Michael Medved has a fine post on public displays of gratitude to God.
Excerpt:
The musical manuscripts of Johann Sebastian Bach show him writing the initials "SDG" at the beginning and end of all of his some 300 church compositions, as well as attaching the same abbreviation to many of his immortal secular works. The initials stand for soli deo gloria ("to God alone be glory"). No one assumes that Bach expressed these sentiments to imply some divine favoritism for his music above contributions by his less religious friend and rival, Georg Philipp Telemann. Instead, Bach humbly acknowledged the creator as the ultimate originator of his miraculous creativity, much as a distinctly blessed athlete in our century might acknowledge the almighty as the true source of his own health, power and skill.
The argument against injecting blessing and praise into what Rabbi Jacobs calls the "fleeting trivialities of popular culture" maintains that association with such ephemera actually diminishes our sense of the divine. But the other side insists that expressions of appreciation to a higher power help place even our silliest earthly endeavors in proper perspective, without any alteration of our perceptions of God.
If a champion wins an Olympic medal, an Oscar, a Super Bowl, or even a significant political campaign, and celebrates the triumph with invocation of the almighty's reign, that victor doesn't claim supernatural favor but rather recognizes mortal limits to his own power. When the most admired public figures take time to express gratitude and share credit, it suggests an admirable quality of humility that remains in short supply in celebrity culture and the nation at large.
I agree. Unashamed public expression of gratitude to God enrichs our lives and our culture. I thank God regularly, to myself. I should probably have the courage to be more explicit about it.
Thanking God is the most appropriate kind of gratitude, as it tells the truth about who we are and the truth about to Whom we owe our blessings, our trials, our lives and our love.
I bet 80% of the God thanking that goes on in front of large crowds and TV cameras is more about ingratiating the large Christian population to obtain more fans and better pay. I’m sure God would hear Tebow if he humbly mumbled his thanks, but no, he has to make a big show of it.
ReplyDelete“If a champion….celebrates the triumph with invocation of the almighty's reign, that victor doesn't claim supernatural favor but rather recognizes mortal limits to his own power.”
Bullshit, if these PDF people are recognizing there own moral limits, they are then thanking God for giving them the favor of transcending those limits. Just listen to what they actually say. When Pastor Joe Nelms thanks God for his "smokin' hot wife", he’s obviously thanking god for the favor of being granted a wife he would otherwise not have.
-KW
What does the bible have to say?
ReplyDeleteMatthew 6:6 “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Hmm…Don’t pray in public, and prayer is about receiving favor. Apparently the Bible doesn’t know shit about being a good Christian compared to modern culture warriors like Mike Egnor.
-KW
DeleteUnashamed public expression of gratitude to God enrichs our lives and our culture.
ReplyDeleteBut not our spelling ability.
-- NA
Jesus:
ReplyDeleteAnd when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
A nice long roast on the Jesus BBQ.
You atheists have a real problem reading English, don't you?
ReplyDeleteNo where does this post talk about praying God. Instead it's about offering praise and thanksgiving to God.
You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being. Revelation 4:11
I guess you were all barking up the wrong tree!
Pépé: No where does this post talk about praying [to] God. Instead it's about offering praise and thanksgiving to God.
DeletePépé, why don't you open an English dictionary and find out the meaning of the word pray?
Here is how Merriam-Webster defines it:
1: to make a request in a humble manner;
2: to address God or a god with adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving.
A God-hater's gotta do what a God-hater's gotta do, dontcha know?
Delete@oleg,
DeleteYou will get a better understanding of the meaning of this post by reading about Christian Worship.
You will note that the expression of praise, thanksgiving and gratitude to God can be both public and private and this is exactly what Dr. Egnor wrote:
Unashamed public expression of gratitude to God enrichs our lives and our culture. I thank God regularly, to myself.
Pépé,
DeleteThank you for your concern. I have a pretty good idea about Christian worship. In fact, your own link confirms what I just wrote:
"All whatsoever you do" — St. Paul has just been speaking of prayer — "in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by him" (Colossians 3:17).
Cordially,
OT
@oleg,
DeleteI just want to make sure the following did not escape your attention:
This is the justification of all external manifestations of worship — genuflexion, prostration, kneeling, standing, the sign of the cross, the lifting-up or imposition of hands.
Best regards.
It did not.
DeleteThanks for your efforts, Pépé
Cheers,
OT
For what do we give thanks?
ReplyDeleteI suspect it is different for many people. It varies. Some give thanks for their success, others for natural gifts. Still others for a lucky break here and there. I am sure it changes from time to time as well.... but some prayers hold true.
Me?
I thank God every time I look into the eyes of my children. Not always aloud. Not always immediately; but, every time I make that connection, I see and feel the love and presence of God.
I thank Him, without reservation for giving me another day, minute, even second to see these most dear souls juts simply be. Each such moment is a gift I am truly thankful for.
On the Sabbath, on the Holy days, and when I find myself at formal worship I always include those moments of thanks in my prayer.
