John Bunyan's work The Pilgrim's Progress is one of the most renowned Christian books to read, but it doesn't actually fit Christian rules, according to the Bible, thus revealing a logical error. With a careful analysis of the Christian's Pilgrimage and the New and Old Testaments, one can see that there are many contradictory factors. Barring the sequel, in which Christian's wife and children survive the apocalypse and join him in heaven, we can extrapolate that if they had not been saved, Christian's sin would have led him to love the deity who condemned his children and his wife to live in constant torture. Christians' wives, children, and friends are seen as obstacles, as stumbling blocks before God, yet the Bible itself states, “But if anyone does not provide for his family, especially for his home, he has denied the faith and is worse than a non-believer." (1 Timothy 5:8). The actions of Christians contradict the wishes of the Bible here, abandoning family, friends and loved ones for individual salvation means abandoning responsibility. Noble claims that Bunyan's depiction of conversion is distorted: "The Pilgrim's Progress is sometimes a guide to follow on the way to God only in the sense that it is a compendium of traps to be avoided by wary pilgrims" (Noble 73). This is a reaction to the fact that perhaps John Bunyan's version of conversion is not necessarily the way a modern church would like it to happen. Pilgrim's Progress is supposed to be about a great journey in the name of salvation, but through lyrical analysis we can see that it cannot be applicable to a modern perspective of true Christian faith and equality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayChristian may have lost his burden on the cross near the end of the prose, but he does not forgive the sins he has committed against his family and friends. His greed for his own salvation and life surpassed that of any possible fellow believer. Instead of trying to convert more people to believe him, he ignored God's will to save his life and go to heaven. “Not everyone carries a burden, but everyone is a sinner. It is only by reading the book that one becomes aware of one's own sinfulness and this becomes a burden” (James 45). If the church believes that a Christian is not truly smart, why didn't the Christian fully attempt to educate his peers and why was he admitted into heaven? Although his Stubborn and Yielding friends were easily persuaded not to come, Christian did not spread the word of God or save his neighbors, nor his wife and children. There are many obstacles in the journey and Christian has been warned, which begs the question: Did Christian not believe his family or neighbors would make this judgment, however perceived? “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). Christian is making judgments about his family and peers when he doesn't fully attempt to bring them with him on this journey of salvation. Christian's enlightenment depends solely on his strong and righteous character, yet Christianity should never be solely about individual salvation. It's about larger issues of community and love and giving people the opportunity to be saved and to have hope for something greater. The purpose of The Pilgrim's Progress was to show that the burden we carry can be resolved by giving yourself to God and proving your worth. devotion. Yet, if he didn't know about the apocalypse, howcould one of his beloved friends and family join him in the process? Christian may have spoken emotionally about his wife and children at home, but his mind was unchanged and he felt no remorse for his decisions. Modern Christianity is about social awareness, making people around you understand God's opportunity."Social responsibility becomes an aspect not only of Christian mission, but also of Christian conversion. It is impossible to truly convert to God without converting thereby to our neighbor" (Stott 87), Stott demonstrates that devotion to the Lord is not an individual mission, but a community mission. Christian's enlightenment proves to be very different from that of the others as James analyzes Hopeful's conversion through his sins, to the realization of his mistakes. Hopeful cannot bear the torture his sins have brought him to, once having met Faithful, he is determined to see Jesus despite his fear of him being turned away. After hearing his pleas several times, Christ relents and allows Hopeful to be pardoned by God (James 50). sins through torture, why is the Christian exempt? Clearly he has sinned; otherwise what would there be to fear from Armageddon Didn't he have to suffer the same way as Hopeful to be saved by God? Although there are many different types of conversion or salvation, and this is only an allegorical representation of one within fiction, the popularity of this book within the Christian community proves that it is there to motivate, to be the goal or l 'ideal. Cristiano doesn't really change as a character. He is presented to the reader as a frightened man who sought Christianity to free himself from the fear of an apocalypse. Stay scared. He loses his burden through fear, perhaps distorting his true understanding of giving himself to God. Most of Christian's changes are due to a change in the author. Whether it's his arrest or his lifestyle, you