George Washington’s 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

On this Thanksgiving Day, read and share with your family these words from our first president, the “father of our country.” Both the House of Representatives and the Senate were involved, too, because it was they who asked George Washington to make this recommendation. At the end of this post, notice how this document was reportedly lost for over 100 years after it was written. May it never be lost - ignored, that is, - in our own time, when the dismissal of God from many aspects of public life continues to have deadly effects.

Here are Washington’s words:

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 and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.
(signed) G. Washington

From Spark’s Washington, Vol. XII, p. 119

Wayne Winters, of Pocatello, Idaho, provided the following background information.

Shortly after the Thanksgiving Proclamation was written it was lost for over a hundred years. It was apparently misplaced or attached to some private papers in the process of moving official records from one city to another when the capital was changed. However, it happened that the original manuscript was not in the official archives until 1921 when Dr. J. C. Fitzpatrick, then assistant chief of the manuscripts division of the Library of Congress “found” the proclamation. It was at an auction sale being held at an art gallery in New York. It was written in long hand by Wm. Jackson, secretary to President Washington and was signed by George Washington. Dr. Fitzpatrick purchased the document for $300.00 for the Library of Congress, where it now resides. It the first presidential proclamation ever issued in the United States.

Many thanks to

 

“The Chosen” – Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?

 What is “The Chosen”?

According to gotquestions.org, “The Chosen is a television show about the life of Christ. Season 1, released in 2019 (with a pilot episode on the birth of Christ released in 2017), garnered attention for several reasons: it is the first TV show of its kind, presenting the life of Christ over multiple seasons (it plans seven seasons total); it was crowd-funded, bringing in more donations (over $40 million as of 2023) than any other media project ever; it is the first series to be launched in every country simultaneously via its own app (with over 108 million views so far in 180 countries); and it is being praised for its engaging storytelling.” https://www.gotquestions.org/The-Chosen.html

According to imdb.com, “The Chosen is a historical drama based on the life of Jesus and those who knew him. Set against the backdrop of Roman oppression in first-century Israel, the series shares an authentic look at Jesus' revolutionary life and teachings.” 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9471404/

Why and How do Many Promote “The Chosen”?

Again, from that same source: “As with all storytelling based on historical events, some artistic license is evident. In The Chosen, there is often a tremendous amount of artistic license. In retelling the gospel accounts, the writers have inserted or modified some characters, storylines, and details of the inspired original. The changes are designed to give each episode a feeling of being grounded in real life.

“One example of these artistic choices is that the disciple Matthew is depicted as a young man on the Asperger’s/autism spectrum. There is no direct biblical evidence that Matthew had this disorder, but it is a plausible detail, so the writers felt comfortable using artistic license to insert this additional trait to Matthew’s character.

“Since no one is claiming that the show is God’s Word or that it is on par with the Bible, the creators of The Chosen believe such license is acceptable, and even expected in a medium such as television. As long as viewers remember that what they are seeing is art and not real life—and they compare what they view with Scripture—there is no danger of confusion. We should all know intuitively that, for all its historical accuracy and attention to cultural context, The Chosen is simply one idea from one group of people about what they think it might have been like to be near Jesus.

“Dramatizations of biblical events such as are presented in The Chosen provide an opportunity for sharing the gospel with those who otherwise might not be exposed to the Bible. For believers, such dramatizations can promote spiritual growth, reminding us that the Bible is more than just a story—it relates actual events in the lives of real people who had emotions, relationships, and concerns similar to ours.”  

https://www.gotquestions.org/The-Chosen.html

Movieguide.org reports the show’s description as given by Dallas Jenkins, the creator/producer of the series. “[The Chosen] starts working through the storyline of how Nicodemus attempts to exorcise Mary Magdalene’s demons and fails. Then he comes across her later and sees that she is a different person, and so we’re like, what are some of the things he would say and how would she describe it,” Jenkins said.

“What we try to do with The Chosen is not only give you these moments from scripture but set them up in a way that when they happen, they really make sense and they really have an emotional resonance in addition to spiritual resonance,” Jenkins added.

Jenkins believes that this emphasis is what makes The Chosen good TV rather than a Bible narrative that has little reach outside of the Christian audience.

“In TV and movies, if all you’re doing is just reenacting a historical moment that you know about from history, or from the Bible, it might be interesting to watch but it probably won’t emotionally resonate because you don’t have a connection to the characters. You don’t know the why of what they’re doing,” he explained. “If you can help [audiences] understand what the stakes are for each of the characters in the scene, it makes it even more personal.”

https://www.movieguide.org/news-articles/what-the-first-line-ever-written-for-the-chosen-tells-fans.html

Why be Concerned About “The Chosen”?

According to Dallas Jenkins, the added elements in The Chosen cause the actual scriptural events to “make sense” in a way that they would not if one simply read and studied the four gospel accounts. These non-biblical inventions provide an “emotional resonance” that is lacking in inspired scripture. They make the true accounts of Jesus’ life “even more personal.”

