I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, and God Bless everybody.

"A young Army officer writes of the rigors of having sweated through his clothing in the field by day, and freezing as the temperatures plummeted by night: "My body was shivering uncontrollably from head to toe. Then the strangest thing happened. This hot spot started in my chest, literally, and started to spread. At first I thought this must be what it feels like to die of hypothermia, but it kept spreading until I was warm again. I was confused about what had just happened when it dawned on me: This is the time of day my mother prays for me."

Hallelujah, What a Savior.

A Mother praying for her Son, Prayer changes things.

Love motivated her prayer and the Almighty God, Maker of Heaven and earth, had compassion on her Son.

Ps. 92: 1,2, "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O, Most High: To show forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night."

Praise God from whom all Blessings flow.

For God & Country

The American

I must take issue with your statement that the first Thanksgiving in the Plymouth Colony took place in 1621.

I know that that is what is written in contemporary history texts, but it is false.

I just finished reading the article "Account of the First Harvest Feast and Thanksgiving". I have to say that I really enjoyed it and have printed out some copies to give to my grandchildren, because I know that this information will not be taught in their schools. They and all children need to learn that this national holiday is not just about relatives coming over for a big dinner, watching parades or football games.

I want to THANK everyone at The Patriot Post for all that you do. May God keep you all safe not just this holiday season but always.

Thank you,

Penny

Per LTC Beil - Time to lighten-up. Who cares where or when the first Thanksgiving was celebrated? The fact that we live in a free country and can celebrate this day without fear of retribution is what really matters.

The first known thanksgiving celebrations were long before any pilgrims arrived in North America. There were several Indian tribes that celebrated thanksgiving.

The Iroquois still use the prayer they were taught by their ancestors. The Iriquois prayer gives thanks to the Mother Earth, the Winds,the Spirit of Water, the Food Plants, the Animals, Birds, Insects, flowers and trees. Finally it gives thanks to the Creator for everything provided on this earth because it provides them with a good life.

Per Jim, Perhaps, lightening up, is why this country is in such wonderful shape. Who cares? Fine question.

My husband is a descendant of Captain John Woodlief. One of our family members gave us an old article years ago which talked about Captain Woodlief and his Thanksgiving proclaimation. Glory to God!

I read your comments on the soldier who got warmed by his mother's prayers. The other soldiers who read the Patriot Post must feel a great level of support, too. I know I do, as do all your readers.

It is vital that conservatives be organized and informed, and you help greatly in that regard. You give me a sense of a great, intelligent conservative community. I love the columns, I love your own comprehenisive commentary on events, and I love the coverage of news.

So I thank God for Patriot Post.

I can relate to those cold nights here in the mountains of Afghanistan. Thanks to all of you who support The Patriot for making sure those of us in places far away can keep abreast of the events back home...from a RELIABLE source. May each of you also have a peaceful Thanksgiving.

As a veteran of European battle theaters in WWII, I remember those bone-chilling nights when every second seemed like an hour. Thank God for the prayers of mothers (and the rest of you) back home. I understand the real meaning of Thanksgiving, and hold to it every day.

Dear Mark,

How strange and wonderful to read in a national publication words from the Holy Bible in your Thanksgiving message. And, stranger still and yet equally wonderful in this day of the politically correct, so much so, that it is thought remarkable to read words that many of us grew up with. The words from Psalm 100, one of the shorter psalms, is a reminder from my childhood and growing up years. So, Mark, thank you for giving your readers the ability to go back in their lives and read a biblical phrase. It just brings us all the more to the realization that politically correct usage has all but removed this privilege from the public airwaves.

Charlie Seng

Should I post a prayer? Will it rise to the ear of the Lord or sink like a thing of vanity? Will it encourage someone? Will it echo the whispering of the Holy Spirit in some worldly soul? "Eternity! Eternity!"

