iPandora

Halloween. Bugbear of knee-jerk non-involvists and new ‘favorite holiday of the religiously atheistic media and cultural leaders’. Where did it come from anyway? And can and should a Christian participate in it and to what extent?

I make no claims to historical accuracy in this article, merely stating what I’ve heard over the years and researched myself, all thrown into a big puddle and stirred until I get this… mess.

It is common to hear that Halloween is a night dedicated to the worship of Satan, the prince of evil and darkness. The favored decorations are dark on the nice side, and hideous on the bad side. Tales of ancestor worship and demon calling are frequent and true. Yes, it does happen.

The current version of Halloween borrows, as do most holidays we celebrate, from a plethora of traditions and belief systems. First we shall visit the Christian roots. The early Christians celebrated days when brave Christians laid down their lives as holidays. As persecution grew and the number of martyrs rose, it became impractical to even celebrate only your regional martyrs, and one day, the 1st of November, was dedicated to the celebration of the lives of those who gave their lives for Christ’s glory. Eventually, the rumor grew that on All Hallows Eve (Hallowe’en) God allowed the saints one day to walk the earth, visiting and comforting people and their loved ones and doing good deeds. This of course fueled the imaginations of people, feeding ghost stories and our natural fear of the unknown, the dark, and the dead.

The primary pagan roots of Halloween are Celtic. Druidism is an earth-worshiping, animistic, pan-theistic, evil religion which practiced, at various times, human sacrifice and erected marvelous structures facilitating it’s domination of the superstitious Celts. An brief but accurate description of the Druid’s hold on early Britain can be read in the early chapters of Charles Dickens’ A Child’s History of England (an excellent book for family and table reading). Around the time of Halloween has always been a time of harvest festivals, as the last of the summer and fall crops have been stored, the fields and woods were full of fat, lazy animals to hunt and kill. The storehouses of the industrious young civilizations were stuffed and the people were ready for one last wild fling before being confined to their hovels and huts by inclement weather. The Druids had convinced the populace that they were responsible for the success of each year, and that the god’s must be payed with ritualistic sacrifice in order to procure their blessing for the long winter and hope for the coming spring. The spiritism and human sacrifice and overall dark tone of the Druid religion permeated this time of the year for the pagan Celts. With the arrival of Saint Patrick in Ireland and other missionaries and conquering cultures such as the Romans, Druidism gave way to a hybrid Christianity, much as it did in South America, where a pagan reverence for the Dead mixed with a Christian knowledge of eternal life and an entirely human desire to see one’s loved ones again.

Halloween retains it’s Christian name: “All Hallows Eve”, and for most of us it retains a good theme, going into the neighborhood one last time to knock on all the doors and receive gifts and give greetings before the cold of winter chases us all indoors again. For a few it retains the pagan trappings of animal sacrifice, for others it involves getting drunk and/or high and naked, making pentagrams, lighting a fire, and chanting loudly at midnight and waking the neighbors.

For the vast majority it means walking your kids around the neighborhood worrying about razor blades in candy and never finding any (kids will digest ANYTHING) and waving hi to the neighbors who fuel your children’s sugar rush for the next 2 weeks.

For some Halloween is a time of remembering Luther’s 95 Theses, which he nailed to the door of the Wittenburg Cathedral on this day 490 years ago. His 95 arguments against the teachings of the Roman Catholic church set fire to the revivals of spirit and social and cultural upheaval and growth which started immediately thereafter and have continued to some extent even to this day.

Some even still remember the martyrs for the faith, whose numbers are growing at an ever greater rate as many nations seek to expunge the redemptive work of Christ from their borders.

But it is important to note that evil has not, cannot, and will not ever create anything new for itself. Evil is only capable of perverting things that are good, taking them out of balance and propriety, assigning more of less significance to them. That is all evil can and will ever be able to do.

God is capable of redeeming all things because He first created all things. Just as man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man, days and times and seasons have no inherent control over us, and can only affect us to the extent we allow ourselves to be controlled by them. The only thing we as Christians should allow to control us is Christ, and through His power we share in His overcoming the world. Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world. We are not given a spirit of fear, but of power, of strength, and of a sound mind. Our God has overcome the world, and nothing occurs without His knowing it and His plan and purpose directing it.