come to understand that Bunyan allows his perspective to influence everything, including his works. Diamond’s perspective on the matter really illuminates the argument: “Bunyan’s turn from spiritual autobiography to allegorical fiction represents the shift from introspection to character identification required by Congregationalist ecclesiology. The resulting change of objects – from self to other – puts pressure on the logic and intelligibility of his two-dimensional characters” (Diamond 9), criticizing Bunyan's indecisive tendency to sacrifice the quality of his characters to preserve his autobiographical integrity . . In Christian's attempt to obtain heaven one may realize that he did not actually do it himself. The assistance of many secondary characters allows him to achieve his goals; The evangelist gives him the message, help pulls him out of the quagmire of discouragement, discretion nourishes him, he even has guardians who help him to salvation. This portrays that the children of God are attempting to help Christian and help him on his journey, yet Christian remains unchanged and still unmoved on how he left everyone behind. The desired impact these characters would have, beyond making for a more interesting plot, is that you should have people to help you when your faith starts to be questioned or if you are struggling with your faith. This contrasts with the Christian's initial decision to leave all those he loved to fend for themselves during Armageddon. The most interesting characters are in fact the secondary ones, since Christian is only witnessing what the consequences of his sins would be, he is not actually experiencing the suffering itself. The main factor in Christian's awakening was fear, andhe remains fearful throughout the play. He is afraid that if he does not surrender to salvation he will die. This is a constant state for Christian, he is a character who is not easily swayed by his beliefs, even if his trust in his family is gone quite quickly. God perceives him as worthy. Christian wants to be a simple man, a man of courage and dedication. His burden can be perceived as anything, however we are aware that he actually sinned badly enough to believe he would go to hell for his actions during Armageddon. Christian is using his fear to guide his decisions, and his interest in religion would not have been discovered so quickly if not for said discovery, leading to the possibility that without fear of death that Christian might not have undertaken this journey at all . This would not be allowed in a modern church, no one should convert to Christianity for fear of threatening their livelihood. There are many articles on feminist interpretations of The Pilgrim's Progress. The role of a woman in Bunyan's time was to be submissive, she was to be perceived as less intellectual and less important than a man and obedient to her husband. Throughout the Pilgrimage of Progress women are consistently seen as therapeutic, less religious than men, and a source of distraction. At the beginning we are introduced to Christian's wife, who sensibly rejects the idea of ​​endangering her family and abandoning the house. Yet with this action she portrays herself as a slacker, or not as religiously devout as her husband. This leaves the reader with the impression that the woman was not intelligent enough to believe in God and travel with her husband, that she was disobeying him, which in Bunyan's time was a sin. If you get married you must obey your husband's wishes. Later in the novel, Christian visits the Palazzo Bello; where the four radiant women feed and wash Christian and ask him questions about his life in an attempt to listen to him, to interact with him. They provide him with armor and send him on his next task. These women did not perform any tasks that a man would be able to perform in those times, they did not fight with him, they did not save him from something treacherous, all they were apparently capable of doing was cooking and cleaning for him. These were the times in which John Bunyan lived, but changes in Christianity adapted to ensure that women's rights were included in religious matters. The women who appear in Bunyan's writings are interesting characters, if filled to the brim with stereotypes, "The weight on Christian's back at the beginning of The Pilgrim's Progress is the product of centuries of unequal society" (Tinker 377), this quote explains that Bunyan's views, whether political or personal, were carried through Christian's character; as the journey he goes through is intended to be an autobiographical approach to Bunyan's conversion. This perception of women is not related to that of the modern church. Some blame Bunyan for wanting an ideology that silenced women's voices and left them subjugated. It is difficult to argue with N.H. Keeble's assessment that Bunyan "welcomes women on pilgrimage...as people in need of especially thoughtful ministerial care and guidance" (453 Johnson). The Pilgrim's Progress is a story about a man, not a woman, finding his way to God in the desires of Christ, and Bunyan at the time was attempting to influence male dominance within the church by clearly stating his personal desires in the his writing. The wonderful quality of John Bunyan's writing is exposed by his prejudicial ideals The.