Thank you Father for the sacrificial spirit and the courage of all those who serve in our armed forces. Thank you for the assurance of eternal safety, of those who know you, who know Christ's words, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Thank you Father, for your faithfulness. Thank you for loving each and every living soul, till the day of your rejoicing as you welcome it home, or till the day of your eternal grief, that you grant and honor it's wish to wonder ever darkly, without your salving caress. Thank you for placing in each man the holy integrity of choice...we pray for many, many to claim faith and choose to faithfully strive to obey and follow you, to see your creation and your intent for each life You have made, to be amazed and humbled, to conceive your endlessness and power, to recognize the complete impotence with which we approach eternity and to know our need of our Lord's saving Hand.

Thank you Lord for every blessing, every comfort, every moment of breath. Thank you Lord for every trial, every pain. Thank you Lord Jesus for knocking at every door, and asking mere men if you might enter. Thank you for Calvary Jesus, and thank you Lord God for an empty Tomb. Thank you Holy Spirit for calling and calling.

Thank you for waiting for the last soul to answer.

Thank you for today, the day of Salvation.

The first Thanksgiving might have been meant to give thanks to God, by people of faith. However, I live in the here and now, and react chiefly to what I can see and prove. My nature is as a scientist, needing to prove the validity of the existing theory before going on to the next theory. Faith doesn't enter into it.

Despite the many wonders of our world and the universe, I still resist the temptation to attribute the origins of the unexplained to any deity such as God. I have never seen God, and I have yet to see him correct his mistakes, i.e. Barrack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, etc. But I do see the works of Mark Alexander and the entire Patriot Post staff. It is may be with your help that we will find solutions to the mistakes that plague us. So in my own way, may I express my sincere gratitude for all that you do. Thank you.

Oh Hamilton!

"Despite the many wonders of our world and the universe, I still resist the temptation to attribute the origins of the unexplained to any deity such as God."

Why not, "Because of the many wonders of our world and the universe, clearly as far beyond my creative capacities as the sun is to a pea, I must resist the temptation to attribute an understanding of the origins of the unexplained to myself, lest I equate myself with God."

We cannot grasp at a whole knowledge of God.

But we can surely conceive, perview of the miracle of own being, from it's plainest breath, sight, sense, intuition, cognition and hunger of heart, to it's most expansive and extraordinary potentialities, that there is an intent behind our existence.

Where there is dirt that has acquired life there is a Lifegiver and a Creator's Purpose. Tire yourself arguing evolution. But what physicist argues the evolution of matter?

Where there is a Creator of such as Men, who speak and sometimes think, there is a communication, one infinitely more difficult than talking politics to a hampster. It is called the Bible.

Where there is God, there is an invition, to join in His Creative joy!

Where there is this incomparable gift of choice, there are those cannot resist the temptation to claim their given lives as if they had made themselves. Who stubbornly afix their belief to the evidence of eye, alone. Who, refusing the evidence of mind, attribute the span of life as being from cradle to grave, as if knowing that so brave a spark, as animates each man, might so certainly be quenched in the final hour.

The beginning of Wisdom is in the fear of God. The nature of the real choice God gives us is that it is irrevocable. Or it would not be choice. And the choosing of faith in God would be to no effect.

Choose God first. Trust Him. Wait on Him. He promises evidence and He does not lie.

There's an experiment for you, Sir!

Oh Jimmy D,

You reduce my means of giving thanks for the patriot Post and all who run it, to a forum in which I'm compelled to defend myself against your criticisms.

My defense is as follows:

1. In no way did I equate myself to God, and in no way did I attribute the wonders of the universe to either myself or to any human being. Thanks for the distortion.

2. Whether there is or is not a God, I have no reason to fret over his purpose, for if true, he will reveal it to me in good time. And if false or simply unknown, for me to try to insist on the existence of God will not make it so. In the here and now, in the absence of any absolute proof of God, I shouldn't fear any retribution from God. Consequently, my purpose is to enjoy life, to be the best person I can be, and with my tiny mark of existence, leave the world that tiny increment better after I'm gone. And in my end, if God is true, he will reveal himself to me, and he will not be displeased in the least. The life I lead makes me confident of that.

