Skip to main content

My take on Halloween

Today is Halloween, it is a day that some of my friends don’t celebrate.  It is a day that, when I was younger, we used to turn off our lights and hide in the back of our house because we didn’t celebrate it when we lived in California.  (Not necessarily for religious reasons)  When we moved from California to Pennsylvania we started doing the whole trick or treating thing and it was fun.  All our friends were doing it, our schools had parades.  All I knew about the holiday itself is that it had something to do with carving out a pumpkin, dressing up in some outfit (we never did scary) and going out, house to house saying trick or treat.  What is this day all about- how did it get its roots?  I currently have one facebook friend that is really truly against Halloween and that is what really got me thinking about it. 

So I looked at a lot of different sites on-line as to the history of Halloween.  I wanted to know.  I wanted an unbiased approach to it.  I had seen the “Christian” approach to it and have seen the demonic approach to it, but I didn’t know the actual history of the day.  I think it is something that people should know about and educate themselves about.  http://www.halloween-history.org/ seemed to have the best, non-biased information.  In reality, it has stemmed from both Christian and Pagan traditions.  The Christians had a very similar tradition of celebrating the dead at one point and time. It was originally on May 13th to honor the past Saints and martyrs. They moved the date to mirror the Pagan day as they didn’t like the Pagan tradition and wanted to bring God into it.  They have made it into something where trick or treating was used to aid souls to heaven. 

In reality – there are a lot of different traditions and weirdness that has gone on in the past.  Christmas or Jesus’ birth to me more precise, most likely didn’t happen in December, but it was more convenient and a better time to celebrate it.   In reality – the Pagan cultures often would celebrate their gods during the time around the winter solstice.  So just because it was originally a day where Pagan’s celebrated, should Christians not celebrate on that day also? 

In my humble opinion, almost everyone in America does celebrate Halloween.  It can be used for good or it can be used for bad.  It can be used as a way to reach out and minister to people like a lot of churches do with trunk or treats, or it can be used to celebrate the devil and Paganism.  In my book, I am going to let my kids dress up.  They will not be wearing any demonic (although early Christians did dress as the devil) or scary/ goulish costumes, and we will talk about the traditions and background and how to bring Christ into every aspect of our life.

The Bible does tell us not to celebrate Pagan festivals etc, but most of them also have Christian roots, the calendar has just placed them together so that it is more convenient.  In reality, God can work through everything and I think that if we raise our children in the right way, that we can really light up the world.  Instead of a Jack-O-Lantern, I think that we will have a Jesus-Lantern J  carve out a pumpkin with the knowledge that when we put a light in it, we can light up the night.  When Jesus comes into our lives, his light shines through us and can light someone’s path. 

So this isn’t the typical devotion, but it is what God was putting on my heart today.  Love to you all!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Center of God's Will

I was very blessed to go over to some new friend’s home last night and talk with them and others about life in general.   As the topic turned solely to missions late in the evening (as this couple used to travel around bringing the good news to kids around the world, and then lived in a different country for 3 years sharing the gospel) I said something like, it must feel amazing to be right in the center of God’s Will.   To have to rely on Him for protection from the most random events; to have to rely on God to take you out of situations that are dangerous; to rely on Him for every provision that you are given; and most importantly, to be brining the message of Christ to all nations under heaven.   Can you imagine?   Knowing that you are supposed to be right where you are, doing what you are doing, right when you are doing it because you have to, and have chosen to, rely on God for every little aspect of your life.   Well friends, I am not out spreading the me...
Post a Comment
Read more

Daily Bread

I have a dog.  He is cute , but he is still a dog.  That means that he is reliant on me.  He likes me no matter what, If I am not around him, he flips out a little and has anxiety.  If others try to claim him or take care of him when I'm not around, he growls and barks at them.  My dog's name is Spike .  He is a Yorkie.  I promised my husband if he got me a girlie dog, I would name it something masculine so he wouldn't have to go outside and yell fru fru when calling our dog.  Spike knows that I take care of him.  He knows that my husband and I are the two that take care of him the most.  The kids try to play with him and he runs to us with the toys.  The kids try to take him out and he only comes back when one of us calls him.  He knows our voice and respects our voice.  He also is needy.  Like he relies on us to take him outside to do his business and to feed him and give him water.  Spike will let us know ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The longest route...

There is no easy way around it, sometimes I take the hardest possible route to get anywhere.   During our re-make of our house, I purchase bar stools.   Our counter island is tall and so I measured t – it was 36 inches from the ground.   Therefore I purchased 29 inch bar stools thinking they would be perfect…   And they would have been had I measured from the ground to the trim that lines the bottom of the 36”.   In reality, I had 29” to play with and the stools that I purchased were tight against the lip under the island.   I put one together and realized my folly.   Looking on-line, I didn’t find any more that were comparable to the price I had paid and the style that I wanted but were only 24” tall.   When my husband came home, we decided to put the other three stools together and just deal with them.   On Sunday morning, before church, my husband took the bar stools outside and proceeded to cut 5” off each leg to make us 24” bar stool...
Post a Comment
Read more