Halloween, for me, is a time to enjoy the change of season, to remember the faithful who have given their lives for Christ, to visit the neighbors while enjoying costumes and goodies. These are pics of my costumes for Halloween 2005 and 2006. I went to work in these. The English Lord included poofy pants and leggings and THE most uncomfortable shoes ever, and I went trick-or-treating with several of my friends that night. It was fun. The other one is, obviously, Mr. Clean, and yes, I shaved my head. It was the first time ever, and it felt weird.

The important thing to remember is that we are called to be light in a dark world. The culture’s current view of Halloween reinforces very strongly the fact that we are indeed in a very dark world that desperately needs light. We are also called to do whatever we do for Him and His glory. If that is not our goal, whether we participate or not, we’re doing it wrong.

EDIT: Scott over at Verum Serum has his own response to kids he teaches and knee-jerk non-involvists.

I was asked to bring a dessert to a Sunday School function on Sunday, and didn’t want to buy something pre-made from the store. I’m missing beautiful Apple Hill
in California this fall and have been craving delicious apple treats such as fresh apple juice and pies. So I decided to to and throw together some apple dish, and being, as usual, sans cookbook and experience, I went the easy route.

I can’t say the results are absolutely perfect, and they’re definitely NOT Apple Hill quality, they did fit the bill and take the edge off my craving. And it was easy.

Why “Apple Crobbler”? Because it’s not quite a Crisp, and not quite a Cobbler, of course.

Ingredients:

Granny Smith Apples (enough to fill the pan mounded over the pot)
1/2 cup Raisins
1/4 cup Chopped Nuts (I used Pecans, but walnuts or other soft nuts should work well)
1/2 cup Brown Sugar (this can be adjusted, if using sweeter apples use less or no sugar)
1/4 cup Honey (this can also be adjusted, it is more for flavor)
1 Tbsp Salt
3 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
Cinnamon (to taste)
Nutmeg (to taste)
Water
Butter
Croissant Dough (I used Pillsbury from the can, 1 can worked well for a 9×12 baking dish)

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

Wash the apples, peel if desired and slice thinly, approximately 1/4 inch wide slices. Place in large mixing bowl. (I didn’t peel the apples. Thinner slices make the apple bake thoroughly in the proper time, the Croissant dough will usually cook in 20 minutes or less. If the dough takes longer to bake, cut the apples thicker. You want the apples to still hold their shape but just barely when done. I used a container with a sealing lid, so mixing the ingredients involved shaking the container.)

Add Raisins, Nuts, Brown Sugar, Honey, Salt, Oil, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg. Add small amount of Water to allow enough moisture to coat the apples with the rest of the mixture.

Mix thoroughly.

Pour mixture into the baking dish, place several pats of Butter on top.

Roll Croissant Dough out thinly and place over dish. Spread softened Butter on top of dough and sprinkle with Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg. (The butter will keep the crust from burning while giving it a nice brown color and helping to carmelize the Brown Sugar).

Place in oven. Check after 15 minutes and remove when crust is golden brown.

The progression of humanist philosophies which seek to explain the birth, purpose, and goal of humanity apart from a Holy God are inherently cynical.

The only thing a philosophy created by oneself and with oneself as it’s purpose can create is a myopia, a self-centeredness which can only result in a cynicism as one recognizes ones inability to affect meaningful change and to define a purpose beyond the pursuit of ones own security and pleasure.

Only when we realize that something outside us, something we do not have the power or ability to define or control, requires things of us, driving us on towards greater achievement in His plan, can we know realism and optimism.

Just as wise parents set boundaries and rules and encourage their children to learn and grow within those boundaries, focusing their copious energies on growing and thriving in beneficial directions. A beneficent God gives us freedom but also give voluntary rules and guidelines which when we abide by them allow us to focus our energies on growth in directions beneficial to us and bringing glory to Him.

Without a pole, the bean plant wallows in the dirt, losing it’s energies to molds and rot instead of focusing on growing beans. Without pruning, the fruit tree grows branches and flowers aplenty, and the fruit are many, but small and sour. Without focus, light spread everywhere, benefiting many, but when it is focused and directed as a laser beam, it’s power is magnified against even the strongest of elements.