... and when killing people. You especially thank God when killing people, for giving you another day, but not the other guy.
ReplyDelete-- NA
NA,
DeleteSuch a statement is at once vapid and cowardly.
You snide like that from the safety of a world men like myself have secured.
I will assume you are not a child, and so the following is directed at an adult:
You demonstrate beyond doubt are an ingrate and a coward.
You have NO IDEA what a man like me offers in prayer while at war.
Here's a point to ponder, worm: I have served in several theatres and in operations that don't even make the news. In ALL of them I stood against men 100X your worth.
Men who would never cower at home and let others do the fighting for them. Men worth praying FOR. Men with families and lives that actually MEANT something.
Men who were my enemy, but had far more substance and value than a pathetic internet troll like you. Men who stood for something and had the spine to fight for it.
Men more deserving of the gift of life than you, and yet many lay dead and many more defeated.
You know why they fight us so fervently?
Know who they tell us they hate and what they hate when captured?
FILTH like you. You and your Jerry Springer, reality TV, virtual world. They despise it. They detest everything human animals like you represent.
They cannot understand why brave, trained men would defend it. Sometimes I wonder myself. Then I remember the good people in the society you infect with your evil venom.
When I read comments like yours, I can see why they fight us.
Today I offer a new prayer. One for your weak, black, atrophied soul to be freed from the narcissistic hell it inhabits.
May God grant you the strength to break loose from the madness and evil that holds you and uses you.
Should you resist goodness and charity - even then - I pray the enemy's sword deliver you from us and grant grace to them for doing so.
Atheism? You're excuse. Nothing more.
You are an insult to the decent Atheists and all free men and women on this page and everywhere.
Awww, poor lil' cwusader is all wiled up, just because I pointed out that he probably thanks God for killing people, too.
DeleteI'd like to hear your prayers while killing people. Please tell us.
FILTH like you. You and your Jerry Springer, reality TV, virtual world. They despise it. They detest everything human animals like you represent.
Spoken like a true Christian. Christianity is clearly a religion of love.
-- NA
@crusadeREX,
DeleteI can truly understand your reaction to NA's filth. There is an Internet rule that says: Don't feed the troll! so let's completely ignore NA's stupid comments.
NA,
DeleteWhat is your predilection with little things, NA? A bit of a compensation issue, perhaps? Something not quite as big as it should be? Did you make the girls laugh when they were supposed to sigh, perhaps?
Whatever your issues, you have no more of my attention.
I have said all I will ever say to you, big fella.
Pépé,
Agreed. Attention is what he craves. Let him starve.
You know why they fight us so fervently?
DeleteKnow who they tell us they hate and what they hate when captured?
FILTH like you. You and your Jerry Springer, reality TV, virtual world. They despise it. They detest everything human animals like you represent.
Yeah, that must be it. If they had been invaded by, and if their families had killed by, a bunch of good god-fearing Christians, then they wouldn't have put up much of a fight. Because, hey, we all believe in the same old god, right? No, they fight because of Jerry Springer and his atheist buddies.
Pathetic.
Troy,
DeleteMy comment has nothing to do with atheism.
You drew that link, not I.
I have never been involved in the slaughter of families, women, or children. Nor have I ever fought a war in which that was strategy. I would resign my commission before following any such order.
Further, some of the places I served the enemy was Christian.
As for Jerry Springer, you may want to LISTEN to your enemy once in a while. I have spent hours in tents, caves, huts, and mountain sides questioning the enemy. I have read days worth of transcripts. I see and have interpreted transmissions. Jerry Springer is really popular in Africa, SWA, the Peninsula, and even the Americas. They don't love him like so many of us do, however. To them, he is an example of why they fight on. They do not want their world and the people in it reduced to a joke on daytime TV. 'They' include Christians, Muslims, Pagans, and even your Marxist pals.
I don't need a lecture from some arm chair pundit on the enemies' instincts for war, thanks. Do yourself a favour and stick to mocking child molestations and blaming Rome for the worlds woes and leave the heavy stuff to the adults.
Lastly, I have noted your need to support what NA said by attacking my response. You could have disagreed with him and me, but instead you hunt with the pack.
Pathetic? Funny because I pity you.
I have nothing further to say to you.
Have the decency to leave me out of your commentary from now on.
@The sane people: All this from saying I thank God for my children....
Do ANY of you other than Pépé think this unwarranted?
Do any of you Atheists who talk of golden rules and tolerance care to say something in support of my position?
Please surprise me!
Better not hold my breath, eh....
Didn't think so.
DeletecrusadeRex: I lived in Africa for nine years. I never once heard anyone claim that they hated the U.S. because of Jerry Springer. Not once.
DeleteLet's see, you're the one who said that I should be killed for suggesting that you might pray to God in battle:
ReplyDeleteShould you resist goodness and charity - even then - I pray the enemy's sword deliver you from us and grant grace to them for doing so.
And you're calling me indecent?
The mental gymnastics it requires to hold this kind of position is astounding. Get some help!
-- NA