Yesterday was Thanksgiving Monday in Canada. Turkeys were cooked, harvest decorations adorned homes, and by the end of the day most Canadians slumped into bed with full bellies. However, what many people don’t realize is that yesterday marked one day in our calendar where, intentionally or subconsciously, we renounce human autonomy.
Before I explain what I mean, a definition of autonomy might be useful. To be autonomous is literally to be “one’s own law.” An autonomous person is one who governs his or her life according to his or her own standard. The problem of the human condition—that stems back to the fall of Adam in Genesis 3—is that humans view themselves autonomously apart from God. When Adam ate of the fruit, he asserted to God and before his posterity, that he was his own lawmaker, not God. As children of Adam, every human being (except Jesus) has the same view. This is one way of viewing our sin-nature inherited from Adam. To become a Christian is, therefore, to recognize the Triune God as the only lawgiver who must be obeyed.
Now, back to Thanksgiving. Humans who suppose themselves to be autonomous have no reason to be thankful to any external authority other than themselves. If humans are the measure of all things, then we owe thanks to no one. But to be thankful is to recognize that you owe someone, that you have a measure of dependence, and that you are grateful for what has been done for you.
When it comes to offering a challenge to atheism (a prime example of supposed human autonomy), gratitude is key. Doug Wilson rightly observes, “The issue of thanksgiving is really central to the whole debate about the existence of God.” He goes on to say, “If there is no God, there is no need to thank anyone.” This is so because, according to the atheist, all events are a part of a long line of blind processes rooted in chance. However, “If there is a God,” says Wilson, “then every breath, every moment, every sight and sound, is sheer, unadulterated gift.” When the atheist is thankful in his or her heart, not to a particular human in a particular instance of gratitude, but thankful for life or for the world, then they are in effect expressing thanks to God.
This Thanksgiving and the American one soon to follow are really statements that reflect Paul’s sentiments in Romans 1:21, that at the heart of human sinfulness is a lack of thanks: “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks.”
As Christians, we know that behind every good gift is a God who loves to give them. In fact, more than any of the wonderful people in our lives, the material possessions that we own, or the joy of living, God has given to us his only Son who saved us from our sins (John 3:16). And as the Son now sits at the right hand of the Father, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit, given by the Risen Christ, to minister in the Son’s stead. In the words of John Piper, God is the gospel—and we need to be profoundly thankful to him.
