0:04

It's. Monday, January seventeen two

0:06

thousand and twenty two I'm Albert Mohler,

0:09

and this is the briefing, a daily analysis

0:11

of news and events from Christian Worldview

0:14

today, is one is Martin. Luther King Jr.

0:16

Day in the United States after

0:18

years of attempting to make this national

0:20

holiday, it actually became one

0:22

in the your nineteen eighty three when

0:24

then President Ronald. Reagan signed

0:27

the legislation Martin Luther King

0:29

junior's birthday is actually on January

0:32

fifteenth he was born in the year nineteen

0:34

twenty nine on that date but,

0:37

given the uniform Monday. Holidays

0:39

Act passed by Congress that took effect

0:41

in nineteen seventy one Martin

0:44

Luther King Jr. Day, like several other

0:46

holidays, is observed on the Monday

0:48

closest to the particular

0:50

date of. Historic meaning, but

0:53

nonetheless it is really interesting to

0:55

note different time to time we need to go

0:57

back and ask them basic questions like

0:59

why what's going on here why?

1:01

Is there such national holiday and

1:04

what is its meaning well for one

1:06

thing: Martin Luther King Jr., who was thirty

1:08

nine when he was assassinated in nineteen

1:10

sixty eight, he? Has gone

1:12

down in American history is one of the most

1:14

significant figures of the twentieth century,

1:17

there are huge worldview issues that

1:19

are involved in asking questions

1:22

about Martin Luther King. J.R. Day and

1:24

about the man, but it's important

1:26

for Christians to ask them questions that go

1:28

even deeper than the questions the world

1:30

might ask when the world thinks

1:33

of Martin. Luther King Jr They think primarily

1:35

of the battle for civil rights during the

1:37

twentieth century particularly in

1:39

the last half of the twentieth. century

1:42

and frankly for most americans including

1:44

most american christians it is almost

1:46

morally impossible to get back

1:49

into the situation especially

1:51

into the first decade or even the first

1:53

half and more when it came to

1:55

legal even required racial

1:58

segregation in the united states It.

2:00

Even difficult for our imagination to

2:02

go back to that situation and understands

2:05

the America that, was known

2:07

then and the America that was confronted

2:09

by the civil rights movement like.

2:12

Any other major movement the civil

2:14

rights movement was mixed in terms of it's

2:16

character, he was mixed in terms of it's

2:18

characters, even the individuals who played

2:21

such big roles on. The canvas of

2:23

history sneer worse, civil rights

2:25

leaders there were African American

2:27

or black civil rights leaders long before

2:29

Martin Luther King Jr., smith

2:31

the reason that Martin Luther King Jr. came

2:33

to symbolize the entire movement is

2:36

because he basically held

2:38

the central moral leadership of

2:40

that movements at the very moment he was

2:42

assassinated You're Nineteen Sixty

2:44

Eight Summit. In order to understand

2:46

seen, we need to look deeper and there's some

2:48

huge theological issues, some

2:51

issues involved church history

2:53

in the Christian history, the United States

2:55

and we. Need to think about for one

2:57

thing Martin Luther King Jr. was of

3:00

the Black Church, he was named,

3:02

of course Martin Luther King Jr. and

3:04

that immediately points. To the fact that he was named

3:06

for his father who became known as Martin

3:08

Luther King Senior but what's

3:11

really interesting is the senior

3:13

wasn't originally named Martin Luther.

3:15

king luther was the passed over

3:17

decades of the ebenezer baptist church

3:19

and atlanta georgia he came

3:21

to think about martin luther

3:24

the great protestant reformer and

3:26

he renamed his son and himself

3:29

for that protestant reformer given

3:31

the importance of atlanta just as city

3:34

and as collection of let churches

3:36

that posture of atlanta the preeminence

3:39

in many ways of atlanta us in

3:41

the black community and in the civil rights movement

3:43

in the twentieth century both martin luther king

3:45

senior and junior would become extremely

3:48

well known but the sun even

3:50

far more than the father smith

3:52

martin luther king jr grew up king the home

3:54

of black preacher even the cadences

3:57

of his conversation notice

3:59

when he was pre But. Even just the cadences

4:01

of his conversations were greatly

4:03

shaped by and influenced by the

4:05

cadences of historic black preaching

4:08

in the United States by the time

4:10

Martin Luther King Jr. his voice became

4:12

known do millions upon millions of

4:14

Americans, it was voice

4:16

that have been trained not only

4:19

by the cadences as black church but

4:21

also by liberal theological education.

