At first Langston was nothing more than a normal child who was curious about everything in the world, especially to something abstract like God. He genuinely anticipated the result of being saved from what his aunt told him seeing the light. As the time went by, looking at his peers saved, he started to get upset and was confused whether Jesus existed and came to save him. Then there were two factors from the outside that intensified his change, to become a person that he didn’t want to be. The people who should take the most responsibility for this change were the adults. The minister kept saying “Why don’t you come?” and his aunt knelt down and cried. They unknowingly gave pressure to Langston as if he had to be saved today. I believe the ending would be totally different if they said to Langston that’s fine and try another day. Another reason was by Westley. “God had not struck Westley dead for taking his name in vain or for lying in the temple.” Langston finally gave in and stood up, just in order to not waste time and make everyone happy. Children’s belief is naive and easy to establish that they believe all what the elders tell them is true about God. However, all the same time, once their faith was destroyed, they probably would have trauma that never comes back again. At the end, Langston cried hard at night, and I believed that’s when real salvation happened because he felt guilty for blasphemy. Unfortunately, he didn’t believe in Jesus anymore.
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3 thoughts on “Jiaxing Rong Discussion 3”
I agree with him being naïve and curious at the beginning. But, I don’t think he realized that the crying in his room and shame of it all was his punishment. The reality of parents putting so much expectation on children happens a lot more than people expect. He was bound to be disappointed in his faith because of how his parents built all of it up and explained it to him. Him lying and receiving no punishment solidified his belief in not believing in Jesus and having a sense of not being saved.
Religion guides humans to a higher order of existence through the collective organization of beliefs, cultural identities, and world views. Religion seeks to define the meaning of life and human existence through historical narratives, symbols, and faith. However, there have been many acts of violence done in the name of religion, or more specifically, in the name of God. Because as a Haitian I experienced religious manipulation too when I was in Haiti. Even though I was sick, I had to go to church
I believe it’s important to understand how some religions manipulate spirituality, and to share with you, what you can do about such religious manipulation is to be truly educated. What I mean by saying that with a good education, you can avoid religious manipulation.
I agree a lot with what you wrote Jiaxing I also believe that he is being curious with everything going on and I believe that he is curious because he’s still young but is also trying to understand a little more about what is going on which is a good thing that he is trying to do that at a young age. Your claim also helped me better understand the reading a little bit in certain parts which I was confused in.