Month: November 2013

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Happy Thanksgiving from President Obama

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  Weekly Address: Wishing the American People a Happy Thanksgiving  Remarks of President Barack Obama Weekly Address — Thanksgiving Thursday, November 28, 2013 Hi, everybody.  On behalf of all the Obamas – Michelle, Malia, Sasha, Bo, and the newest member of our family, Sunny – I want to wish you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. We’ll be spending today just like many of you – sitting down with family and friends to eat some good food, tell stories, watch a little football, and most importantly, count our blessings. And as Americans, we have so much to be thankful for. We … Continue reading Happy Thanksgiving from President Obama

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George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

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[New York, 3 October 1789] By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation. 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 signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to … Continue reading George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

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Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

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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 unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, … Continue reading Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

Book Reviews3 Comments

Review of ‘The First Thanksgiving’ by Robert Tracy McKenzie

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 Robert Tracy McKenzie, The First Thanksgiving: What the Real Story Tells Us About Loving and God and Learning from History (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013). Paperback / Kindle This Thanksgiving, like millions of other Americans, I will sit down with family around a beautifully decorated table to eat a sumptuous feast of turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. We will share stories of gratitude for God’s blessings throughout the year drawing to a close. And then we will watch football or—in my case, since I’m not a sports fan—take a long, postprandial nap. What I will not … Continue reading Review of ‘The First Thanksgiving’ by Robert Tracy McKenzie

Politics & Culture1 Comment

Why Did President Obama Omit ‘Under God’ from the Gettysburg Address When 63 Other Prominent Americans Included It?

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For the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, Ken Burns asked a number of prominent Americans to recite the Gettysburg Address on camera. You may or may not know that there are five extant copies of the address in Lincoln’s hand—the so-called Nicolay, Hay, Everett, Bancroft, and Bliss copies (listed in chronological order of production). The Nicolay copy was the first draft of the speech, prepared before Lincoln delivered it. The Hay, Everett, Bancroft, and Bliss copies were prepared after he delivered it. There are a variety of differences between these copies. For our purposes, the most important difference is … Continue reading Why Did President Obama Omit ‘Under God’ from the Gettysburg Address When 63 Other Prominent Americans Included It?

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Obama Leaves Out ‘Under God’ in His Recitation of the Gettysburg Address [UPDATED]

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Ken Burns has posted a video of President Barack Obama reciting the Gettysburg Address. Amazingly, the president fails to recite the words under God in the phrase, “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.” I’m not sure why President Obama deleted this phrase. (I’ll leave that to conspiracy mongers.) There are five copies of the Gettysburg Address from Lincoln’s lifetime, known as the Bliss, Nicolay, Hay, Everett, and Bancroft copies. The Bliss copy–the only one with Lincoln’s signature on it–is generally considered authoritative. It and the Everett and Bancroft copies contain the words under God, while the … Continue reading Obama Leaves Out ‘Under God’ in His Recitation of the Gettysburg Address [UPDATED]

Book Reviews1 Comment

Review of ‘Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace’ by Stanglin and McCall

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 Keith D. Stanglin and Thomas H. McCall, Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012). Paperback The greatest trick Calvinists ever pulled was convincing the world that Jacob Arminius was Pelagius redivivus. The charge—whether in a strong (Pelagian) or weak (semi-Pelagian) form—was false in Arminius’s day and has not become true since then, Calvinist polemics to the contrary notwithstanding. Unfortunately, it has largely succeeded in both tainting Arminius’s good name and obscuring his theological contributions. In Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace, Keith D. Stanglin and Thomas H. McCall render a valuable service to readers by outlining the … Continue reading Review of ‘Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace’ by Stanglin and McCall

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The Gettysburg Address at 150 [UPDATED]

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Today–November 19, 2013–is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. In that speech, President Abraham Lincoln said, “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here.” In fact, his words are precisely what we remember about that momentous battle, which was fought on July 1-3, 1863. Here is the text of Lincoln’s landmark speech. Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, … Continue reading The Gettysburg Address at 150 [UPDATED]

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Review of ‘A Call to Resurgence’ by Mark Driscoll [UPDATED]

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UPDATE: Mark Driscoll has been accused of plagiarizing parts of A Call to Resurgence. See Jonathan Merritt’s reports here, here, and here. I was unaware of these allegations when I wrote my review. Now, I find them credible, though I would attribute them to sloppiness (or outsourced research) rather than malice. Regardless, I stand by my call for Arminian-Calvinist cooperation in the task of world evangelism. ~GPW, 12/9/13  Mark Driscoll, A Call to Resurgence: Will Christianity Have a Funeral or a Future? (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2013). Hardback / Kindle I do not often read Mark Driscoll. I … Continue reading Review of ‘A Call to Resurgence’ by Mark Driscoll [UPDATED]