4:24

In the American North, in particular,

4:26

Crows or Theological Seminary

4:28

Smith before we get to seminary

4:30

as young man, Martin Luther King Jr., had

4:32

attended Morehouse College, Snow,

4:34

More House and. Isn't has been one of the

4:36

most famous historically black colleges

4:38

in the United States it, is black

4:41

college that time he was there was

4:43

entirely restricted to. Young men and

4:45

had an extremely rigorous

4:47

academic and moral code

4:49

me understanding of necessity, and

4:51

morehouse college was that it would produce not

4:54

just black college graduates

4:56

among young men. Were young, gentleman

4:58

young men who could lead the civil rights

5:00

movement and provide leadership to the black

5:02

community in the United States,

5:04

even are you my specially

5:06

during the incredibly difficult? Context

5:09

of legal segregation, but understanding

5:11

martin luther king jr is

5:14

challenge she is in many ways and

5:16

historical and theological enigma

5:19

by theological time he was young man at morehouse

5:21

college steel perceive some kind

5:23

of call to ministry but later when

5:25

describing that called the ministry's he

5:27

really spoke of perceiving something like non

5:30

emotional call to serve humanity

5:33

That's. Not be as doric understanding of the Christian

5:35

ministry but, nonetheless, in preparation

5:38

for the Christian ministry and recall the fact

5:40

that at that point American history

5:43

preachers, pastors ministers.

5:45

Held the preeminent leadership in the

5:47

African American community it's the Winter

5:50

Crows or Theological Seminary seminary the Northeast

5:52

northeast later by the way receives PhD

5:54

degree from Boston University. now

5:57

as you think about martin luther king junior's

5:59

luther on Education. Is,

6:01

important to note that he went to northern

6:03

largely white and certainly white

6:06

sounded white dominated institutions,

6:09

both of them were steeped in liberal

6:11

protestants theology most of the? Institutions,

6:13

the cemetery where he did his seminary degree

6:16

and Boston University, where he did his doctor,

6:18

it's both of them were

6:21

basically bastions of theological

6:23

liberalism and the theological education

6:25

theological Received and both of those levels was

6:28

similarly, influence know

6:30

there are those who have raised very interesting

6:32

questions what if Martin Luther King Jr had

6:34

attended an Orthodox theological

6:37

seminary. Would that have made that difference

6:39

well, certainly difference would hope it would have made

6:41

difference, but it is also simply

6:44

historically important to say that

6:46

most of the historically orthodox?

6:49

Theological seminary, particularly

6:51

in the south, would not at that time

6:54

had been open to an African American students,

6:56

and their is divine judgment made very clear

6:58

and that as that Young man, both

7:01

and seminary, and during the time of his doctoral

7:03

work, Martin Luther King Jr., was looking

7:06

and we can see that now for something of theological

7:08

home, he. Was also looking for also theology

7:11

that would be compatible with his political vision,

7:13

he found that not by accident

7:16

and liberal protestantism, minutes understanding

7:18

of the Kingdom of God largely divorced.

7:20

From the Orthodox Christian

7:22

allergies that had been the creedal background

7:25

of the Church during his education,

7:27

he became greatly influenced by figures

7:30

including the baptist Walter Route

7:32

and Bush, also liberal. Theologians

7:34

Paul Tillich rhine old neighbor and

7:36

later non, Christian. figure

7:39

non the as you are considering

7:41

this Look at the name Walter Rauschenbusch

7:44

their you're looking at the founder in so many

7:46

ways of what became known as the Social

7:48

Gospel Walter. rauschenbusch

7:51

and identified the social gospel in

7:53

terms that transform the atonement of christ

7:56

him to message of the social

7:58

significance of christianity Then. "As movement,

8:00

liberation and social change now, we

8:03

just need to note something water",

8:05

Rauschenbusch and the other founders of the

8:07

Social Gospel we're looking

8:09

at genuine social problems

8:12

that. Called for Christian response,

8:15

the sad thing is that Rauschenbusch

8:17

and his colleagues responded by creating

8:19

the so called "social gospel", which

8:22

wasn't to the gospel of Jesus Christ

8:24

is, isn't the? Gospel of Jesus Christ

8:27

instead of movement and we can look

8:29

in retrospect what we wish we

8:31

saw in retrospect is movement

8:33

that blended together Orthodox

8:36

Christian theology and an. Absolute

8:38

and uncompromised commitment to the Gospel

8:40

of Jesus Christ with Christian

8:43

response just the basic level:

8:45

meeting human needs and,

8:47

didn't have fine with those who clearly.

