Thanksgiving day

Good News
November 1959
Vol. VIII, Number 11


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HOW SHOULD WE VIEW THE AMERICAN CUSTOM
OF CELEBRATING THANKSGIVING DAY?


The Thanksgiving holiday was established in comparatively
recent years. It is, of course, not mentioned in Scripture --
but the principle of attending and celebrating national holidays
is made clear in scripture.
Thanksgiving Day was established by the early colonists, not
by any divine authority. But this in itself does not make it
wrong to celebrate with good fellowship. Notice the example of
Jesus Christ. In John 10:22 we find that Christ attended the
"Feast of Dedication," which was established by the Jews years
before to commemorate the purification of the temple at
Jerusalem. That day was celebrated on the anniversary of the day
that the reestablishment of Divine workship occurred after
Antiochus Epiphanes had been vanquished and the Temple purified
about 165 B.C.
Jesus' attendance at that annual holiday clearly illustrated
that it is not wrong to attend or celebrate a national holiday
established for an honorable purpose. There was nothing wrong in
the Jew's celebrating the dedication of the temple and giving God
special gratitude on that day. God led Esther and Mordecai to
establish the Feast of Purin in commemoration of the miraculous
deliverance of the Jews from bloody Haman (see the last chapter
of Esther).
The national holidays celebrated by the Jews has, of course,
no special significance for the non-Jew -- just as Thanksgiving
Day holds no special significance for our non-American brethren
scattered around the world. God permits these customs only if
they do not get out of hand. WHAT GOD EXPRESSLY FORBIDS IS THE
OBSERVANCE OF PAGAN FESTIVALS WHICH WERE INVENTED AS DELIBERATE
SUBSTITUTES FOR THE PLAN AND PROGRAM OF GOD. We are not to adopt
in God's worship those customs which the heathen used in serving
their gods. But it is proper and fitting for national leaders to
set aside time for the whole nation to give God special thanks
for his unique bounty to this nation.
Thanksgiving Day was first celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1621
after their first harvest had been entirely reaped. On that day
they paid tribute to God for all their bountiful and undeserved
material and spiritual blessings. Thanksgiving Day gradually
became neglected and was revived during the Civil War as a day of
special national thanksgiving for preserving this nation. This
American thanksgiving day does NOT have a pagan origin despite
the claims of certain fringe sects. It is not usually celebrated
with pagan ceremonial customs in honor of pagan traditions and
gods, as are Christmas, Easter and Hallowe'en. If this national
holiday becomes corrupted, then it would be high time to reject
it -- but it generally is not so celebrated today.
This day of national thanksgiving can be enjoyed by our
brethren in America with an especially deep understanding because
we know that our personal and national prosperity have come
solely as the result of God's promise to Abraham -- and as a
result of His choice of this nation as the springboard for his
Church in this generation.
Our brethren in other nations do not celebrate this holiday
any more than we celebrate the Jews' feasts of Dedication and
Purim. What we all do celebrate are those divinely appointed
Holy Days and Festivals established by God in His Word for all
men. We NEVER regard a national holiday with the same respect,
awe and reverence as we do God's Sabbath and His Holy Days.
National HOLIDAYS are just that -- holidays, not Holy Days. They
are a time of secular pleasure and gratitude, nothing more.
But in the midst of the Thanksgiving season, let's not neglect
Paul's command in Ephesians 5:20 to "give thanks always." Let's
not make a mockery of God's special blessings to this nation.