Yawn. I covered this last year, but here we go again:Firstly, I assume few Christian children do intensive in-depth research on the origins of Halloween and internally debate the pros and cons of participating in such an event because it may counter their core belief system, weakening their fragile spiritual structure.
Kids want to dress up and get candy. Some adults do, too, myself included - and my spirituality has never been put in peril because I want to play.
Those who do feel this holiday is a representation of evil will avoid it because there are already defensive cracks of insecurity in their spirituality, I think. A person's true spiritual wall is going to be too strong to crack under 24 hours of trick-or-treating and clown masks. Sorry, but it's true.
Halloween, perhaps once seriously mired in the idea of supernatural creepies and fear of evil beings, has (sensitive Christians look away) EVOLVED. The Halloween of TODAY is a lighthearted time of fun, dress-up and parties. Just as Christians ONCE took on the task of converting people through the INQUISITION, conversions no longer go the way of "believe or die". It is SOCIAL EVOLUTION - recognize it! Apply it. It works.
Secondly, the origin Christmas itself has roots in pagan ritual as well.
[According to Wikipedia] The birth of Christ is observed on December 25, which was the winter solstice upon establishment of the Julian Calendar. Banned by the Catholic Church in its infancy as a pagan practice stemming out of the Sol Invictus celebrations,[10] Christian churches eventually recognized the sustained practices as a Christian festival in various cultures within the past several hundred years, allowing much of the folklore and traditions of local pagan festivals to be preserved.
So, pick and choose if you may, but be aware that many traditions celebrated today are not 100% Christian-Created.
Thirdly, the assumptions placed on those who practice Wicca in this article are out and out JUDGING. Not your place to judge, Christian. Let those who practice their religion do so in peace, whether you agree with it or not, they are not hurting anyone. BACK OFF! I am a faithful Christian and I can tell you there are not enough stones to cast at Christians for all the ignorant assumptions and judging THEY do. So, judge not lest ye be judged. Do I really need to start quoting? "Love one another as I have loved you." --John 15:12
Now, for the deconstruction of the Pastor's bullet points in this article:
-- there is a spiritual world filled with goodness from God and evil from Satan (Eph. 2:1-10);
This "Pastor" cites Ephesians and writes this article with reference to "the devil" and "satan" as if s/he is a physical being who is going to walk through the door, open the fridge, maybe grab a beer and pop it open. But, really, "the devil" and "satan" are verbs - and everyone has these verbs in them. We are not perfect and blaming a being called "satan" ["satan" made me do it] is a ridiculous deflection of moral responsibility. "Satan" is a very easy to swallow, easy to understand package containing the concept of that which is the opposite of Christ.
God is no idiot. He inspired the scribes of the bible to teach what evil is by embodying a character that represented it. This is an easy lesson that the mostly uneducated populace of the day can understand. As a Universalist, I believe that if there exists such a being called "satan" or "Lucifer", that he too will be saved in the end. Because if God wins, evil will cease to exist. It's just logic. And I believe God WILL win.
-- life with Christ has power over darkness (I John 4:4);
Darkness, as defined in the bible, is not necessarily the literal absence of light, but rather the wrong and hurtful things that people do to one another that amplify antiChristian ideals. What has this to do with Halloween? The Pastor has not made a solid argument that Halloween will lead to violence, nor has he given examples of Halloweens past when an onslaught of violence has resulted. I have a hard time taking his argument seriously. Darkness...Dark colors? Dark outside? Think Halloween is not of Christ? Look harder. There is fellowship and community in Halloween parties and joy in giving candy to children. Children share their candy with each other and parents spend time with their children. People use their God-given creative gifts to create costumes and some trick-or-treaters take collections for UNICEF and other people-helping organizations. Look harder, Pastor. You are blind to many aspects of God in the "evil" celebration of Halloween.
-- those who celebrate Halloween either are unaware of its roots, or are intentionally promoting a world where evil is lauded and viewed as an ultimate power.
Name for me a mere five people who are intentionally promoting a world where evil is lauded through Halloween. Yeah. I didn't think so. That's where you are mixing up Hollywood movies with real life.