3. Your abundant faith in God doesn't constitute absolute proof of his existence, nor do your Biblical references. And frankly, I want no part in reverence to a god that I must fear. People fear despots too, but somehow never seem to appreciate them once they're entrenched.

4. I suggest that you pursue your faith in God with a renewed vigor by praying as much as is humanly possible for God to open up a window in the heavens and speak to everyone, all at the same time. Then we all can have the proof which you don't seek, and that I will gladly witness should it come. In the meantime, when you're not praying, I further suggest that you put your flowery language to use, perhaps as a poet. Good luck to you in all your future endeavors.

C'mon Ham. I am not reducing your means or compelling you in any way...that's silly.

Didn't anyone tell you that the Patriot Post Comments section is a No Whining Zone?

You are just someone who believes as I once believed and it yielded me nothing but grief. Hence my need to go babbling on. You're also someone who shares a common world view as my mother, actually, and she's 88 now and equally indifferent to my entreaties. But you know how these Christians are...dreaming they're somehow "saved" and forever pining after the lost, as if you could be, well, you know, "lost"!

If you are like I was, no end to the vain foolishness of "flowery languge" will persuade you.

We are different in this. I did believe in God. I just thought he was an idiot and my life was the perfect proof. You still think you're smart. I on the other hand having an obviously superior mind have long since attained to the knowledge that intelligence is a scant hedge against stupidity. And I say that in all humility!

I hope the hour of spiritual need arrives for you and that it isn't too painful, though I'm afraid it often is.

As for the fear of God, being like the fear of tyrants, let me suggest a difference. A child rightly fears his father who wishes upon him a strong discipline that will lead to a capacity for good choices and so to a good life. A man rightly loathes and fears a tyrant who would take his (God-given)choices and freedoms and the goodness of his life.

Thanks for the generous thoughts concerning my future as a poet. In my dreams...

Hey Jimmy,

Sorry, but I stand by my words.

I wish I had a dime for every time I heard a liberal say something was "silly" as you have done in this discussion. Liberals tend not to make logical arguments so the classic "silly" claim is their way of bailing. Thanks for letting us know what hat you wear.

I'm glad to be straightened out by you, and put in my place by your "obviously superior mind". And I'm sure everyone appreciated your "humility" claim, but I guess, despite that, we all now know that arrogance must come with religious enlightenment. Thank you for these valuable lessons.

Your humble apprentice - Hamilton

Hamilton:

There is so much evidence of a loving God in every aspect of His creation. I used to be an agnostic, many years back. The world keeps telling us that, somehow, the laws of physics did not always apply. Somehow, according to some "theories" that are now being taught more as not fully proven fact, many millions of years ago, things began to go from a less ordered state to a more ordered state - without any guidance or higher power directing them to do so.

Do me and yourself a favor - go onto YouTube and look up Louie Giglio's presentations, especially the one called, "Our God is an Awesome God." It may take an hour or two out of your life. But, if you watch them with an open mind - as a scientist should - you might just be surprised by what Louie points out in our universe. There are just too many "coincidences" out there to continue to deny what the Bible tells us - unless you insist on rejecting evidence because it does not support your world view.

To Hamilton and others:

Don't blame God for our mistakes of voting in the wrong politicans. These politians are our responsibilit to keep or get rid of by election. If the same jerks keep getting in then it's the voter's fault. The good ones that do their job that we voted them to do are the ones we should keep. God gave us the will to do right or wrong...if we do wrong we usually can do it justice and right it.

Marian

Hamula, my Man!

True liberals are usually devoid of humor. So what hat are you wearing? You don't know me so maybe taking the "superior intellect" bit seriously is understandable, but I don't know. It was supposed to read as a little tongue in cheek. If I was too artless, to paint that clearly, my apology. But if you can determine that my calling you "silly" deems me a Lib, maybe you should take it serious.

For the record here's my view. I'm sure I'm an idiot. And I'm sure you're, well...let me put it like this. God alone is smart. The rest of us, not so much...

Bless you, buddy.

Hello Hamilton. I am a scientist who happens to have a degree in Religion. Nothing aggravates me more that someone proclaiming that a "scientist" cannot - or does not - believe in God. (I am not suggesting that you have done that here but since you started the discussion, here goes.)

