Thanksgiving History

Why did the Pilgrims sail to the New World?

Before you answer that question with the template answer "Religious Freedom", consider these questions and answers:

1. From where did the Pilgrims originate? England.


2. From where did the Pilgrims sail? Holland


3. How long were they in Holland before sailing to the New world in 1620? over 10 years


4. Did they have religious freedom in Holland? Yes


5. Were they forced out of Holland? no
   

William Bradford described their departure in a now-famous passage which later gave the Pilgrims their name: "So they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their resting place near twelve years; but they knew they were pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits."


6. Why did they leave Holland to sail to the New World?

It is unfortunate that the public school systems in America are still teaching kids the notion that the Pilgrims came to America for religious freedom.

Worst, yet, kids are given the impression that the Pilgrims are Puritans.

What bugs me even more is that the material, that is being taught, gives kids the impression that Thanksgiving is about the Pilgrims thanking the Native Americans.

Nooooooooooo!


Here's the full story.

The Anglican Church, at that time, were perceived by many to be corrupt. Those who did, were divided into two camps.

One group believed that the best course of action was to stay and purify the Anglican Church from within. This group was known as the Puritans.

The second group were composed of separatists who believed that any effort to purify from within the Anglican Church would be in vain. The best course of action was to build a new church and model the "City on the Hill"/"Light of the World" for the Anglican Church to follow. The separatists became know as the Pilgrims from William Bradford's description of their departure from Holland (see answer for question 5 at the beginning of this blog).

During their stay in Holland, they found their children being drawn away from their faith, seduced by the Dutch culture, or as Bradford described it, "drawne away by evill examples into extravagence and dangerous courses".

So, instead of being the Light, they found their children being drawn into the darkness.

To reverse the trend, they decided to leave for the New World in hope of not only reclaiming their children's religious future but also (as Bradford wrote it) "great hope, for the propagating and advancing the gospell of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world". Yes, one of their primary objectives, for sailing to America, was evangelism.

Squanto was a member of the Patuxet tribe who was taken to England and there he learned English. When he returned to America, he found that his entire tribe was wiped out by a mysterious plague.

Shortly afterward, the Pilgrims arrived (1620). Squanto adopted the Pilgrims and taught them how to plant corn, how to fish, and other survival skills foreign to the newly arrived urban dwellers.

When the Pilgrims had their first successful harvest (1621), they had a feast to thank God, the first Thanksgiving. They invited their neighbors, the Wampanoag tribe, whose chief was Massasoit, to the feast. (Please, see my next blog entry "Addendum and Errata to 'Thanksgiving History'" for correction of reference to Massasoit and his relationship with "the Wampanoag tribe".)

Remember that it was Squanto, a member of the Patuxet tribe, that helped the Pilgrims, not the Wampanoag. However, as part of the Pilgrims' worship to God, they invited the Wampanoag (the evangelism aspect of the Pilgrim's vision).

Here's the problem: they took all the Christian elements of the Pilgrims' story out of the history text book: The Pilgrims came to America for religious freedom and had a feast to thank the Native Americans for their help. Without the details, it seems to make sense. However, fill in the details, and the story falls apart. The Pilgrims had religious freedom in Holland. Squanto helped them but they invited the Wampanoag to the feast.

"Ask the Man on the Street" Questions about the Bible

I was watching the "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno on Thanksgiving night and Jay was doing his "Ask the Man on the Street" thing. That night, he was asking questions like "Where did the Pilgrims sailed from?" And people were giving answers like: Canada and Peru.

It made me think. Since the average American knows so little about what's in the Bible, it would be a hoot if someone would do an "Ask the Man on the Street" thing about stuff in the Bible. In fact, we can even make them multiple choice questions like:

1. What did Jesus turn into wine?
   
   
   1. Gatorade
   
   
   2. water with which people used to wash their feet
   
   
   3. grape juice
   
   
   4. a mixture of all of the above
   
   
   5. none of the above (must specify an alternate answer)


2. How did Jesus feed five thousand men and their families?


1. Jesus called a catering service.


2. Peter knew some people...


3. Some kid gave Jesus his fish and bread dinner.


4. all of the above


5. none of the above (must specify an alternate answer)


3. What happened when the Apostle Paul preached a sermon that was so long that people were falling asleep?


1. A kid, after falling asleep, fell out of a window and died; but Paul resurrected him and kept on preaching.


2. Members of the congregation started speaking in tongues to keep themselves awake.


3. Hundreds saw visions of the resurrected Christ after falling asleep and couldn't figure out if Christ actually appeared before them or if they were just having a dream.


4. all of the above


5. none of the above (must specify an alternate answer)



4. What did the Israelites do as Joshua led them across the Jordan River?


1. They taunted their enemies with cries of "Allah Akbar (God is Great)".


2. They started a rock collection with the rocks they found on river bed after the Ark dried up the river.


3. They gathered fishes for a feast that they would have once they got to the other side.


4. all of the above


5. none of the above (must specify an alternate answer)



5. Why did Jacob have two wives?


1. Since Jacob's future father-in-law was afraid that his ugly older daughter would become a spinster, he made Jacob marry the ugly older daughter before Jacob can marry the hot younger daughter.


2. Jacob needed the extra dowry money to buy the farm.


3. Jacob couldn't decide between the two women.


4. all of the above


5. none of the above (must specify an alternate answer)

The Coming of Jesus

Someone posted the following message on one of the Chrisitian forums:

Jesus is not coming today,
tomorrow, this week,
or this year.
It MUST be true, otherwise most of us wouldn't be acting the way we do. Not convinced? Let's look at our behavior from another angle. Consider this question:

if Jesus were coming back today
what would you do differently?
The next question is even tougher. If you answered the previous question and determined there was at least one thing you would do differently,

"Why aren't you doing it?"
For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Matthew 24:38-39

While I agree with Dave's assessments and his call to action, I'm not sure if his message would motivate the correct action. I suspect that people would read it and take it as a call to shape up our own lives, be a better person: a very self-focused response.

I don't believe that Jesus would want that type of response. I believe that Jesus would want us to focus on HIS call to action.

Here is my response:

Matthew 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Matthew 28:19-20
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Revelation 7:9
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.

Until the gospel of the kingdom is preached in the whole world and there are believers from every nation, tribe, people and language, Jesus will not be returning.

A better question would be: Do you really want Jesus to return? Do you pray "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" and really mean it?

If so, what are you doing to make it possible? i.e., To fulfill the condition: This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world so that it is heard by those from every nation, tribe, people and language.

For the average American believer, the answer is VERY LITTLE.

How much does the American Church invest in overseas cross-cultural evangelism?

(Normally, I would use the word "missions", but these days this term no longer applies just to overseas cross-cultural evangelism; often it also includes a lot of domestic ministries).

Let's add some perspective context to that question.

If you take how much American Christians spend on Christmas presents for self, family, and friends and compare it with what the American Church invests in overseas cross-cultural evangelism, what do you think is the ratio?

Normally, I don't like to talk about dollars and cents because I believe in doing what Jesus models: one-to-one contact. I only mentioned it because what our checkbook ledger says reflects our priorities.

Sadly, our priorities currently say that we are more focused on our present day "shiny little objects" than the magnificent glories that are yet to come.

Do we want to be near-sighted scavenging crows or do we want to be eagles that soar to the sky?