MLK Jr's Last Speech

[wil]

Now this is supposed to be the end of MLK Jr's last speech.

I was wondering if any of you would like to discuss any similarities between Moses in the wildnerness or Jesus in the garden or how prophetic it was for his own demise and the blessing his following was to receive?

Martin Luther King Jr. Last Speech

 

[sunofmysoul]

Now this is supposed to be the end of MLK Jr's last speech.

I was wondering if any of you would like to discuss any similarities between Moses in the wildnerness or Jesus in the garden or how prophetic it was for his own demise and the blessing his following was to receive?

Martin Luther King Jr. Last Speech

goosebumps no matter how many times i hear it...

Courage begets courage.
Each one willing to "drink the cup" before them, that those who followed, would ....dare to believe.

 

[Ahanu]

Well, I say he was well aware of the events going on around him. MLK Jr. received constant death threats. It was so bad that his own home was bombed because of what he was doing. Luckily nobody was killed. That's why I think he similarly said with Moses, I won't make it to the promised land, but you will.

 

[Abdullah]

Now this is supposed to be the end of MLK Jr's last speech.

I was wondering if any of you would like to discuss any similarities between Moses in the wildnerness or Jesus in the garden or how prophetic it was for his own demise and the blessing his following was to receive?

Martin Luther King Jr. Last Speech

Peace All

there is something of interest that I'd like to point out about that speech and what happened subsequently

In it Martin compared himself to the Prophet moses [pbuh]; maybe it was just to give 'his people' hope, etc, but nonetheless he very clearly compared himself to Prophet moses [pbuh] and that was an absolutely ridiculous thing to do; sorry peeps dont mean to demean the personality of mlk for he was no dobut a great freedom fighter, but all of us ordinary people put together dont even come anywhere close to any prophet let alone a great one like the prophet moses [pbuh] so this sort of thing [to compare ourselves to one] is far from being humble and most certainly a reason for ALlah to be displeased with us, and i'm wondering wether his almost immediate death afterwards had anything to do with this dispelasure of ALlah as far as His will incorporated in it is concerned?

 

[Saltmeister]

but nonetheless he very clearly compared himself to Prophet moses [pbuh] and that was an absolutely ridiculous thing to do; sorry peeps dont mean to demean the personality of mlk for he was no dobut a great freedom fighter

but all of us ordinary people put together dont even come anywhere close to any prophet let alone a great one like the prophet moses [pbuh] so this sort of thing [to compare ourselves to one] is far from being humble and most certainly a reason for ALlah to be displeased with us, and i'm wondering wether his almost immediate death afterwards had anything to do with this dispelasure of ALlah as far as His will incorporated in it is concerned?

I disagree. The prophets were just ordinary people like you and me. They are just people we remember through the written traditions. It is no reason for us to disregard other memorable events that never made it into Scripture.

Maybe he didn't meet an angel or receive an audible message from God. But that didn't mean he wasn't doing God's will nor did it mean that God wouldn't give him credit for what he did.

Furthermore, MLK was doing what he thought Jesus had taught him to do, which was to stand up against injustice, persecution and oppression.

Actually, in a sense MLK was actually greater than the prophets. He didn't need an angel from God to tell him what was right. He figured it out by himself.

Besides, MLK was acting under the legacy of Jesus, so it wasn't as if he was doing it to promote himself or acting under his own ethics. He was doing it in dedication to his leader.

It was right that he stated it boldly and courageously.

This is one situation where I think over-reverence for some divine hierarchy of prophets is a dereliction of duty for God's people. Jesus didn't wait around for an angel to speak to him. He intuitively knew what to do based on what his religion taught. It was, of course his own understanding and interpretation, but nonetheless . . . Everybody else was probably waiting for the angels to come and issue instructions.

I think you know how that story ends. According to Christians, Jesus became a prophet. Is he not also a prophet in your religion too?

 

[Saltmeister]

What I mean by my last post is that I don't agree with the idea that what the prophets did is so great, so spectacular, that their achievements are so unattainable and beyond reach of the general population. Moreover, I consider their achievements archetypal. What point is there of telling their stories if it is impossible for us to emulate some aspect of what they did?

So you promote them in order to demote the rest of us? Are our own achievements so undervalued?

 

[Dondi]

Might I point out that the contents of MLK's last speech had been regularly given in some speeches prior to this one, so it wasn't like he all of a sudden had some miraculous insight on the night before his death. It was a constant refrain that he adopted. As an admirer of Ghandi, perhaps he thought his death was imminent, as Ghandi suffered the same fate as a peace-loving pacifist himself.

 

[Abdullah]

What I mean by my last post is that I don't agree with the idea that what the prophets did is so great, so spectacular, that their achievements are so unattainable and beyond reach of the general population. Moreover, I consider their achievements archetypal. What point is there of telling their stories if it is impossible for us to emulate some aspect of what they did?

Indeed we can emulate aspects of what they did, but never to the perfect extent to which they did, for the Prophets were sinless and they made absolutely great sacrifce in the face of extreme adversity and they obeyed God through thick and thin with every breath of their life...

the fact that we are not sinless takes away even the remotest possibility of us equalling any prophets at all

So you promote them in order to demote the rest of us? Are our own achievements so undervalued?

And another aspect of the Prophetic guidance were, for to us to remain humble and have lowly opinion of ourselves; not great one's

Indeed many a non-Prophets have strived hard in the path of God and they are great people too [but not as great as any prophets though ] but it is for other people and God to judge them as such and not themselves, for one to have a highly opinion of oneself is to be - and i hate to say it regarding mlk for he made a lot of sacrifice for a great cause and helped eradicate racism a great deal God-willing, but just to explain this issue I'll say it - arrogant

 

[Abdullah]

Might I point out that the contents of MLK's last speech had been regularly given in some speeches prior to this one, so it wasn't like he all of a sudden had some miraculous insight on the night before his death. It was a constant refrain that he adopted. As an admirer of Ghandi, perhaps he thought his death was imminent, as Ghandi suffered the same fate as a peace-loving pacifist himself.

did he compare himself to the prophet moses [pbuh] in his other speeches?

 

[Dondi]

did he compare himself to the prophet moses [pbuh] in his other speeches?

I'm not aware if he compared himself with Moses in his other speeches. Nor do I believe he was struck down for somehow being blaphemous in trying to be Moses.

Regardless, I believed MLK considered himself a 'Moses' for his people. Just as Moses led the Israelites out of the slavery, MLK led the blacks out of the slavery of bigotry and inequality and injustice during the 50s and 60s. Certainly, I didn't think he meant to exalt himself to the level of Moses, but rather in emulation, he trusted the Almighty and just wanted to do His will.

I think it is an admirable trait to want to model after such a biblical hero and I think MLK identified with Moses' plight against a stubborn generation. He dreamed of a different world, a better world than the one he was experiencing. And like Moses, he saw the light on the otherside of the mountiantop, a hope that those better days were coming for his people, but still a long way off. Perhaps his last speech wasn't so prophetic as he recognized that there was still a lot of work to do and maybe that day was yet a long way off. Certainly, we have come a long way since, but there are still pockets of bigotry that pop up here and there. But it's closer.

If you want, you can peruse some of MLK's speeches here to find what you are looking for.