8:50

We're being crushed by all

8:52

over the politics and the economics and

8:55

even the legal structures of the day when

8:57

it came to some of these other influences to think

8:59

of Paul. Tillich was himself

9:01

so liberal, but I don't actually

9:03

think it's fair to refer to him as

9:06

Christian theologian, theologian was basically

9:08

himself decidedly post Christian,

9:11

very liberal anesthesiology still.

9:13

It transformed the categories, categories Christian

9:15

doctrine, into basic symbolic

9:18

terms, he was looking for some

9:20

kind of Christian existentialism,

9:23

and he was looking for beyond that

9:25

in terms of mythology and. Even flirtations

9:27

with all kinds of esoteric ideas,

9:30

Paul Tillich was also himself revealed

9:32

later to be a sexual deviant

9:35

mean unless he had inordinate influence

9:38

liberal Christian theology at the. Midpoint

9:40

of the twentieth century. now when

9:43

it came to reinhold niebuhr also

9:45

union theological seminary the paragon

9:47

of theological liberalism in new york

9:50

reinhold niebuhr was very different than paul

9:52

tillich he was actually morally repulsed

9:54

by paul tillich but nonetheless

9:57

reinhold niebuhr redefined

9:59

cristiana Then. As message

10:01

of social meaning, but at the

10:03

expense of the historic Christian gospel

10:06

indeed, spear our students of Reinhold

10:08

neighbor like the students are Paul Tillich

10:10

and basically have come. To the conclusion

10:13

that neither one of them actually believed even

10:15

and personal gone but, Reinhold

10:17

niebuhr did and this gonna

10:19

sound very ironic menaces exactly

10:22

as neighbor in. The number eons would put it.

10:24

if he didn't believe in personal

10:27

god he did believe in the reality

10:29

of zen sense of course that's

10:31

not truly the biblical understanding

10:33

of sin but it is at least

10:35

to the willingness to make moral verdict

10:38

about the darkness of the human heart

10:40

him as over against the optimistic liberals

10:42

of the twentieth century school actually

10:44

continued you want to speak of human

10:47

goodness but all that

10:49

to say that of all the influences

10:51

in morrow the king junior's theological

10:53

life and eventually in his civil rights

10:55

movement methodology we have to

10:57

with your reinhold niebuhr Generally.

11:00

The most significant and,

11:02

one of the issues significant about Reinhold

11:04

neighbor, is that neighbor who

11:07

was definitely was man who sought peace

11:10

nonetheless disagreed even with

11:12

other liberal. Theologians, including by

11:14

the way, his own brother in

11:16

arguing that at times

11:18

power has to serve because of love,

11:21

that's very interesting argument, but that

11:23

was extremely controversial and liberal.

