Nobody wants to be left out of the fun; and a fun-substitute only makes missing the fun even worse in most cases. What's more of a disaster in the situation of the fun-substitute is when the fun is in the form of a tangible object. I'm from the era where parents addressed the necessities of life before they handled the flimsy pleasures of a child. When Starter coats hit the scene, my parents didn't hear my desire for the top-notch, shinny-nylon, Public Enemy endorsed jacket; they heard "Terrance wants a coat." So instead of the L.A. Raiders (who was my team even then), Georgetown, University of Miami, or Oakland A's Starter, I got a Miami Game coat. Being honest, the jacket was kinda hot, but it wasn't a Starter--therefore I missed out on the fun of having the in piece of cloth. At the time, my spoiled self couldn't see that the coat served its purpose well and saved my parents money that undoubtedly helped pay for much more important things for me. All I saw was that when I went to school, I wasn't one of the Starter jacket rockers. Back then it was a huge deal, to the point I didn't even wear the coat that much. Just a few short years later, however, I understood that I didn't miss out on a thing. But who can convince a self-centered pre-teen that because you don't have what every hip-hop kid [seems] to have isn't that important? I mean, it's almost as hard as convincing the mature, holy-rolling adult of the same thing.
I purposely dropped this one after the fact so those who need to can roll it around in their head for a year.
Now then, you would have to be somewhat lost if you didn't at least acknowledge the origin of Halloween. Yeah, yeah we've all heard the "devil's holiday" rants, the "all the women dress like prostitutes" blurbs, and countless other All Hallows Eve bashing quotes that got the Bible thumpers thumping and setting off, you guessed it, the harvest fests. Ah yes, in the same way that the drug methadone is given to heroin addicts to wean them off the smack, we Christian cats give our Christian children harvest fests to wean them off Halloween. Remember now, no one wants to get left out of the fun; and it would lend to the utmost of cruelty to deprive our children from obtaining large amounts of candy and great parties. So instead of allowing them to go trick-or-treating with the heathens' kids, we guide them to celebrate the incoming harvest in the season of harvest right in our churches. That, after all, is the Christian way.
Well....it's really the pagan way; almost along the same lines the "devil's holiday." Surprisingly, many don't know (or choose not to recognize) that harvest fests' roots mirror those of Halloween; and while todays Halloween celebrations trace back to ancient Celtic tribes and the Roman Empire, harvest fests are birthed in ancient pagan agricultural communities in Africa and Asia. So as the Celts performed ceremonies that were purposed to invoke spirits, and then coax them so the spirits wouldn't act evil towards mortals; harvest fests celebrated aspects of nature considered by these cultures to be deities--such as the sun, the rain, and the wind. Completely contrary to the revelation of the Laws of Jehovah, the effects of these God-made elements were worshiped and honored for "their" production as opposed to honoring God himself. Obviously one would be off base to compare the sun with an evil spirit. Yet when it comes to the worship of it or of anything other than the Lord, the death that's in idol worship persists. So quite plainly, disregarding Halloween for harvest fests is like trading the red devil for the maroon one. Might as well let the kids go trick or treating.
Not too shocking as this type of methadone has existed in Christianity for centuries. We celebrated Christmas to cover up the traditional celebration around that time, the worship of the winter solstace, and included some of its symbols in our homes (i.e. "Christmas" tree and wreaths) while claiming it's all about Jesus. So we wouldn't be overtaken by the admiration of Roman fertility gods, we implemented a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ by calling it the similar name the Romans called their holiday for their god. What's even more odd is we, who vehemently claim to follow only the Bible, hang our hat on these two events that are not commanded by God to celebrate anywhere in scripture. We even go to church on Sunday (the day the Romans singled out to worship the sun god) when the Bible clearly states the last day of the week is the Sabbath. This is not saying I'm against celebrating a day of Christ's birth and His resurrection; I'm actually all for it. Nor am I saying going to church on Sunday wrecks our salvation. But why must what we hold sacred be blended with pagan holidays from societies that practiced lifestyles totally opposed to what the Holy Bible says?
The deep answer has to do with that nagging Roman Empire. But the progressive answer is we just don't want to be left out. Even though the Bible calls us a "peculiar people (1 Peter 2:9)" we make daily choices to not be that peculiar, just peculiar enough to be accepted. And many of the things we participate in that we consider evil we actually trade in for something a little less obvious; it makes us feel righteous. But it seems to me that since we are in a world where the craftiness of the enemy is more intricate then ever, that we would follow Paul's letter to the Thessalonians and "prove everything" before we go for it. And my first thought of thinking about a day such as Halloween is, should it be replaced with any type celebration or just ignored? I vote for ignored, but to each his own. Besides, we don't want the Christian kids to miss out on all the pagan fun.
Hey bruh, is there any more methadone left?
Peace
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