When a biblical “dramatization” is primarily fictional in content, there are, to me at least, some serious implications. One is that the four inspired gospels themselves are lacking something. They need enhancement and improvement in order to make Jesus more real, more personal, and more authentic. God’s inspiration needs man’s imagination to be truly effective. The gospel’s uniqueness is minimized.

The supportive statements quoted above suggest that the fiction in The Chosen serves to enhance and improve the non-fiction of the gospels. Simply retelling the material in the Spirit-given gospels would have “little reach outside of the Christian audience.” Think about that! Adding man-made ideas, thoughts, background and characters makes the life of Jesus more attractive and more interesting to non-Christians.

Let's say we want to make Jesus more “relatable,” and we know that many people have family members with autism. How can we connect these people and families to Jesus? The solution in The Chosen is to pick an apostle - why not Matthew? - and then to depict him as autistic. And for added emphasis, let’s have Jesus involve Matthew in His preparation of the Sermon on the Mount. That may be interesting, but is it true? Do we need fictional material to add dimensions to Jesus' life and the lives of others in order to attract those in our world who do not know the biblical Jesus?

How much extra fictional material, one may ask? Jenkins stated without apology that, as of July, 2022, “Those extra-Biblical portions comprise 95% of what's been in the show thus far.”

https://www.christianfilmblog.com/post/harsh-criticism-of-the-chosen-draws-emotional-response-from-dallas-jenkins

Again, to Dallas Jenkins, the overwhelming portion of made-up stuff – 95% – is a good thing, to the show’s credit, because the made-up stuff makes Jesus more appealing.

A second concern has to do with the resulting confusion as to what is true (biblical, the 5%) and what is untrue (fiction, the 95%). When one who is new to the Bible sees a scene in The Chosen that really “speaks to their heart,” and then asks me, “Is that true? Where is that in the Bible?” I would have to say, “No, it’s pure fiction, and it’s not in the Bible.” The newcomer may then ask, “Well, what about this … or that … or the other?” Time and again, I would have to respond, “No, it’s not in the Word of God. It’s just something that human scriptwriters thought would make Jesus more real, authentic, and personal.” From that point on, the newcomer may be more devoted to watching The Chosen than to studying the truth about Jesus in scripture.

In our age, video with sights and sounds can seem more engaging than printed materials. Many of us would rather see a movie than read the book on which that movie is based. Television is a powerful medium, and we would do well to recognize its influence.

Another implication is that viewers may decide to follow a filtered Jesus, one who is seen, edited, and interpreted by modern scriptwriters. Of course, our goal is for each person to meet the real Jesus, unedited and unfiltered, as seen and described by the original, first-century eyewitnesses. The old, reliable question, “Have you studied the Bible?” gives way to the new, exciting question, “Have you watched The Chosen?”

Let’s ask some more specific questions.

Think of the details added to the gospel accounts. Should it bother us, for example, for people to be taught that Nicodemus attempted to exorcise Mary Magdalene’s demons but failed? Or that Nicodemus’ wife was named Zohara? Has anyone ever told you that Jesus’ disciple Thaddeus was a stonemason … that “Little James” (James the son of Alphaeus) was a member of the “288 Jerusalem Temple Choir” … that Thomas (the doubter) was a caterer … or that Ramah was a former winemaker from Tel Dor, the deceased partner of Thomas, and one of the women helping Jesus's ministry?

Should others be told that Eden was the wife of Simon Peter, the daughter of Dasha … that Nathanael was a former architect … that Judas Iscariot was a former business apprentice … that the healed paralytic in Capernaum (Mark 2:1-12) was named Ethan … or that this same Ethan had an Ethiopian friend named Tamar?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Chosen_characters

Would it be okay to show Jesus needing to take time to write down and rehearse the Sermon on the Mount … or Jesus asking for Matthew’s assistance with it … or Matthew himself as a person who was actually on the Asperger’s/autism spectrum? The claim is that Matthew’s autism makes Jesus more “relatable,” but does that justify adding it?

https://www.christianfilmblog.com/post/harsh-criticism-of-the-chosen-draws-emotional-response-from-dallas-jenkins

Has This Kind of “Improvement” Been Offered Before?

Actually, using pure human fiction to “fill in the gaps” in Jesus’ life is not new. Since the gospels provided no details about Jesus’ youth before age 12 or His life between ages 12 and about 30, others stepped in to complete what was seen as lacking, using their imagination as to what they thought “might have happened.”

Way back in the second century a fictional work appeared, called The Infancy Gospel of Thomas. It describes Jesus as a child having a dialogue with his teacher in front of other pupils about the nature of the Greek alphabet. In one episode Jesus makes clay birds, which he then proceeds to bring to life. There are other miracles, in which Jesus carries water on cloth, produces a feast from a single grain, and stretches a beam of wood to help his father finish constructing a bed. In this fictional writing, Jesus heals James from snake poison, resurrects a child who died of illness, and resurrects a man who died in a construction accident.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infancy_Gospel_of_Thomas

If one were to publish The Infancy Gospel of Thomas or another ancient apocryphal book and suggest it be added to the Bible, of course it would be flatly rejected by most Bible-believing people. Why? Because it’s uninspired fiction, of course!

If promoters argued that such a book made Jesus more real, relatable, authentic, or personal, such an argument would not change the fact that it was of human origin.

