J. D. Salinger: What Are You Known For?

J. D. Salinger: What Are You Known For?

J. D. Salinger passed away yesterday. As an author, he’s known as a “one-hit-wonder” with the publication of The Catcher in the Rye on July 16, 1951.

Salinger admitted the novel was “sort of autobiographical.” Thus Holden Caulfield, the teenage protagonist, “is” Salinger.

And what is the message? Here’s what Salinger is known for: the immorality and perversion of seventeen-year-old Holden who uses religious slurs and freely discusses casual sex and prostitution.

What’s Your Legacy?

Salinger’s life and passing caused me to ponder what I want to be remembered for. It also caused me to reflect on a very different legacy—the legacy of Lemuel Haynes.

Lemuel Haynes was born at West Hartford, Connecticut, in 1753, of a white mother and a black father. Haynes became the first African American to be ordained by any religious denomination. Upon ordination, Haynes then pastored white congregations for more than thirty years.

Haynes personal epitaph speaks volume about the legacy of his life.

“Here lies the dust of a poor hell-deserving sinner, who ventured into eternity trusting wholly on the merits of Christ for salvation. In the full belief of the great doctrines he preached while on earth, he invites his children and all who read this, to trust their eternal interest on the same foundation” (Epitaph written for himself by Reverend Lemuel Haynes).

What Do You Want to Be Remembered For?

There we have it.

Salinger is remembered for immorality, perversion, religious slurs, and free discussions of casual sex and prostitution.

Haynes is remembered for his whole-hearted trust in Christ alone for eternal salvation.

What do you want to be remembered for?

Lemuel Haynes Preaching