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Publbhing:
The
Pi.AIN TRUTH
a Magwne o(
uNDUSTAriDING
Dear Friend:
The
WORlD
TOMORROW
A WoRLD -WTor.
BaoADCAST
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l'rocle••• l o l hc Wo•lol cho
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To ..
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Box
t11, P.uADI.NA.
CAUPOIINtA
How should we
v~ew
the
Amer~can
custom
or
celebrat1ng
Thanksgiving Day?
The Thanksg1v1ng holiday was established
1n
compara–
tively recent years. It is, of course, not mentioned
1n
Scripture -- but the principle of attending and celebrating
national holidays is made clear in Scripture.
ThankBgiv~
Day
was established by t he early colonists,
not by any Divine authori.ty.
But.
this ln 1 tself does not make
it wrong to celebrate w1th good fellowsh1.p. Notice the example
of Jesus Christ.
In
John 10:22 we find that Christ attended the
' 'Feast of Dedication,
11
wh1.ch was established by the Jews years
before to
comme~orate
the
puri~ication
of the temple at
Jerusalem. That day was celebrated on the anniversary of' the
day that the reestablishment of Divine worship occurred after
Antiochua Ep1pbanes had been vanquished and the temple purified
about 165 B.C.
Jesus• attendance at
that
annual holiday clearly illus–
trated that it
is
not wrong to attend or celebrate a national
holiday established for an honorable purpose. There was nothing
wrong in the Jews• ce lebrating the dedlcat.ion or the temple and
giving God special gratitude on that day . God led Esther and
Mordecai to establish the Feast o£ Purim in commemoration of the
miraculous deliverance of the Jews £rom bl oody Haman (see the
last chapter of Esther ) .
The national holidays celebrated by the Jews have,
or
course, no special significance for the non-Jew -- just as
ThankBgiving Day holds no speci al
s1gn~f1 cance
i'or our non–
American brethren scattered around the world. God permits these
customs only if they do not ge t out
of
hand . What God
expressl~
forbids is the observance of -pagan .festivals
w'FiiCn
were 1ntende
as
delibera~substitutes
?Or the
t~an
and
trogram
~od.
We
are not to adopt in Goats worsnfP ose-eiTs oms whicn
tne
heathen
used
1n
aerv~ the~r
gods .
But
it
is proper and fitting for
national leaders to set
as i d~
time for the whole nation to give
God special thanks .for His unique bounty t o this nation
Thanksgiving Day was £1rst ce l ebrated by the Pilgrims
in
16~1
a f ter their first harves t had been entirely reaped.
On
that
day, they paid tri but e to God f or all the·ir
bount~ful