How Can “The Chosen” Advance the Gospel?

People are talking about “The Chosen!” You can easily ask your friends if they have seen it. If they have, then ask them what you like about it. Explain to them its nature (fiction) and its purpose (to arouse interest in Jesus). Perhaps offer to watch a couple of episodes with them to see what’s in it and what they like about it.

Ask them if they want to know more about Jesus.

Then ask them something like this. “Wouldn’t it be fascinating to learn about Jesus from the eyewitnesses, those people who knew Him, who watched Him, and who followed Him in person? Let’s pick either Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John and begin reading and studying about Jesus from those who were there with Him!”

 

The Bible in America, the Untold Story: President Franklin D. Roosevelt

In this series we will present the real history of the Bible's role and influence in our great nation. Parents, share these posts with your children. Let them know the often untold story.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States (1933 ‐ 1945), had this to say in his “Statement on the Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Printing of the English Bible.”

Excerpt: "Where we have been truest and most consistent in obeying [the Bible’s] precepts we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and prosperity; where it has been to us as the words of a book that is sealed, we have faltered in our way, lost our range finders and found our progress checked."

Full text from October 06, 1935:

The four hundredth anniversary of the printing of the first English Bible is an event of great significance. It challenges the reverent attention of English-speaking peoples the world over. To that day, October 4, 1535, when Myles Coverdale, an Augustinian Friar, later the Bishop of Exeter, produced this Book in the common vernacular, we trace not only a measurable increase in the cultural value and influence of this greatest of books, but a quickening in the widespread dissemination of those moral and spiritual precepts that have so greatly affected the progress of Christian civilization.

The part that William Tyndale played in this English translation is generally acknowledged by the historian. It is also evident that there were others who made valuable contributions to the monumental undertaking. Independent of and apart from the devotion of these zealous translators, the work they did marks the beginning of one of the great epochs in the history of English-speaking peoples.

It would be difficult to appraise the far-reaching influence of this work and subsequent translations upon the speech, literature, moral and religious character of our people and their institutions. It has done much to refine and enrich our language. To it may be traced the richest and best we have in our literature. Poetry, prose, painting, music and oratory have had in it their guide and inspiration. In it Lincoln found the rounded euphonious phrases for his Gettysburg address. Speaking of its place in his life, he says: "In regard to the great Book, I have only to say, it is the best gift which God has ever given to man."

One cannot study the story of the rise and development of the men and women who have been and continue to be the pathfinders and benefactors of our people and not recognize the outstanding place the Bible has occupied as the guide and inspiration of their thought and practice. Apart from their professed allegiance to any particular form of Christian doctrine or creedal expression of faith, they have found in it that which has shaped their course and determined their action.

Look where we will, even in periods that have been marked by apostasy and doubt, still men have found here in these sacred pages that which has refreshed and encouraged them as they prosecuted their pilgrimage and sought for higher levels of thinking and living.

In the formative days of the Republic the directing influence the Bible exercised upon the fathers of the Nation is conspicuously evident. To Washington it contained the sure and certain moral precepts that constituted the basis of his action. That which proceeded from it transcended all other books, however elevating their thought. To his astute mind moral and religious principles were the "indispensable supports" of political prosperity, the "essential pillars of civil society."

Learned as Jefferson was in the best of the ancient philosophers, he turned to the Bible as the source of his higher thinking and reasoning. Speaking of the lofty teachings of the Master, he said: "He pushed His scrutinies into the heart of man, erected His tribunal in the region of his thoughts, and purified the waters at the fountain head." Beyond this he held that the Bible contained the noblest ethical system the world has known. His own compilation of the selected portions of this Book, in what is known as "Jefferson's Bible," bears evidence of the profound reverence in which he held it.

Entirely apart from these citations of the place the Bible has occupied in the thought and philosophy of the good and the great, it is the veneration in which it has been and is held by vast numbers of our people that gives it its supreme place in our literature. No matter what the accidents and chances of life may bring in their train, no matter what the changing habits and fashions of the world may effect, this Book continues to hold its unchallenged place as the most loved, the most quoted and the most universally read and pondered of all the volumes which our libraries contain. It has withstood assaults, it has resisted and survived the most searching microscopic examination, it has stood every test that could be applied to it and yet it continues to' hold its supreme place as the Book of books. There have been periods when it has suffered stern and searching criticism, but the hottest flame has not destroyed its prevailing and persistent power.

We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a Nation, without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic. Its teaching, as has been wisely suggested, is ploughed into the very heart of the race. Where we have been truest and most consistent in obeying its precepts we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and prosperity; where it has been to us as the words of a book that is sealed, we have faltered in our way, lost our range finders and found our progress checked. It is well that we observe this anniversary of the first publishing of our English Bible. The time is propitious to place a fresh emphasis upon its place and worth in the economy of our life as a people. As literature, as a book that contains a system of ethics, of moral and religious principles, it stands unique and alone. I commend its thoughtful and reverent reading to all our people. Its refining and elevating influence is indispensable to our most cherished hopes and ideals.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Statement on the Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Printing of the English Bible. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/209257