11:25

Theological circles in the twentieth

11:28

century it was largely the

11:30

product of two world wars and

11:32

reinhold neighbors understanding the human sinfulness

11:34

or, least I would rather say

11:36

in his view. Human Evil was

11:39

deeply immovable until

11:41

there was some kind of force or power

11:44

reinhold Niebuhr in this sense was perhaps doing

11:46

more sociology them see our to

11:49

him given. his perspective but

11:51

mervyn king jr with him by that ne

11:53

burney and expectations spit

11:56

at times power would be necessary

11:58

in order to serve the cause of Then. Nets basically

12:01

how he defined to the civil rights movement,

12:03

but it's also important to recognizing

12:05

it is how he defined the civil rights movement

12:08

as a non violent movement

12:11

and that. Was also something that he

12:13

borrowed from Mahatma Gandhi and

12:15

we don't have time to go entirely into that

12:18

background, but it is really interesting

12:20

to understand the teen looked

12:22

at the. Gandhi and movement in India

12:25

and saw the possibility

12:27

of similar kind of movements for

12:29

the opposition to race may segregation

12:32

in the United States

12:34

know there's lot for us. To would get here,

12:36

but part of it simply comes down

12:39

to the facts of history, the facts

12:41

of history are that Martin Luther King

12:43

Jr. ended up faster of

12:46

the dexter. Avenue Baptist Church him gum re

12:48

Alabama and he would they are nineteen fifty

12:50

four so just keep that in mind he

12:52

was pastor in, black

12:54

church in. Montgomery in Nineteen Sixty

12:56

Four, he went to that

12:58

pulpit just before Rosa Parks

13:01

famously refused to give up her seat on

13:03

the bus an infinite the began

13:05

what became known. As the mugham read bus, boycott

13:08

seen very young pastor and

13:10

as you see fairly new pastor

13:12

in church they are in that very city

13:14

mugham race became something.

13:16

Of the voice before that movement

13:19

before the mugham read, Bus boycott

13:22

nader his prominence would

13:24

catapult him to succeed his

13:26

father as pastor of father far more

13:28

influential church that. Eebenezer

13:30

Baptist Church, in Atlanta, Georgia he

13:32

assumed that. role in nineteen sixty

13:35

now by the way the lots of interesting things

13:37

took place here and here nineteen

13:40

sixty one martin luther king jr

13:42

spoken the chapel at luther southern baptist

13:44

theological seminary it was

13:46

very controversial isn't there

13:48

in nineteen sixty one but

13:51

it also tells us great

13:53

deal about the prominence them or luther

13:55

king jr had already achieved as

13:57

very young pastor now in

14:00

Atlanta. About two years

14:02

later, my luther King Jr. would be arrested

14:04

in Birmingham, Alabama, and he would write

14:07

perhaps the best known of his writings

14:09

he became known as "Letter from Birmingham" jail

14:12

and, it's very important that emmons

14:14

illegals recognize that the logic

14:17

the moral logically team used

14:19

was one that used for

14:21

additional biblical language",

14:24

he claimed, the prophetic mantle

14:26

of. The profits the old testament and

14:28

in their litter use the words of Jesus,

14:31

or that letter was actually written letters

14:33

to the general public, it was written specifically

14:35

to some. White pastors in

14:37

the city of Birmingham and

14:40

he was writing to them about the logic

14:42

of the civil rights movement he was calling

14:44

on them not only to accept

14:46

but to. Champion champion process of peaceful

14:48

change that would eradicate

14:51

race based segregation in the United

14:53

States, in August of

14:55

that year on August twenty eighth team would

14:57

give his most famous. Oration

15:00

he spoke in the March on Washington, and

15:02

there he famously spoke to that crowd, saying:

15:04

"I saying to you today my friends that

15:06

in spite of the difficulties and frustrations. Of

15:08

the movement's I still have a dream, it's

15:10

dream deeply rooted in the American

15:13

Dream, stink smoke, famous words,

15:15

including these quote that one day his

15:17

hope was that one. Day one the Red

15:19

Hills of Georgia, he said, the sons

15:21

of former slaves and the son of former

15:23

slave owners will be able to sit down together

15:26

at table A. brotherhood in

15:28

the same species famously smoke

15:30

on his own children saying that he hoped that

15:32

one day they would be judged by

15:35

the content of their character

15:37

rather than their color of their

15:39

skin countless is paused for moment

15:41

that has to be the right thing to say mass

15:44

to be the right thing to believe it's

15:46

shocking to us to think that it would ever

15:48

be otherwise but it's at least historically

15:51

and theologically important for us to recognize

15:54

that it was otherwise and

15:56

that there were many churches and nomination

15:58

so basically gave either Or?

16:00

A fish on the boards to race based

16:02

segregation that's a matter

16:05

of shame and know now

16:07

of God's judgment upon those churches

16:09

and denominations it's, also

16:11

important to recognize the. Team

16:14

was speaking on that day

16:16

in way that was not universally

16:18

well received in the civil rights

16:20

movement because it's important for us to recognize

16:22

that movement was never singularly.

