A VERY UNHAPPY THANKSGIVING

There has been a text that troubled me for a while until I started to see people live it out, like live it out right now, today. But before we get to that, let's go back to one of the greatest men that ever lived--George Washington.

One of the things President Washington did was to issue a proclamation declaring a national day of Thanksgiving, a proclamation which he began with these words on October 3, 1789:

"By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation.

"Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Our country had just come through the Revolutionary War during which they had sacrificed their lives and treasure to defeat the most powerful nation on earth. It was a time of deprivation and hardship for them, the likes of which none of us living today have experienced or even understand. No one living, military or civilian in America, has fought a seven-year war on their homefront, battling day in and day out in rags, in the snow and ice, and with meager supplies, fighting an invasion from a nation far more powerful than they.

And, yet we read of that proclamation from a nation grateful to God.

Now we come to our day and find that we've turned into an ungrateful nation, a nation which, of all things, contains a growing population of ingrates who are ashamed of America, its present and its past. Our universities and public schools are mass-producing a generation of unthankful people.

The arrogant ingrates tear down statues of great men, change the names of streets, and remove the great history of our country from textbooks. In addition, they are in a perpetual and sometimes violent pique over something and anything, engaging in high-tech lynchings should anyone dare to violate the canons of their groupthink, demanding an open and public apology and humiliation from the violator.  (e. g. the forced apology of astronaut Scott Kelly)

And this brings us to a Scripture in the early portion of the greatest letter ever written, the book of Romans: "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened." (1:21) That "nor give thanks" is in the portion of Romans which lists the symptoms of a society that turns away from God and His Word and one of those symptoms is a heart the refuses to give thanks. In addition, they become "insolent" and "arrogant" as evidenced by their sitting on their imagined Mt. Olympus, hurling thunderbolts down on such great men as Washington, Jefferson, and a host of others.

Romans 1:21 troubles me no more; we're living in it.