Charged with thanksgiving
- Ming Dao Ting
Article 2 (Aug 06)

I've recently come across another good reason why we should thank God in public as much as we can now. One day, it may be illegal to.

It was June 2006, in a court room in Honolulu, Hawaii. A man was on trial, accused of abusing his own son. When it was announced that the jury had found the man innocent, the man raised his hands and exclaimed "Thank you, Jesus." On hearing this, the Circuit Judge immediately cited the man for contempt of court, based on his one outburst. This resulted in the man being retained in the courtroom and a cellblock for the next six hours, after which the judge eventually granted a hearing on the contempt charge and released him. Later, the judge decided to drop charges.

According to the defendant, the man was a "devoutly religious man active in his church who spontaneously expressed his thanks to the higher power in which he believed." Family members and church friends were shocked and upset that those mere words could result in imprisonment. (See original newspaper article)

Now, there are several lessons to glean from this event. For one thing, there is a slight fault on the part of the man, who failed to understand (and respect) proper court conduct. It is likely that he was not even aware of it, but it's not a strong excuse. That being said, one must wonder what was going through the mind of that judge when he made that accusation. It could be that he felt that the man was patronising the court with a sarcastic "Thank you, Jesus", not taking the seriousness of the charge strongly enough. But which Christian wouldn't instinctively want to thank God, if acquitted from a huge charge such as child abuse? God alone knows if the man was truly innocent, but the fact remains: thanking God openly is becoming a dangerous thing to do.

If this same scenario had occurred let's say, 30 years ago, do you think the judge would have held the man in contempt for his thanksgiving? Now I'm not implying that today's courtrooms and judges are completely anti-God; indeed many fine lawyers are faithful Christians. My point is that it's going to become harder and harder to thank God (or even acknowledge Him) in public, because our culture is moving towards an increased rejection and ignoring of God's sovereignty and even existence. In our society where it is a huge crime to elevate one religion over another (or even over its non-existence), saying a simple "thank God" could be construed to you trying to (gasp!) impose your Christian worldview over another's, something highly frowned upon today. If you believe in God, good for you (you poor unintelligent person), but keep it yourself. That's the attitude of our world today.

In this respect, thankgod.blogsome.com is actually a bold move. But we who are convinced that God is there, and not just simply "there" but active in the world and in our lives, watching over and blessing everyone, should not be intimidated. We must continue to offer up our thanks to God openly, as it encourages other believers and motivates them to thank God too, which is the very purpose of this site. And it gives all the glory to the only one to whom it's really due - God, creator and sustainer of everything.

Our culture may try furiously to remove God from all literature, conversation and the like, but it can't take away the spirit of thanksgiving that springs from our hearts. Let's never forget the immensity of the love and grace God showed us through Jesus, and thank Him continually for it, in private or in public, in quietness or out loud, in good times or bad, in joy or in sadness, in comfort or in hardship, in freedom or oppresion. Afterall, none of those things will ever change His love for you.

* * *


Click here to return to the features main page.