I'm sure to stir up a hornet's nest with this post, but here goes!
We've been parents four years now, so we've seen four Halloweens come and go--with and without fanfare. One year we completely ignored the holiday, one year we allowed our children to participate in church-sponsored events, and the other years--well they obviously were uneventful cause I don't remember them!
While our family clearly takes a "low key" approach to the event, the matter of whether Xians should or should not observe Halloween unfortunately has become an issue where brothers and sisters in Christ tend to "draw a line in the sand". As a matter of fact, last year I recall being stunned when an egroup listmate stated rather emphatically that Halloween was "evil" and Christians had "no business" observing or participating in any way. I immediately recalled that Paul had something to say about that line of thinking--and what my response should be--when he discussed meat sacrificed to idols in First Corinthians.
So, I'd like to point you to two blog posts that I really enjoyed and hope you will find interesting.
Carla at "Reflections" is a relatively young believer, so I found her post to be a nice overview of her growing understanding and practice. She posted THIS on the topic, chronicling how she and her family have responded over the years. I sort of recognized myself in the "phases" she described--not only in how I've veiwed Halloween over the years, but how I've responded to others on the topic.
Then, read what Xian bloger Tim Challis' POSTED last year. He has a way tempering the emotion of a topic--I like that, alot!
Personally, my anticipation of "Reformation Day" continues to grow stronger and stronger every year. So I'm putting my time and energy into THAT this year--wonder what sort of "treat" Martin Luther would have been given if he had of knocked on the Wittenburg door rather than nailed his 95 theses there?
Weekend A La Carte (November 23)
14 hours ago
3 comments:
I'm in Australia so we don't do the Halloween thing. But isn't it all about evil spirits and witches and spooky stuff? As an observer, it doesn't seem to me that people who say they are Christian should involve themselves with that sort of thing - do you go to seances? Do you fellowship with the local Wiccan church?
Never discount what other people see you do.
To: anonymous jones - The point I hope to make with my post is that we cannot and must not become legalistic in how we respond, or expect others to respond, to something that is clearly an area of freedom.
Your examples of attending "seances" and "Wiccan church" are extreme points far outside the context of my post.
I do recognize myself in Carla's stages, too. However, even today I have to admit that I am quite bothered by some of the things that take place on and around Halloween. An article in our newspaper the week of Halloween touted a "Christian Wiccan". The kids and I had a good discussion about that one!
As a parent, the thought of my kids getting that much candy sends shivers down my spine, anyway!
We have also been enjoying learning more about the Reformation each year in late October, too.
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