Spiritually sound Christians are able to celebrate Halloween and distinguish between that which is simply traditional and fun and that which is spiritually harmful. Believers can participate without being affected by the silly notion that to dress up as the Boogeyman is to somehow approve of or wish for Boogeymen...nonsense, sir.
Have a happy and safe Halloween everyone. Look out for each other, lots of love and God Bless!
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Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?
By Pastor Eric Watt - Guest Writer – 10/22/08
CBN.com – What about Halloween? Should you and I be involved in the celebration of Halloween? Finding the answer to this question has been an interesting journey in itself. I interviewed several people and then researched what many leading Christian writers, authors and spokesmen have written about the subject. I also searched various websites like www.christianitytoday.com, www.focusonthefamily.org, and www.cbn.com to read what others might be saying. What I found was an agreement on the origins of Halloween, but a mixture of recommendations about allowing our children to participate in this super-charged media driven holiday. The origins of Halloween are Celtic in tradition and have to do with observing the end of summer sacrifices to gods in Druidic tradition. In what is now Britain and France, it was the beginning of the Celtic year, and they believed Samhain, the lord of death, sent evil spirits abroad to attack humans, who could escape only by assuming disguises and looking like evil spirits themselves. The waning of the sun and the approach of dark winter made the evil spirits rejoice and play nasty tricks. Believe it or not, most of our Halloween practices can be traced back to these old pagan rites and superstitions. But what about today? Perhaps we can still learn from history. In the fourth century, Christians attempted to co-opt the holiday by celebrating the lives of faithful Christian saints the day before Halloween. This was a conscious attempt to provide an alternative and re-focus the day away from ghouls, goblins, ghosts, witches and other “haunted” experiences. Since that time many Christians have decided to allow their children to dress in more “innocent” costumes of pumpkins, princesses, Superman or as a cowboy. Part of this is due to the simple reality that in today’s Western culture it is nearly impossible to “avoid” Halloween. Just before reaching a conclusion on the subject, I was struck with the thought that I ought to further my search and find out what Wicca, the official religion of witchcraft, has to say about Halloween. Perhaps they viewed the day as a simple fun and innocent neighborhood activity? “Shock” is the only word to describe what I found. Halloween is a real, sacred day for those who follow Wicca. In fact, it is one of two high and holy days for them. The Celtic belief of spirits being released is current, along with the worship of Samhain (the lord of death) – both are promoted as something to embrace on that day. There is no question in my mind that to those who believe and follow the practices of witchcraft, Halloween represents an opportunity to embrace the evil, devilish, dark side of the spiritual world. So after discovering this, what is a reasonable conclusion? As Christians you and I are placed in this world to be a light in a world of darkness. There is no lasting benefit to ignore a holiday that exists around us, but it also does harm to celebrate Halloween as it has originated and grown over the centuries. My suggestion? Christians should be teaching their children (age appropriately) that:
-- there is a spiritual world filled with goodness from God and evil from Satan (Eph. 2:1-10);
-- life with Christ has power over darkness (I John 4:4); and
-- those who celebrate Halloween either are unaware of its roots, or are intentionally promoting a world where evil is lauded and viewed as an ultimate power.
To counter the evil influence of Halloween, we need to join together and celebrate the reality of the heroic efforts of Christian saints over the evil in their day. Many leaders in the past -- and present -- have fulfilled the mandate of destroying the works of the devil through their sacrificial commitment to Christ and His Kingdom.
Too, rather than “hide” in the face of evil, we should unabashedly and boldly create an alternative that is positive and uplifting; that celebrates good over evil and the triumph of God over Satan. We need to provide an environment that also makes room for heaps of fun while using the day as a “teachable moment” to celebrate God’s protection, provision and purpose for our lives.
Yawn. I covered this last year, but here we go again:
I think of the Monty Python song "Always look on the bright side of life (whistling)..." when I see little tidbits like this. What about making lemonade out of lemons or finding something positive in this debacle...nope. Instead you have more criticisms out of Rome. Because, as accountants and economists, they have the answers. If you are going to point out mistakes, be sure you don't also embody those mistakes.
