Thanksgiving to God
I had a wonderful Thanksgiving partaking of a bountiful feast and fellowship with family and friends. Sadly this was not the case for many people this Country that was once permeated with reminders of our Christian heritage. I viewed a video of a man on the campus of a small “Christian” college in Minnesota presenting the students with a question: Is it alright to celebrate Thanksgiving? Unbelievably, many of them had a very poor opinion about the holiday. Their disgust with the holiday had to do with the way in which Native Americans had been treated. I am sure that some of those events that had been presented to these students would have elicited a negative response from me too. But coupling Thanksgiving to the negative treatment of Native Americans reveals a narrow, pointed, and very distorted view of history. You would think that a Christian college would be more concerned with the state of many of the Native Americans today and focus students to the real solution to their dilemma that can only be found in Christ.
What does all of this have to do with Thanksgiving? Many of those questioned mentioned the story of the Pilgrims that had been rehearsed to them in school. The Pilgrims have been held up for many years as those who first celebrated Thanksgiving. For many people the Pilgrims have been referred to as those who instituted our tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving. A thorough examination of the history does show this to be somewhat true, but the simplified version that has been presented to school children can be misleading in some respects and lacking in the most important aspects. Enter modern “scholarship” with ideological propaganda in mind. By taking the most simplified version of the story intended for small children they are able to make the story seem almost mythical. Then by focusing on the fact that the Pilgrims were some of the earliest settlers they load on the shoulders of the Pilgrims the responsibility of all the evil deeds that were ever done to Native Americans by people of European decent. It doesn’t matter to these “scholars” that the Pilgrims settled on an unoccupied village site. Nor does it matter to them that the Pilgrims lived in peace with nearby Native Americans for many many years. What does matter to them is that they are intent upon tarnishing the reputation of those settlers who were instrumental in establishing a foundation on which our Nation was built. That foundation was the Word of God. The inspiration they drew from the Scripture inspired a culture respecting life and liberty for all people. A noble and righteous goal.
Again I ask, what does this have to do with Thanksgiving? Absolutely nothing. Rather it is an attempt to stir up covetousness, envy, pride and hatred. Thanksgiving never was a celebration about Pilgrims. Rather they were used as examples and forerunners of those who were thankful and expressed it with worship to God and sharing with their fellow man. Thanksgiving has always been about our gratitude for the blessings that we have. Thanksgiving has always been an acknowledgment that all of our blessings can be attributed to a loving God from which blessing flow. For hundreds of years our Presidents, Governors, and leaders have reiterated in declarations and exhortations that we would as a people give thanks to God. People have learned, in even the most dire circumstances, that we can find much to be thankful for. Evil comes from the wickedness of men’s hearts, but goodness and blessing comes from God above.
Sadly many in this, the most prosperous economy the world has ever known, were led into a dark place of mourning. Robbed of hope and gratitude for what they have and the grace and blessing that God wished to bestow on them, people are encouraged to grovel in self-pity and discontent. While much of the world would have been thankful for just a biscuit and a little gravy, people in our economy are filled with hatred against people who are long dead and innocent of the charges against them.
How did we get here to a place where the young people of this country are so deluded and deceived? I suppose we could list a thousand reasons, but the main reason is in this simple story about the Pilgrims. As this story was told and retold the most important element was eventually left out, and that was God. The children of this country are being deprived of a knowledge of the God that our founders knew. The knowledge of God is the beginning of knowledge. Ignorance of God and His role in the story of man is detrimental for any understanding of the world in which we live.
Thanksgiving is and has always been first and foremost about expressing our gratitude to our beneficent Father in heaven. So sad that there are so many people in our Country that don’t know Him. So sad that the joy of Thanksgiving that comes with recognizing our blessings is lost to so many people. So sad that so many people don’t recognize and acknowledge those around us who have been avenues of God’s blessings to us.
From an attitude of gratitude,
Bob