16:25

Martin Luther King Jr., for

16:27

one thing there was left wing

16:29

smit saw Martin Luther King Jr. as

16:31

far too subtle far

16:34

too slow far too

16:36

committed too nonviolence them. Was

16:38

possible to get the job done as they saw,

16:40

it in nineteen sixty eight

16:43

even as at movement was fracturing in

16:45

many ways even as it had made

16:47

legislative achievements. For still understood

16:49

as hell understood have long way to go Martin

16:52

Luther King was assassinated there in Memphis

16:54

as he was speaking to garbage workers

16:57

who had gone, on. Strike it's

16:59

also important to recognize in important

17:01

horrifying way the nineteen sixty eight

17:03

was season political assassinations

17:06

in, the United States, it was

17:09

year that those who. Are now living

17:11

born long after nineteen

17:13

sixty eight not only of course wouldn't remember

17:15

but it's hard. for them to imagine not

17:18

only was martin luther king jr the

17:20

most prominent civil rights activists in the

17:22

united states assassinate in smith's

17:24

so also was the man who at that

17:26

point was destined to win the democratic

17:29

presidential nomination senator

17:31

robert f kennedy of new york who

17:33

of course have been attorney general

17:35

to his brother the president of the

17:37

united states john kennedy who had been

17:39

assassinated in nineteen sixty three

17:42

it is important for us to recognize that even

17:45

as there are many in the media right now

17:47

i think at least partly

17:49

in recklessness pointing to

17:52

the situation in the united states right

17:54

now and wondering if the nation is going

17:56

to bring the parts it is at least important

17:58

for us to recognize me That. To

18:00

your like nineteen, sixty eight

18:02

should caution us from over describing

18:05

the undeniable tensions in our

18:07

own day, but it's also important for us

18:09

to recognize that Martin Luther King Jr.

18:12

As a man as churchmen

18:15

that is to say, the pastor, the preacher

18:17

to church, is the leader, the civil rights movements,

18:19

he also is difficult

18:21

person for evangelical Christians.

18:24

To seek fully to understand any,

18:26

we will never fully understand him, he

18:28

also present for real challenges to

18:30

our understanding as we think about

18:33

the morality of leadership and we think.

18:35

About need some travel d of theology

18:38

to anyone's Worldview when it

18:40

came to that the allergy you're looking

18:42

at a strange and rather unfortunate

18:44

makes mix on

18:46

the negative side. Of liberal theology

18:49

in largely and diluted form. You're.

18:51

Also, however, looking at the continuing

18:54

cadences and messages

18:56

of scripture, including the profits,

18:58

messages about injustice

19:00

and even and respect

19:03

to use of the words of Jesus

19:05

in many cases in. A way that even the most

19:07

conservative XD would see as

19:09

quite legitimate on the moral

19:11

dimension, we also have to face the fact

19:14

that there is now undeniable

19:16

documentation and evidence.

19:19

Of longstanding, very

19:21

significant sexual immorality

19:23

on the part of Martin Luther King Jr., and

19:26

at least some of his associates

19:29

I'm not going to dwell on this in detail

19:31

and be. Salacious and simply going to say that

19:34

what we're talking about his moral

19:37

misbehavior on a scale

19:40

that just about any Orthodox

19:42

biblical Christian would have to see as

19:44

invalidating of that. Person's

19:46

claims to fitness for the Christian

19:49

ministry or even to meet the definition

19:51

biblically of Christian

19:54

but, at the same time the info as martin

19:56

luther king had certainly within the

19:58

historical context of this Then. Rights

20:00

movement was one that was far

20:02

more compatible with Christianity

20:05

than most of the alternatives the he confronted

20:08

and, we just need to make very

20:10

important comparison that only. Makes sense

20:12

now that would not have made sense

20:14

during the lifetime of Martin Luther King Jr.,

20:17

when you compare the civil rights movement of

20:19

the nineteen Sixties with the Black Lives.

