This has been a whirlwind year, so Thanksgiving provides a welcome pause for us, our team and no doubt hundreds of millions of others. The time off with family and friends is priceless. There is certainly so much for us to give thanks for on this popular holiday.
As thoughts about the big day approached, the question hit.
'Who are we thanking at thanksgiving?'
Indeed, who are we thanking? Time Magazine queried on its cover some 47 years ago, Is God Dead?
Atheists, agnostics and skeptics ask, Was God Ever Real?
Our friends, team, clients, family – along with scores of industry comrades and connections – span the gamut of religious beliefs. So let's keep this simple today.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Acorns come from oak trees, oak trees come from acorns. How did they begin?
My parents, among the many things for me to be thankful for, taught us kids in our youth certain 'proofs' or evidence for God's existence. Examples such as those above suggest a higher Power created something from nothing.
“From nothing, nothing comes.” – Aristotle (384-322 BC) gleaned there had to be a creator.
The Romans said, "Nemo dat quod non habet," or “You can not give what you do not have.”
Order in the universe. Laws like “gravity” suggest a Powerful Law Giver. Many pithy points spanning the ages bare witness to a Creator, and that is the One to Whom we give thanks.
What about evolution, some ask, seekers on both sides of the question? Let's start with a number from an expert.
1428 . That is 14 to the 28th power, or
140,000.000,000,000,000.000.000.000.000. Compared to the U.S. debt,
17,217,000,000,000.
Those are the odds against humanity evolving from the slime and muck, said that science/math wiz. Those odds are so long that it makes the chances of winning the lottery look terrific!
The Pilgrims didn’t worry about being politically correct.
They simply gave thanks.
FYI, there is no problem with evolution as a scientific theory that can explain some things, so long as we realize that it doesn't explain everything.
How can you have skin, eyes, ears, nose, ears, mouth, lips, teeth, tongue, throat, stomach, intestines, lungs, heart, mind, blood vessels, male, female organs – and a host of thousands upon thousands of factors that all make up a single man or woman's body – and then expect them to evolve all at once?
Thus the reason some math-minded science wiz determined the odds were 1428. for man to “evolve.” It would take a miracle!
My bet is on a gracious, all powerful God, Who always was, is and will be. God Who created all things from nothing out of pure love. If the pollsters are right, odds are excellent that you believe in the Almighty too.
We can deny there are mountains and cliffs. But that doesn't keep us from slamming into them or falling off of them. You can't be anti-smoking, unless there are cigarettes. Atheists – anti-theists – argue against the obvious too.
Anyone or any society that fails to believe in absolute truths are poorer for not recognizing them. God grounds all else that we think, say or do.
The Book of Genesis reminds us that humanity's problem's began with a bad meal. As you gather with family, friends and folks of all sizes and types, let's allow a good meal of Thanksgiving to bless and remind us that we need each other, and that we all need to thank God too.
To your friends who don't get it, why not share the gift of this column, so they too will know to Whom we give Thanks on this day. ##
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L. A. 'Tony' Kovach
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