Huckleberry Finn
I recently read again this old book. They have talked of banning it from schools and libraries again. I wonder if those people ever really read the book. The book is full of ethics and morality as viewed through the eyes of a simple kid with little "book learning" but lots of life experience.
Huck, a kid forced on his own by an abusive and neglectful father, discovers that the one man who is honorable and treats him fairly is Nigger Jim. Practically every other man in the book is a bum, thief, wretch, liar, alcoholic, swindler, dishonest or of questionable sense. Huck is informed by society that to help a runaway slave is wrong and he will go to hell for it, so he has to make a tough decision. He has to choose to either follow his heart or face Miss Watson's "Providence" in the day of judgement. He can't turn Jim in and do what his heart says is right, so he prepares for hell. I wonder how often our dogmas and misconceptions about religion, the lost, the church and Jesus make unbelievers decide it isn't worth it to pursue the life.
In another part of the book, the widow Douglas and Miss Watson tell him to pray for anything and God will provide it, which Huck takes at face value and prays for some fishing line. He got the line, but no hooks, even though he tried several times. Being apparently refused by God, he decided he was of no account, low-down and ornery, and wasn't worth God's time. I wonder how often non-Christians get the wrong impression and feel the same way. They pray for something without understanding and get no results, proving to them that either God is a hoax or they are not worth his time. Or, then again, how often does MY treatment of a waiter or clerk or salesman or the guy in the next car color the person's opinion of God because I outwardly profess Christianity? What DOES the non-Christian think when someone with a little fish on the back of their car scream at them for some offense then pull into the church parking lot?
Huck Finn got to thinking about the upright, church-going people he knew. They hadn't any fun and expected everyone else to be the same. They were strict, condescending and judgemental. Those were the people, they said, which would populate heaven, and he must do what they did in order to squeak by into the pearly gates. After he thought about it long enough, Huck decided he wouldn't try for it.
Hmmm. What should that say to me??
Some say Mark Twain was practically an atheist. Maybe it was people's version of God he couldn't believe in.
Huck, a kid forced on his own by an abusive and neglectful father, discovers that the one man who is honorable and treats him fairly is Nigger Jim. Practically every other man in the book is a bum, thief, wretch, liar, alcoholic, swindler, dishonest or of questionable sense. Huck is informed by society that to help a runaway slave is wrong and he will go to hell for it, so he has to make a tough decision. He has to choose to either follow his heart or face Miss Watson's "Providence" in the day of judgement. He can't turn Jim in and do what his heart says is right, so he prepares for hell. I wonder how often our dogmas and misconceptions about religion, the lost, the church and Jesus make unbelievers decide it isn't worth it to pursue the life.
In another part of the book, the widow Douglas and Miss Watson tell him to pray for anything and God will provide it, which Huck takes at face value and prays for some fishing line. He got the line, but no hooks, even though he tried several times. Being apparently refused by God, he decided he was of no account, low-down and ornery, and wasn't worth God's time. I wonder how often non-Christians get the wrong impression and feel the same way. They pray for something without understanding and get no results, proving to them that either God is a hoax or they are not worth his time. Or, then again, how often does MY treatment of a waiter or clerk or salesman or the guy in the next car color the person's opinion of God because I outwardly profess Christianity? What DOES the non-Christian think when someone with a little fish on the back of their car scream at them for some offense then pull into the church parking lot?
Huck Finn got to thinking about the upright, church-going people he knew. They hadn't any fun and expected everyone else to be the same. They were strict, condescending and judgemental. Those were the people, they said, which would populate heaven, and he must do what they did in order to squeak by into the pearly gates. After he thought about it long enough, Huck decided he wouldn't try for it.
Hmmm. What should that say to me??
Some say Mark Twain was practically an atheist. Maybe it was people's version of God he couldn't believe in.
posted by G'ampa C @ 8:12 PM
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