20:21

Matter movement that emerged as

20:24

in the last several years, you are looking at the

20:26

fact that the Black lives Matter movement is

20:28

largely repudiation of

20:30

Martin Luther King Jr. for. One thing

20:33

it is an open repudiation

20:35

of the dependence of any claim civil

20:38

rights upon Christianity, the

20:40

leadership of the civil rights movement was overwhelmingly

20:43

almost exclusively made up protestant

20:46

ministers Then. Answer is black

20:48

churches leadership then

20:50

in the civil rights movement, including the Reverend

20:52

Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., they

20:55

were all basically reverence,

20:57

but when you did the leadership of. The Black lives Matter

20:59

movement far more influenced by

21:01

Marxism, and also by critical

21:04

theory, particularly critical race theory,

21:06

what you see is the fact that the

21:08

organizers of the black lives. Matter movement

21:11

were explicitly not only not

21:14

creatures they did

21:16

not identify with the book of Christianity

21:18

and any sense furthermore

21:21

even, as the leaders of the civil rights movement

21:23

as. Pastors were almost exclusively

21:26

men, the founders is black lives

21:28

matter movement were not only women

21:30

but more than one of them identified

21:32

as queer, women were

21:35

a. Lots of other distinctions between

21:37

other civil rights movement of the Nineteen Sixties

21:39

and the Black lives Matter movement as we

21:41

know. it now but it's

21:43

important for us to recognize particularly

21:45

as christians that one of our

21:48

intellectual and moral responsibilities

21:50

and d one of our theological responsibilities

21:53

is to think about god's providence

21:56

in the history of our culture in the history of our nation

21:59

in such a way that we Recognize! Smit,

22:01

many of the people who made decisive

22:03

impact were not persons

22:05

that we would welcome as members of our church

22:08

is based upon their theological positions

22:10

or their moral behavior. It's

22:12

tough to talk about this precisely

22:14

because of the rightness of

22:16

the basic civil rights, message

22:19

that Martin Luther King Jr. brought in

22:21

the nineteen Sixties, even the most

22:23

conservative. "Evangelicals

22:25

of today would be basic

22:27

agreement with most of what team

22:29

said about his indictment negatively

22:32

of the race based in equities

22:35

that had occurred in the United States and.

22:37

Of the necessity of change and necessity

22:39

of change driven by biblical

22:41

concerns, there are other complications

22:44

and we simply have to acknowledge these, there

22:46

are complications such as asking

22:48

as to. Whether the Martin Luther King Jr.

22:50

of Nineteen sixty Eight has shifted considerably

22:53

to the left in terms of his politics

22:56

and his analysis of the civil rights movement

22:58

than that of. The early and mid

23:00

nineteen sixties there's evidence

23:03

both ways, but nonetheless

23:05

the important thing for us to recognize is

23:07

it as United States of America now has

23:10

legal federal. Holiday

23:12

known as Martin Luther King Jr. Day Christians

23:14

can reflect upon the fact that there are

23:16

persons who on the canvas of

23:18

world history or in this case American

23:21

history make. A decisive difference

23:23

in place and absolutely historic

23:26

role and when it comes to

23:28

a holiday like this near recognized

23:30

for that fact is really

23:32

interesting right now, the their people on. The right

23:34

and the love to wouldn't schedule different holidays

23:37

in the United States, and

23:39

it's also interesting to see that many those

23:41

people use arguments against

23:43

some of the most historic. Figures in American history

23:46

they would not use against others,

23:48

they would not apply the same standards, this

23:50

is where we, as Christians, have to

23:52

recognize that we will never be able.

23:54

To untangle all been lots of

23:56

history, not to mention all the knights

23:59

of humanity. What do United States

24:01

of America? Confronted the

24:03

very same issues that Martin Luther King

24:05

jr. Demanded must be confronted

24:07

with out the singular role

24:09

of Martin Luther King jr. That's question.

24:11

We simply can't ask because we don't get to

24:13

go back and Rewind history. This

24:16

is history as it is and

24:18

on as Christians understand that that's exactly

24:20

what we must deal with, theologically

24:22

biblically early, with

24:25

history that is history

24:27

as it happened. It's all so

24:29

humbling to recognize that biblically minded,

24:31

Christian will be struggling some of these questions not

24:34

only long into the But

24:36

if we're honest. Go

24:38

with him until Jesus comes, thanks

24:40

for listening to the briefing for more information. Go

24:43

to my website at albertmohler.com. You

24:45

can follow me Twitter i by going to twitter dot slash

24:48

Albert Mohler for information on

24:50

the Southern Baptist. Theological Go to

24:52

sbts.edu for

24:54

information on voice, Just go to wish.com.

24:56

I'll meet you again tomorrow for

24:58

the briefing.