Dear China
Friends,
COLUMBUS DAY
CELEBRATION
Columbus Day celebrates Columbus’ first
voyage to the New World in 1492. In the
U.S. Columbus Day has been celebrated annually since 1920. However, it was not until 1971 that it became
a legal holiday in the United States. It
is now celebrated on the second Monday in October. Many other countries in the New World and
elsewhere also celebrate America’s discovery by Columbus.
Many Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day
as a celebration of their heritage. The
first occasion of this was in New York City on October 12, 1866. The observance
of this day ranges from large-scale parades and events to non-observance. Cities and organizations sponsor parades,
speeches and banquets.
Columbus set out
on four separate voyages by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean in search of
a sea route to Asia. He didn’t know that
there was a New World continent in the way of reaching his objective. So what he actually discovered were the
Caribbean Islands and the coast of Central and South America. All the while Columbus thought he had reached
some part of the Orient!
Another objective of Columbus was to make
Christians out of the native people.
While this was a noble ideal, yet he did this by force. However, God has always intended that people
accept Him out of their own free will. “Whoever is thirsty is thirsty,
let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free
gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17).
Well, what is there to convince a person on
their own that there is a God? Can you
conceive of a watch without a watch maker?
Well, the universe is more accurate than any timepiece for we set our
watches by it. “The heavens declare the
glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1). God’s great clock also regulates the seasons
of the year by the tilt of its axis as it orbits the sun! “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and
harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease”
(Genesis 8:22). “For since the creation
of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature –
have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men
are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
Furthermore, man’s conscience and
intelligence argue for a Supreme Being who is also moral and intelligent. How else do you account for mankind
possessing these qualities? “The
requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also
bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them”
(Romans 2:15). God created man with a
conscience that gives him some sense of right and wrong. As a thinking being he feels he must
accuse conduct that doesn’t live up to
that “law written on their hearts” (Romans 2:15). So man’s conscience and intelligence
demonstrate that there must be an Intelligent Moral Governor of the
universe.
Also, man’s
appreciation of beauty means that there is a Master Artist. As you can’t imagine a painting without an
artist, so there must be a Master Artist behind the marvelous beauty of nature!
Jesus calls our attention to the beauty
of the flowers. “See how the lilies of
the field grow. They do not labor or
spin. Yet I tell you that even Solomon
in all his splendor was dressed like one of these” (Matthew 6:28,29). Man cannot begin to compete with the beauty
God created. Someone has said, “God
created the beauty of the countryside, but man made the city.”
Your
Friend,
Tom
Atkinson
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