Thanksgiving Essays
This site annually hosts essay contests in November/December entitled "Why I am personally grateful to God." The essay was to be written including reasons why the author was grateful to God and how He has helped him in his life. Entries were selected on the basis of how they gave glory to God.
| 2001 Essay |
| No Entry Received |
| 2000 Essay |
| There is one real reason I am grateful to God. It is that
I am able to sit here today and type this. My answer is very simple
here. The basic fact that I am able to convey my emotions, and that I
have emotions which I can share is a miracle in itself. Before, when I
was doubting God and Christianity, I had no direction, no reason. Now I
do. I know that everything that happens to me, good or bad, has meaning.
Through my mistakes and talents, pain and happiness, I have learned more
about myself and the world than I ever would have without God. Without
God, nothing kept me from being unfaithful, nothing moved me. Without
God, I became very apathetic and undriven. Now, I am criticized for my
beliefs. I attend school in the engineering department of a university
and few of the students are religious. Often I have a hard time
justifying myself to these people. This has only makes me stronger,
because I am logical myself yet I still have strong faith and emotion
when it comes to my religion. To turn around an individual like myself,
God deserves praise. God deserves praise for allowing me the ability to
convey my beliefs through science. God gave us the ability to find the
truth, to answer questions. God gave us wonderful emotions all for free.
My understanding of God has not only made me more faithful but a better
person in general. But this understanding is only possible by God!
Without God, nothing is possible, but with God, so much is possible, and
I have witnessed this first hand by accepting Christ simply by my own
investigation and questioning, not by force from parents, etc.
Adam |
| 1999 Essay |
| I am personally grateful to God, because I was uncertain in
the path that I had chosen in life. Just under a year ago, I tried to
commit suicide; However, I was unsuccessful, even though I had very high
and dangerous levels of poison in my body. I took this as a sign from God
to change my ways and better myself. A second chance if you will. I'm am
very grateful for this "second chance" that he has given me. I
have used it in a productive way, I went on to graduate high school with
my class, and I am now attending college and maintaining a 3.33 GPA as a
true freshman with 17 credits, while being an active member of the track
and field team. I have become an active member of a local Christian church
that is here near my college campus. I am serving God in any way that I
can through my newly found church, and I feel that he has shown me my true
friends, and how I would have hurt them if I would have accomplished my
horrendous act. Every morning I wake up grateful that I am alive and well,
thanks to God and the second chance that he has given to me.
Joe |
Reflections
We are what we think.
- 05/21/2013 02:44 AM
Why We Need Logic in Schools
Logic, the science of evaluating arguments, helps order the mind and enhances reasoning abilities. Thus, a logically oriented mind is better prepared to discern truth. The following 15 quotes are a sample of actual statements I’ve heard from students throughout … Continue reading
() - 05/17/2013 02:27 AM
Quote of the Week: Michael Reeves
Richard [of St. Victor: d. 1173] argued that if God were just one person, he could not be intrinsically loving, since for all eternity (before creation) he would have had nobody to love. If there were two persons, he went … Continue reading
() - 05/14/2013 02:45 AM
The Genesis Creation Days and Christianity’s Two Books
Dr. T. David Gordon is one of my favorite biblical scholars and theologians. He serves as professor of religion and Greek at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. I was honored to have him as a special guest on two provocative … Continue reading
() - 05/10/2013 02:24 AM
Quote of the Week: C. S. Lewis
Christianity is almost the only one of the great religions which thoroughly approves of the body—which believes that matter is good, that God Himself once took on a human body, that some kind of body is going to be given … Continue reading
() - 05/07/2013 02:59 AM
RTB Super-Scholar Heroes in the Battle of Fallacies
News Flash—Glendora, CA, USA A climactic battle broke out today between two RTB super-scholar heroes—Fuz-Lightyear-Rana and Logic-Samples-Man! The dispute was over which super-scholar possesses the greater inherent powers of manipulative persuasion. Fuz-Lightyear-Rana launched a preemptive strike that seemed intoxicatingly convincing. … Continue reading
() - 05/03/2013 02:19 AM
Quote of the Week: Robert Letham
It is a mark of Christian maturity to be able to learn from those with whom we disagree on this or that. – Robert Letham, Through Western Eyes (Mentor: UK, 2007), 271.
() - 04/30/2013 02:23 AM
Psalm 104: A Poetic View of Creation
Here I present an article by my RTB colleagues, Krista Bontrager and Fazale Rana–excerpted from their latest booklet, Psalm 104: In Wisdom You Made Them All, available from reasons.org in May. **** While you may not have noticed the connection … Continue reading
() - 04/26/2013 02:41 AM
Quote of the Week: David K. Naugle
Using current psychological jargon to describe his [Augustine of Hippo] background, a prima facie reading of his Confessions reveals that he grew up in a dysfunctional family, suffered through a childhood of unhappiness, was prone to theft and dishonesty, abhorred … Continue reading
() - 04/23/2013 02:56 AM
Global Warming Guidelines in the Book of Job
Today I invite you to read this post by my colleague, astronomer and author Hugh Ross. **** Based on chapter 4 from my book Hidden Treasures in the Book of Job. Yesterday, in commemoration of Earth Day, Climate Central released … Continue reading
() - 04/19/2013 02:39 AM
Quote of the Week: C. S. Lewis
Nothing about us except our neediness is, in this life, permanent. — C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves (San Diego: Harcourt, Inc., 1960), 33.
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http://www.godandscience.org/doctrine/thanksessays.html
Last updated November 25, 2001
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