For example, I would argue that not only is there no conflict between Book of Genesis and the Theory of Evolution, but it is hard to find any areas of conflict, if one is willing to accept that a "day" may be more than a mere 24 hour period.

The "primordial soup" is quite easily a "firmament over the waters". The story of Fish, reptiles, birds, mammals, and then man-- is a nice scientific and Biblical progression. I can spend all day talking about biologic and chemical evolutionary process, sub-atomic particles, strings, membranes, parallel dimensions and alternate universes beyond the "event horizon", but our discussion will always come to an eventual point that takes us beyond the fundamental laws of physics-- Laws that we find through-out the scientific universe. Many scientists are happy to just kick the can down the road, expecting something different - a new hypothesis to be studied - on the other side of the black hole - event horizon - time continuum. The Laws of Thermodynamics and Conservation of Energy will bring us however, to the point of recognizing the absolute need for an outside agent of creation.

I am not here to recruit, but I can assure you that it is very easy for a scientist to believe in God, and most of the physician/scientists that I know certainly do. There is nothing inherent in recognizing the need for an "ultimate leap of faith" that requires me to abandon all scientific inquiry on my personal quest for understanding.

It really is something to think about!

Finally (well, maybe)unless any "non-believer" should think himself so very different.

I see the denial of God as the rule, not the exception. That such a denial is stupidity to the nth degree is Obvious. That no thing made, in our worldly experience, is without an initial design, should be a broad enough hint. That everything in Creation screams of intelligence and intent is apparent to every open eye and unplugged ear. But a certain sullen ignor-ance, in active defiance or in passive selfishness, marks Everyman.

The truest believer learns every more deeply of the continued existence of his inclination to "go it alone".

Read over the Prodigal Son a few times, not from the literal view of the consequence of a man letting his son head out with his material inheritance-in-advance, but as the figure of God granting each man a wealth of being, which each then squanders.

Part of that wealth, "engineered" into the soul of each man is a yearning for the divine, a "God-shaped void", and a deep suspicion of an existence greater than death. We expend this in anger, that God should dare proscribe "rules of the road". The denial of God is not sum of any earnest thought but the folly of the willful heart.

The road away from our Maker ends in pain and need and confession that we have no answer for Eternity, no power, in and of ourselves, to bridge the gap of death, and that the wealth we have wasted has taught us, at least, of the certainty of greater wealth.

I remember when my father said my name

"Not Good", you say.

"My Dad may pass soon"

I touch it lightly

say Good-bye

but tears overwhelm the work at hand

Over ten years gone now but

my father still stands by my heart

Is that James Edward?

Last words, Thanksgiving Day '97

I was there O thank You God

There as though to be assured

of the faith of one worth 10 of me

Months later to pull over

unable to drive

between tears of shame and laughter

touched by a knowing spirit

that put aside the fear

(ten tons a feather in the breeze)

for the ever-fate of that best of men

Had to stop and pray for you my friend

Let what we dream

be like a candle still burning

as the sun rises blinding in its glory

Let what we imagine

be like a fading whisper

beneath a true and mighty wind

Let God's mercy

be a deluge that drowns all we thought we knew

And let who we suppose to lose

who our embrace could no more hold here

be ever ours

as we are ever His

*Jim Darlington 9/8/08*

To Marian:

I didn't mean to blame God for OUR mistakes of electing the wrong people, rather, in context of my initial post, I meant to blame God, if he exists, for the existence of the mistakes (his creations)that constitute the voters' selection set.

To CaptLarry

I'm sorry but for anyone to refer to the world and our universe as "His creation", and then to point to everything and say that it is evidence of God's creation, is a logical fallacy, because the creation is merely stated and not proven.

I searched youtube and found the "How Great is Our God Tour", and "Our God is Indescribable", but not the one you mentioned, "Our God is an Awesome God". Which one are you talking about?

