essay on the book go tell it on the mountain

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Johnson 1
Jasmine Johnson
Ms. Williams-A
English 10
October 28, 2014
Religious contradiction You can say all day long that you are a Christian and participate in church as if you were one but like Garrison Keillor said “Anyone who thinks sitting in church can make you a Christian must also think sitting in a garage can make you a car”. Often, people claim a religion without actually going by the worship and living up to the expectations that follows. It is very essential that people take their belief seriously and abide by the rules that follow the denomination. In spite of all the difference religions in the world; they have very similar practices, which should encourage more mutual respect among them. Religion is something that people believe in and practice. In go tell it on the mountain, Baldwin conveys how families all the time contradict the meaning of the word religion. John says that it seems like when they are in church, everyone feels the spirit but him. John struggles with his religion a lot and at times, he questions if his family is really loyal to their religion. Christians often live by the bible most of the time. John did not know that he would become a preacher. On page 11 it says "Everyone had always said that John would be a preacher when he grew up, just like his father. It had been said so often that John, without ever thinking about it, had come to believe it himself “. Even though Christianity had ran in his family, he would never think that he would end up teaching people about this god that he didn’t even know about. This shows how he contradicted himself by not believing in a god, and then end up preaching to a god. His family attends church a lot even on days that is not Sunday. He talks about how he has to attend church like he likes it but in reality, he really doesn’t. John does not at all believe in the
Johnson 2 religion he and his family practices. All he knows is that he was brought up to believe that there is a god and that’s what he believes. Basically it is like john was born in church. It says on page 12 that “his father was head deacon in this church”. This involved john doing a lot of different activities for the church in which he didn’t even like. He remembers a time when everyone was rejoicing in church and engaging in singing the songs. John never even had any thoughts of god, but instead he imagines hell. All he noticed was how everyone was getting a good feeling but he wasn’t. Later on, john discusses how he had committed a sin at school. He watched two boys participate in a peeing contest. After doing so, he felt bad because he had went against his religion. One day when john and Elisha were getting ready for church, Elisha asks john why he doesn’t get saved. On page 55, Elisha says to john “do you want to be saved, Johnny?” John does not answer because
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