To Believe or Not To Believe :: essays research papers

To Believe or Not to BelieveThe short muniment Salvation portrays the life of Langston Hughes at an early age confronted with the decision to come forward and be saved. His aunties church, held a special meeting for children, to operate the boylike lambs to the fold(Hughes, 197). Throughout the story, he sits in his seat, his aunt Reed sobbing the whole time, congregation pressuring him to come and be saved, and waiting to see Jesus. nevertheless nothing ever happens-no bright light, no Jesus, nothing. The church is full of a mighty wail of moans and voices(198) waiting for Langston to get up and see Jesus. So he does. He cannot wait any longer and lies to the entire congregation, simply saying he was saved, but only to save from any further trouble. In the end, he never sees Jesus, keeps his lie a secret from his aunt, believes there isnt even a Jesus, and is farther from the truth than ever. The story does have good logic. It is understandable if psyche is completely turned off to the gospel because they were pressured or forced to accept Christianity. It is not that persons fracture if that do dislike the truth of the Bible. It is, however, the fault of whomever was doing the witnessing. They either did a terrible job presenting the gospel message, or they didnt have any Scripture to back up their words. In Hughes case, the gospel unveiling was the worst Id ever heard going from a wonderful rhythmical sermon, all moans and shouts and lonely cries and dire pictures of hell, and then he render a song about the ninety and nine safe in the fold, but one little lamb was left out in the frigorific(197). What a smooth transition. In my aunts case, she, too, was completely turned off to the gospel. At her husbands funeral, two or three nuns came up to her and attempted to witness to her. Attempted mind you. What may or may not shock some people (however not surprising to me), was that they blatantly told my aunt that her husband went to hell. Again, this is at her funeral. I do not know if he did or did not believe in Christ as his Savior-I was too young at the time-but what an unfortunate way to let her know about the grace of God. It is no wonder she is still turned off to the gospel to this day.