“The Christian Roots of Thanksgiving”
In the early 1960s I remember the public school I attended beginning each day with a salute to the American flag, a Bible reading, usually from the Palms, and reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Then in 1962 Madelyn Murray O’Hair was successful in getting Bible reading and prayer thrown out of the public schools through the action of the United States Supreme Court. In 1963 she formed the American Atheists Association and brought many other law suites designed to legalize her understanding of the separation of church and state. These actions, in my judgment, marked a rapid decline of ethical and moral values together with a weakening of Christian influence that had been central to the founding of America. The second half of the 20th century was characterized by the rewriting of American history. Academic papers at scholarly settings were presented to question the Christian influence of the founding fathers, and books were written to further cement their cause. College courses began to echo those same sentiments. Soon those ideas filtered into the public schools and the influence of our Christian foundations became even more suspect. When my daughter was in the second or third grade, she brought home a Weekly Reader that focused on Thanksgiving. As I read the paper, I could not help but observe that the name of God was dutifully left out of the presentation. It did mention that the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians for their help during that horrible first winter. I asked to meet with the principal of the school and asked if he thought the Weekly Reader was academically honest since it never even mentioned the name of God. (It is hard to imagine that the Pilgrims assembled to give thanks and not even mention God.) He had to admit that it really wasn’t an accurate portrayal of the events. A few years later serious questions about Christopher Columbus began to be voiced saying he was not a real Christian but was only interested in making money through the slave trade. These social and political agendas have only increased over the years. Thanksgiving has become turkey day and football (if you can tolerate the political and social propagandas). Worse than that, Christmas has become almost devoid of the Savior Himself. Even the Hallmark channel movies on Christmas are reduced to Christmas trees, Santa Claus, and romance. It seems that Thanksgiving and Christmas as presently observed in this country have systematically eliminated any real Christian influence.
Today, I want to take a few minutes to respond to these developments and present some evidence that speaks to the contrary. Even with America’s imperfections, this country would not be what it has been and even what it still is to a lesser degree if it had not been for its Christian influence.
Who was Christopher Columbus? What do you know about him? Adventurer, sailor, discoverer of the New Word? (Ill.) ??? Not many people are aware of his deep faith in God and his commitment to Jesus Christ. Believe it or not, it was his deep faith that led him to undertake his voyage to the New World. You may be aware that Columbus wrote a book entitled Book of Prophecies, which records Scripture which speaks of taking the gospel to unknown lands. I am sure most of you are aware that his voyage was funded by Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand of Spain. Queen Isabel held strong Christian sympathies and was very supportive of Columbus’ venture for evangelistic purposes.
His real name was Cristobal Colon. Even his signature reveals his strong commitment to Jesus Christ. His signature is in the form of a triangle and employs the names of God in abbreviated fashion. [El Shaddi (Almighty God); Adonai (Lord God); cross-bearer]
First nugget of gold was sent back to Don Diego, his son, to be sure it was delivered to Queen Isabel. Columbus stated in writing to his son telling him, “to return it her so that she may see the miracle of the Lord and remember to whom she ought to thank for it.”
Some six years after his discover of the New World his primary concern for the spiritual well-being of the native people remained high. He wrote in his mayorazgo (Testimony of Founding Heredity Family Estate -1498)
In his lengthy introduction to Book of Prophecies he summarizes his commitment to the gospel mandate and points to the Bible as his source of inspiration.
Catherine Millard surveyed 10 modern biographies of Christopher Columbus from major publishers and found that none mentioned his faith in Jesus Christ and his motivation for taking the gospel to the new world. They portray his motives as slaves, gold, ivory, jewels, and land.
There is great distortion between modern, popular presentations of Columbus and his own words. He relates his motives to the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies.
OR
Consider the words of the Mayflower Compact written in 1620 by those first Pilgrims:
Modern version
IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620.
The document was signed on November 21
The Pilgrim Fathers, settling on the New England shores in 1620, knew that they had been providentially brought across the ocean by God’s hand. They decided to set apart some time for recollection and thanksgiving. Although no annual day was fixed at the beginning, they were the forerunners of our annual day in publically acknowledging the providence of God toward them.
Here is another historian’s account:
They were people of remarkable faith and fortitude: common folk of average abilities and means who risked everything in the interest of their families and their church.
Their trial began in 1620 with the voyage of the storied Mayflower, a 65-day-long ordeal in which 102 men, women, and children crossed the stormy Atlantic in a space the size of a city bus. Then followed a cruel New England winter for which they were ill prepared. Due more to exposure than starvation, their number dwindled rapidly, so that by the onset of spring fully half of them had died. Fourteen of the eighteen wives had perished, and widowers and orphans abounded. That the Pilgrims could celebrate at all in this setting was a testimony both to human resilience and heavenly hope.
Yet celebrate they did, sometime in the autumn of 1621 after God had granted them a bountiful harvest. It’s an inspiring story, and it’s good for this Thanksgiving to remember it. I don’t know about you, but I am always encouraged when I sit down with Christian friends and hear of how God has sustained them in hard times. Remembering the Pilgrims’ story is a lot like that, although the testimony comes to us not from across the room but from across the centuries…
It seems likely that the Pilgrims thought of their celebration as something akin to the harvest festivals common at that time in England. What is absolutely certain is that they didn’t think of the celebration as a Thanksgiving holiday.
When the Pilgrims spoke of holidays, they used the word literally. A holiday was a “holy day” set apart for worship and communion with God. Their reading of scripture convinced them that God had only established one regular holy day under the new covenant, and that was the Lord’s Day each Sunday. Beyond that, they believed that scripture allowed occasional Days of and Humiliation to plead with the Lord for deliverance from a particular trial, as well as occasional Days of Thanksgiving to praise the Lord for his extraordinary provision. Both were solemn observances, marked by lengthy religious services full of prayer, praise, and instruction…
The Pilgrims gathered for a prayer service that lasted some 8-9 hours, and by its end, a day that had begun hot and clear had become overcast, and for the next fourteen days a steady, gentle rain restored the parched earth.
President Lincoln appointed the last Thursday of November, 1864, as Thanksgiving Day. Now the Thanksgiving Day tradition is firmly established in America.
Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation
The text of Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving proclamation follows:
October 3, 1863
By the President of the United States
A Proclamation
By the President of the United States
A Proclamation
The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United Stated States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
This day has no other holiday comparable to it. It celebrates no battle, no birthday of some great one, no political revolution. This is no pagan holiday as it consecrates the common things of life to God. It is a family day, with home and children, laughter and games, feasting and making merry. But primarily it should be a day of worship toward God.
ESV Psalm 116:12 What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD, 14 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people………………..17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD.
Remember that God has no spoiled children. He blesses us so that we may pass on His blessings to others. As you gather around the table for your thanksgiving feast, let each one have an opportunity to mention one thing for which he or she is thankful for this Thanksgiving Day.