That is my question. Halloween. I have been down every logical and illogical road in this argument and I am honestly still without much of a good reason to partake...or not partake. And I am interested to know your thoughts.
Those of you who know Mike and me, know that hiding from culture is not an issue here. So, please don't say, "We must be salt and light! We can't live in a Christian ghetto and expect to share the love of Christ!" We understand our call to engage the world as winsomely and relevantly as possible. I knew a girl once that had a ministry to strippers - she went in the clubs and had an extremely valuable and effective ministry with those women. Not many of us are "called into the clubs." Is Halloween one of those "clubs"?
Honestly, as I have read about the origins of the holiday - they are far less offensive than what it has become...at least here in America. I mean we "honor the dead", right? We reread old letters and journals, we pass down wisdom and traditions, we tell stories and name children after our loved departed. Granted that isn't quite what the Celts had in mind. Their understanding of the after life is a bit different than ours, if you are a Christian. But the celebrations today have little to do with the origins of the holiday itself, so that doesn't seem like a good argument either - the "I don't celebrate it because it has evil origins" argument.
And the idea of going to church and doing all the same things that all the pagan kids in the neighborhood are doing, but calling it a Reformation Day celebration just doesn't sit well either. (Please don't be offended if you do that - I have done that for years, as a kid and adult. I don't think God frowns on it. I don't think. I am just trying to figure out what I think of it now.)
My real problem is with the wickedness that Halloween has become. I mean, it is like the love scenes in the old movies...they just aren't nearly as offensive (and some of them not offensive at all, but very sweet) as the sex scenes of today. It seems like maybe the old days of Halloween were far less evil than they are today. I don't know. But I do know that I don't even want to take my kids into the CVS. I can't stand all the dark, evil costumes. I am nervous about what costumes we will open our door to in a couple of weeks. Who is going to be standing there that I am going to have to explain to my children... "Mommy, who does he have blood all over his teeth and face?" " Oh, Olivia that is just a vampire. He sucks blood out of people's necks and kills them. But don't worry, it isn't real."
There are a lot of fun things going on in our neighborhood on Halloween and we are beginning to be recognized here. We want to be out and about. What would you do?
p.s. the picture has nothing to do with the post - I just thought it was funny. She woke up from a nap in the car looking like that.
5 comments:
Growing up, we always did Halloween. I would be an axe murderer, one sister would be a witch, and one would be a princess.
I grew up to be a chef (work with knives), the witch grew up to be a lawyer (coincidence?), and the princess is now a veterinarian (didn't animals love the Disney princesses?). But... I've never killed anyone, my sister doesn't practice witchcraft, and my other sister definitely doesn't wear dresses and tiaras.
I grew up in Christianity, and prior to turning 18, most of my friends were Christians (full disclosure, we were actually Catholics) and we always trick-or-treated and went to haunted houses. It's just good clean (if a bit scary) fun in my opinion.
However, if your neighborhood really has a lot of pagan kids (defined: polytheists, folk religions, wiccans, etc) then maybe you should watch the influences. But... you could also use it as a chance to influence them in a positive way.
In the end, it's up to every parent to raise their kids (as I'm learning every day for the past four and a half months), and you can only parse the information in your own way and make your own decisions from it.
Kevin, thanks a lot. That was helpful to read and I agree with you on a lot. But I still have two questions - well, one question and a comment. A lot of people make the "it's not so bad" argument. Emily said something to that effect on FB. And I can appreciate wanting to have a good time - in one sense that is kind of the redemptive approach...I guess. But is it okay to mock murder, death, evil, etc. I am really not trying to sound like a prude...do you know me well enough yet to know I am not one? I am genuinely and seriously asking the question. Is there anything offensive to the senses of our Savior when we mock and fake death and murder and the works of evil? (Clearly I have no problem with princess dressing sister.)
My other comment is - I don't think outcome based arguing is legit. Just because you turned out to be a chef rather than an axe murder doesn't mean that dressing up as one for Halloween was necessarily a good thing.
By the way, I was a gypsy/valley girl almost every year...wonder what that says about me???
Mandy, Here's is an interesting perspective on your "mocking death" question:
http://giampapa.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-love-this-post-from-wonder-girl-and.html
It's worth reading--something I had never thought of before--but I'm not sure I entirely agree with it.
I think halloween is a complex issue. I am a black-and-white person, but I don't know if there is a black-and-white answer on this (did I just say that?). I think I am too lazy (or too full of Saturday morning pancakes) to articulate my thoughts here, but I'll keep thinking....
First of all, i didn't know Amy was bi-racial.
Second of all, re: gypsy/valley girl - it's just more fun to make up your outfit.
Third of all, i've been thinking about this all morning. It's a hard deal. So personal. I thought, if Jesus was on your street, what would He do? Would He dress up? Would He pass out candy? Would He hole up inside? Would the Light really overtake the darkness? WWJD? I do know He has no part of darkness. I thought once about having the kids dress as "virtues" or "fruit" . Ex. You could design a heart for Olivia and print across it "Without hope the heart is sick". Remember His Word is active. What if you were lost and taking your kids out for T&T and looked up and just saw that verse? What if you were without hope and saw that verse? I don't know i'm just thinking here. You also don't want to "draw fire" from you know who either. I think we as Christians can get sideways with things sometimes (ie: Santa,Disney World, etc). I agree with you the the evil influence just seems stronger now than it used to be. I agree with you about CVS. If i go there and end up on the "Halloween aisle" I can't get off of it fast enough. The presence of evil is so strong and oppressive to me. Just Death everywhere. I know how you feel with the kids, you just want to guard their eyes, heart, mind, ears, spirit as long as you can. Maybe they could dress up in something, stay on your porch and handout candy, you could have some nice music playing with candles (doesn't have to be "our God is an awesome God" or anything too in your face, just calming. They prob wouldn't even notice they weren't going house to house themselves. I don't know Mandy, just a thought. It's not easy.
One time I was the devil and my twin sister was an angel.
I like a family theme... how about:
Mike = Homer
Mandy = Marge
Olivia = Lisa
Joseph = Bart
Or how about a Biblical theme?
Mike = Moses
Mandy = Zappora (sp?)
Olivia = Miriam
Joseph = Aaron
Post a Comment