believe in Christmas will celebrate it.
To conclude my essay I think that Christmas has lost it’s meaning and that Christians should really think more about the day. Also I think the commercials really take away the special meaning and thought that went into Christmas and Santa takes away from the actual point of Christmas, the birth of Jesus. Also, I think Christian should celebrate Christmas in a happy manner, but not a selfish like many do today. I think the Christians should forget about all the toys and remember that the only reason they are Christian is because God himself took his only son to take away all their sins.