IS MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. WORTHY OF HONOR?

 

A valid question, though some might consider it to be disrespectful, considering what day it is.  If we’re going to say that someone must be honored it is vitally important we specify whether that means: everything about that person, or just one particular thing. Considering the fact that most people aren’t too specific, it is generally assumed what we are honoring the man for is, namely, his contribution to civil rights.  That I can get behind.  He did many good things to advance the cause of civil rights during the racist Jim Crow era, and many of his ideas and practices worked to produce positive change in race relations in America. 

                If we suggest honoring the man himself, we need to examine every facet of his life, which includes the many credible claims of sexual misconduct leveled against him, as well as the numerous heretical articles he published, in which he denied fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith including the divinity of Christ, the Trinity, substitutionary atonement, the bodily Resurrection of Christ, the second coming, and the virgin birth. He also believed that one’s theology should adapt with the times, contrary to scripture, which teaches that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and since God doesn’t change, we should not attempt to change what He says either. I know that non-Christians aren’t concerned about the latter, but shouldn’t you be concerned about the former, especially in light of the #metoo movement? You’re betraying your principles if you don’t carefully examine these claims. People question the legitimacy of those claims, considering the FBI's wrongful monitoring of him and even threatening him, but does that necessarily negate them as true? Consider the fact that his friend, Dr. Ralph Abernathy, also noted King's sexual behavior and the fact the FBI documents on the case are sealed until at least the year 2027. We should ask ourselves why that is. If he is truly innocent, why not just release them now since there'd be nothing to hide?  It suggests there could be credibility to these claims.  

                I’ve seen over a dozen Christian singers, pastors, churches and organizations today praising MLK and declaring him to be a believer. Christians should not be making such claims about a man with such a questionable moral history and suspect theological views. We need to be clear about things, that what he stood for in the area of civil rights was good, but that his unorthodox views and questionable lifestyle should not be honored. The problem is, when you paint with a broad brush and say the man should be honored, you seem to indicate that you’re in favor of both his theology and immoral behavior, as well as the good that he championed for civil rights.

                You say, “How insensitive! How dare you criticize MLK on this day, racist!” But that’s another thing I wanted to bring up.  Martin Luther King Jr. seems to be someone that no one is allowed to ever publically criticize. Why? Even when new information arises about him?  When I was a kid, I had respect for MLK and even believed he was a Christian, as I was unaware of his heretical views and his immoral behavior, but upon learning new information, my view of him changed. And we should not be against changing our views of people upon learning new (true) information. Christians, should we be declaring him a fellow believer who upheld Christian truth when he denied fundamental doctrines of our faith?  To others, should we praise him as a man of great moral character when there is credible evidence that he was involved in extremely terrible sexual behavior and participated in abuse? We cannot pretend this stuff didn’t happen just because it may be inconvenient. We need to recognize truth and respond to it, no matter how inconvenient in may be.  To be perfectly clear, this piece is NOT meant to cancel MLK, but point out his questionable behavior while celebrating the good things he did in the name of civil rights. His achievements for that cause should be celebrated, but the man himself should not be honored, nor should we consider him a true Christian. I encourage you to look into these things for yourselves and make your own assessment based on it. 

 

Quotes and articles by King to consider:

"In dealing with even the worst of men, Christ constantly made appeal to a hidden goodness in their nature. We must somehow believe that the lives of men are changed when the potential good in man is believed in." - MLK, Jr. in a Boston University essay dated May 15, 1953 (Here he denies the doctrine of total depravity.) 

"Concerning the origin of sin the Bible teaches many things. It must be stated at the outset that the Bible teaches no doctrine of original sin." - MLK, Jr. in a Boston University essay dated November 2, 1953, written in preparation for his doctoral dissertation (Here he denies original sin, which could make it easy for him to justify his immoral sexual behavior)

"To say that the Christ, whose example of living we are bid to follow, is divine in an ontological sense is actually harmful and detrimental." — MLK, Jr. in a 1950 essay titled "The Humanity and Divinity of Jesus" (here he denies the divinity of Christ and says that belief is “harmful”)

Document in which he denies the virgin birth, the bodily Resurrection and the divinity of Christ https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/what-experiences-christians-living-early-christian-century-led-christian 

An MLK scholar outline evidence of his sexual misdeeds https://theconversation.com/im-an-mlk-scholar-and-ill-never-be-able-to-view-king-in-the-same-light-118015 

Another article examining his beliefs and behavior: 

http://discerninghistory.com/2018/04/was-martin-luther-king-jr-a-christian/