A sermon given by Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on November 5, 1967. The title, “But if Not”, comes from Daniel chapter 3, verse 18 in the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.

Audio is from the Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/MlkButIfNot
Picture is from the Library of Congress via wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Martin_Luther_King_Jr_NYWTS.jpg

Full transcription available on my blog: http://notoriousbiggins.blogspot.com/2010/01/but-if-not-sermon-by-martin-luther-king.html

One great quote:
I want to say to you this morning, my friends, that somewhere along the way you should discover something that’s so dear, so precious to you, that is so eternally worthful, that you will never give it up. You ought to discover some principle, you ought to have some great faith that grips you so much that you will never give it up. Somehow you go on and say “I know that the God that I worship is able to deliver me, but if not, I’m going on anyhow, I’m going to stand up for it anyway.” What does this mean? It means, in the final analysis, you do right not to avoid hell. If you’re doing right merely to keep from going to something that traditional theology has called hell then you aren’t doing right. If you do right merely to go to a condition that theologians have called heaven, you aren’t doing right. If you are doing right to avoid pain and to achieve happiness and pleasure then you aren’t doing right. Ultimately you must do right because it’s right to do right. And you got to say “But if not.” You must love ultimately because it’s lovely to love. You must be just because it’s right to be just. You must be honest because it’s right to be honest. This is what this text is saying more than anything else. And finally, you must do it because it has gripped you so much that you are willing to die for it if necessary. And I say to you this morning, that if you have never found something so dear and so precious to you that you will die for it, then you aren’t fit to live. You may be 38 years old as I happen to be, and one day some great opportunity stands before you and calls upon you to stand up for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause–and you refuse to do it because you are afraid; you refuse to do it because you want to live longer; you’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you’re afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity or you’re afraid that somebody will stab you or shoot at you or bomb your house, and so you refuse to take the stand. Well you may go on and live until you are 90, but you’re just as dead at 38 as you would be at 90! And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit. You died when you refused to stand up for right, you died when you refused to stand up for truth, you died when you refused to stand up for justice.

source

Related Posts

Martin Luther King, Jr. — Beyond Vietnam

In this sermon, delivered in April 1967 at Riverside Church in New York City, Martin Luther King, Jr. lays out Read more

L.K. – I like Brass

Oh how i love brass :))) download link for the flp soon available . rate~comment~subscribe also check out my man Read more

Science can answer moral questions | Sam Harris

http://www.ted.com Questions of good and evil, right and wrong are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But Sam Harris argues that Read more

Condemning the Release of Malcolm X's Assassin

On Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee (MXCC) held a press conference condemning the pending release of Read more

Fran Tarkenton and Tiger Woods

Fran Tarkenton and Tiger Woods on TV show "That's Incredible". source

Official Soul Food Line Dance Video – Fantasia-Collard Greens and Cornbread

This is a video in honor of all of the people that have contributed to the International Success of the Read more

Why Not Everyone Supports Black History Month

Black History Month originated in 1925 when the second week of February was made Negro History Week since it contained Read more

How to build your creative confidence | David Kelley

http://www.ted.com Is your school or workplace divided into "creatives" versus practical people? Yet surely, David Kelley suggests, creativity is not Read more

Black History- Black Actors in the 60s and 70s (When We SpeakTV)

Alison Mills-Newman recalls her early days as an actress and being at the Theatre of Being under the direction of Read more

PAY IT FORWARD PHILIPPINES – Pay It Forward… A Movement Inspired by a Movie!

http://PayItForwardPhilippines.com source

The Power of belief — mindset and success | Eduardo Briceno | TEDxManhattanBeach

The way we understand our intelligence and abilities deeply impacts our success. Based on social science research and real life Read more

malcolm x house negro vs field negro EV ZENCISI VE ARAZI ZENCISI FARKI

Malcolm X in ehli sunnet yani aşırıklıklardan uzak doğru İslam ı bulduktan sonra yaptığı konuşmalardan biri zannnediyorum. Bilindiği üzere, zenciler Read more