Nice information, good stuff with good ideas and concepts, lots of great information and inspiration, both of which we all need, thanks for providing such helpful information here. SIm Cura

I see it a bit differently. My friends and I enjoy a practice of posting a different thanksgiving on Facebook every day of November. Some items are lofty, thanking God for salvation. Some are significant, thanking God for family. Some are trivial but heartfelt, thanking God for ice cream. I love the variety, and find it to be a wonderful exercise of looking for items to be grateful for. We enjoy reading each others' posts, and practicing gratitude together.

Tim, that's what the title of the article says, isn't it? "This may sound a bit Scrooge-like, but I confess that I am growing increasingly uncomfortable with Twinkie-sweet emotion that strips away purpose from gratitude. In my estimation, gratitude has morphed into a feel-good trending topic instead of what it really is according to Scripture: a costly expression of worship." From this statement the author made, I gather that my thanksgiving should not be sweet, that it should come from some hurt or cost. For my money, this does not gel with the multiple psalms that have only good things to say. "Give thanks to the Lord!" with adding, "even though sometimes things hurt!" She talks about Old Testament sacrifices without mentioning that we don't MAKE animal sacrifices anymore. Above all, I think the author is just Christianizing Thanksgiving and trying to tell us that since our greatest Giver is God, He is the only one we should be thanking, and we're not even allowed to say, "I appreciate pumpkin spice lattes," without saying, "So thanks, God, for making pumpkins and coffee beans!" It all sounds to me like she's saying my prayers aren't good enough, like I should already be better at tracing everything back to God. I remember what my Spiritual Formation professor told me: "You don't pray how you should, you pray how you can."

Blake, that's not what the article says though. It's about recognizing that thanks should be directed to the one from whom all blessings flow (James 1:17). As Michelle says in the middle of her article, "True biblical gratitude has God as its object." Then her concluding paragraph states, "This Thanksgiving, I will thank God for his abundant blessings." The whole piece recognizes that we should be thankful for all created things that are blessings in our lives, and those thanks properly belong to God. Now, of course, for those who don't agree that God is the one to whom we should direct our thanks for any and all good things in our lives, the rest of the article is meaningless. Can people without faith experience thankfulness? Yes but not in the same way, if Hebrews 11:6 is any indication (and it is). Trivializing thanfulness does not honor God. Humble gratitude for all he does, has done, and will do for us glorifies him. The Bible says it really is as simple as that. Thankfully, Tim

I'm suprised Christianity Today printed an article that basically says, "Do not celebrate Thanksgiving in ways I do not approve of or give thanks for certain created things."

Good article and really powerful quote from Craig Barnes to conclude. It was a good encouragement for me to be grateful in all circumstances, something I am constantly seeking to grow in. Thanks for the good points.

So I guess when people try to be thankful, they're still wrong? If they aren't thankful the way you want them to be, it's not genuine or is a cheap imposter? Lighten up.

By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation. The year that is drawing towards 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 even 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 to provoke their aggression, 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 theatre of military conflict; while that theatre 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 defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe 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 battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness 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, tranquillity and Union. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United 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 Unites States the Eighty-eighth. By the President: Abraham Lincoln William H. Seward, Secretary of State

Doug, I think you wre referring to sp's post which is just below Mark Weaver's. Cheers, Tim

I disagree with Mr Weaver's assessment that Thanksgiving is a Pagen festival for "worshipping Sun, Earth and other elements". It was God the Father who created them , not Satan, and he should be thankful that God the Father taught man how to grow crops, raise animals and and to make bread and butcher the animals so we can sustain ourselves for giving thanks to God!