Happy Holyween!
Or, "How Christians Celebrate Halloween Without Feeling Guilty!"
Halloween is one of those holidays that Christian parents and churches struggle with because it's (supposedly) related to dark forces of evil, yet holds the utmost appeal for children. Growing up in various churches, I thought I'd seen it all. We had Fall Festivals, Harvest Festivals, and Bible Character Costume Parties. However, by performing an informal survey I've learned there are many other names churches attach to their non-Halloween festivities:
- Happyween
- Trunk or Treat
- Neewollah (yep, that's Halloween spelled backwards!)
and my new favorite "Holyween" which I saw on a church sign just the other day.
Of course, the alternative to having actual Halloween festivities with costumes, candy, and the like, is to have a Judgement House. This is sort of like a Haunted House except instead of just trying to scare you, they're trying to scare you out of Hell. I've never been to a Judgment House, but just thinking about them actually makes me ill. I mean, I'm all about being honest about the eternal consequences of not believing Jesus was the Son of God, but are we really going to throw out "Judgment" like that? People already believe that Christians are judgmental enough without centering an event around the concept.
So, there really is no conclusion to be drawn here other than to say whatever you do today, I hope you have a safe and happy time. And with that, I'm done.
Halloween is one of those holidays that Christian parents and churches struggle with because it's (supposedly) related to dark forces of evil, yet holds the utmost appeal for children. Growing up in various churches, I thought I'd seen it all. We had Fall Festivals, Harvest Festivals, and Bible Character Costume Parties. However, by performing an informal survey I've learned there are many other names churches attach to their non-Halloween festivities:
- Happyween
- Trunk or Treat
- Neewollah (yep, that's Halloween spelled backwards!)
and my new favorite "Holyween" which I saw on a church sign just the other day.
Of course, the alternative to having actual Halloween festivities with costumes, candy, and the like, is to have a Judgement House. This is sort of like a Haunted House except instead of just trying to scare you, they're trying to scare you out of Hell. I've never been to a Judgment House, but just thinking about them actually makes me ill. I mean, I'm all about being honest about the eternal consequences of not believing Jesus was the Son of God, but are we really going to throw out "Judgment" like that? People already believe that Christians are judgmental enough without centering an event around the concept.
So, there really is no conclusion to be drawn here other than to say whatever you do today, I hope you have a safe and happy time. And with that, I'm done.
posted by Michelle at 2:34 PM
1 Comments:
wow, crazy what you find with google.com!! maybe everyone should google their name and see what pops up. my name is brent gallimore, yes i was part of that ph youth group but no i can't take credit for the judgement house. yes i thought it cheesy. i don't recall a severed head at all. poor melissa was mis-informed, i never needed to "justify" anything as far as that goes, i helped out with a youth group i was a part of. poor dear, maybe she was neglected, or shunned from the group, if so i am sorry about that. perhaps even dropped on her head as a small child, we can't be sure. as i recall we had a few that decided to change their life and live for Jesus. can't say i am where i need to be todayin my walk with Christ, but i like to think that what we did as teen-agers way back when made the difference for those who made the change that night, and who knows, maybe they are still living with their commitment.
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