To M R Timms MD

I haven’t suggested that scientifically-minded people cannot believe in God, and thank you for realizing that. You need not be aggravated with me. I merely meant that most scientists will build scientific understanding via the postulation-theory-proof process. The proof portion is essential if one is to continue with integrity. As a rule, if unproven theories are used as a basis or a building-block for continued theories, that generally indicates the employment of supposition and guesswork, which is bad science.

To me, this relates to faith because for me to believe in God would naturally suggest that I would need to begin following some sort of scripture in order to attain the supposed benefits of the faith. I mean, don’t believers follow a scripture, because if not, then what is the point? At any rate, I’m not against people of faith, as I think Jimmy D might assume of me. I simply see no purpose for faith in my life. If the faith and the belief in God remain unproven, then for me, there is no logical reason to follow it. I don’t believe there is a person on the planet who can provide absolute proof that their god exists and that their god is THE God. This is why I suggested that Jimmy D get in touch with his God, and to have him open a window in the heavens and talk with everyone. If Jimmy D were to succeed, that would be a wonderful thing, for this entire debate would be put to rest. But if Jimmy D were to fail, then how many different explanations could he have for why his God won’t answer his request? Could any one of them be that there is no God? The answer is NO because that is the nature of faith.

I think there is a yearning within humanity, to know how and why everything works. I think it’s so strong that some people are uncomfortable without an explanation for the universe and our place within it. So in the absence of a proven explanation, many people are gladly willing to attribute every aspect of our existence to a supreme being, the proof of which also doesn’t exist. To me, I’m uncomfortable with that, since it isn’t proven. It’s an unproven theory. Though it would be nice to know how we came to be, and I hope humanity never stops trying to discover the answer, I am comfortable not knowing.

If I understand you correctly, you’re citing what we already know about the universe and how we can describe and predict much of it with our known science and mathematics, as justification for “an outside agent of creation”. You are also citing scientific wonders which we cannot yet explain, as justification for “an outside agent of creation”. Ultimately, there might indeed be an ultimate agent of creation, for what easier explanation can there be for the existence of all matter and energy, and the void to house it all? But you have to admit, as a scientist, that your belief is still technically faith. And the agent of creation may not be God.

I’m sorry but there is not enough evidence here for me to attribute everything to a God that I’m going to revere, to worship, to fear (as in fearing my father’s discipline, Jimmy D), to spend the rest of my life getting to know, to call my own, and yet to never see or talk to.

Respectfully yours, Hamilton

Barrack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and a slew of others are not God's mistakes. God doesn't make mistakes...humans do. To err is human...to forgive, divine.

To Gayle Wheat:

OMG (sarcasm intended) Please put away your bible for now, and think.

The three politicos were brought into discussion as a point of humor, and related to the point of me giving thanks to Mark Alexander and his entire staff instead of to God for his many blessings. I said that the three were some of Gods mistakes, if one was to believe that God created them, and that God hasn't corrected his mistakes . Then I came back down to earth and insinuated that the three are just mistakes that we have to fix, and that the good work of the Patriot Post helps in that endeavor.

And hey Gayle, considering all their immoral activities, couldn't you legitimately consider the three politicos as mistakes, or would you prefer freaks of nature. Whatever. If God created them, but they're not God's mistakes because only people make mistakes, then whose mistakes are they?

For: M R Timms, MD

You made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I remember looking through my deep space telescope at the moons of Jupiter or rings of Saturn. The more I read scientific books by scientists who write so that a layman can understand it; reading the String Theory and the theories on the expanding universe, brought me closer and closer to the knowledge, there is a "design" out there. It's almost as if, when your one eye is looking through the scope, there is an eye looking back at you, saying, can you "feel" me yet?

A request from one of the many granddaughters(wife Martha Edwards Smith Allinder) of Gen (SC Militia) Christopher GADSDEN, originator of the "Don't Tread On Me" flag: Please give credit to GEN Gadsden when referring/showing/displaying "his" flag. (Not always done; for example in the "Tea Party Primer".)

History buffs may be interested in visiting Gen Gadsden's grave site at the St Phillips Episcopal Church cemetery on Church St in Charleston