Without direction and guidance, we grow haphazardly and without goal or purpose. Change is without weight and we fall into a cycle of attempted change, failure, disillusionment, and cynicism.

Some things are best said by picture.

Bush may have vetoed SCHIP, but you can still help children (even children from wealthy families) recieve government health care. At the same time, you will be paving the way for the rest of us to get it too sometime soon.

All you have to do is… smoke!

Sin taxes are an unreliable and temporary source of income. “Sin” comodities (cigarettes, alcohol, etc.) aren’t necessary for survival so when taxes increase, demand, and thus revenue, decrease.

It is political suicide to put massive government expansions like SCHIP on the government doll immediately, so politicians use sin taxes knowing that, when funds run short, they will shift the burden over to more permanent sources of income.

Stay up-to-date on the wildfires in Southern California here and here with interactive and constantly-updated maps.

**EDIT by Matthew**

I’m going to reset this to the top and ask this question:

We’re going to see calls for the government to pay for the reconstruction of these areas. Just as those who live in the southeast know they live in risk of damage from hurricanes those who live in these areas know that there is a significant risk of fire destroying their property.

What is the government’s responsibility, if any, to people displaced and financially damaged by these fires?

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Hat tip: WND

Tom McClintock, a great man from California, has spoken truth. Excerpts follow:

You have extended me a very dangerous invitation tonight – to speak to a gathering of political conservatives on the day that Al Gore has received the Nobel Peace Prize for discovering that the earth’s climate is changing.

(I)ndulgences will be used for such activities as planting more trees to absorb carbon dioxide. After all, young trees absorb an enormous amount of this “greenhouse gas” – far more than old trees. But isn’t replacing old-growth timber with young-growth timber what lumber companies used to do until the radical environmentalists shut them down?

(T)here are only two ways of generating vast amounts of clean electricity: hydroelectricity and nuclear power. But there’s no faster way to send one of these Luddites into hysterics than to mention that inconvenient truth.

(A)t Al Gore’s rally to save the planet in New York in July, no less an authority than Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that those of us who still have some questions over their theories of man-made global warming are “liars,” “crooks,” “corporate toadies,” “flat-earthers” and then he made this remarkable statement: “This is treason and we need to start treating them now as traitors.”

Ah, the dispassionate language of science and reason.

I got to high school in the 1970’s and learned from the Al Gores of the time that we foolish mortals were plunging ourselves into another ice age. All the scientists agreed.

I believe it was Ogden Nash who wrote:

“The ass was born in March
“The rains came in November
“Such a flood as this, he said,
“I scarcely can remember.”

(W)hen the global warming alarmists predict worldwide starvation, they’re right. They’re creating it.

(R)adical laws now in place in California are having a dramatic impact on energy production, agriculture, manufacturing, wine-making and construction, just to name a few sectors of our economy.

In normal times, citizens don’t pay a lot of attention to public policy, and that’s why democracies occasionally drift off course. But when a crisis approaches, that’s when you see democracy engage. One by one, citizens sense the approach of a common danger and they rise to the occasion. They focus – they look beyond the symbols and rhetoric – and they begin to make very good decisions. Political majorities can shift very quickly in such times. Polls can reverse themselves almost overnight in such times. And I believe that day is now rapidly approaching.

People ask me all the time: “What can I do?” And the only answer I can offer is the answer the great abolition leader Frederick Douglass offered to a young protégé. He said, “Agitate. Agitate. Agitate.”

Something I’ve struggled with for sometime is the efficacy of my various efforts over the years to save our struggling culture and reform the hearts and minds of people I meet.

Is political maneuvering the best way to change the culture? No, I don’t believe it is.

Can getting people to vote for the right person and the right bill save America and the world? Yes, it can, and this work is vital to the continued survival of America, but the task is too big, the mountain of the people is overwhelming.

I’m no pessimist. And nearly everyone who calls themselves “realists” are actually pessimists. I’m an idealist and an optimist, but when I consider all the issues that face our nation, the crime, gangs, abortion, encroaching socialism, homosexuality and alternative lifestyles, white collar crime, the media and entertainment culture, and all the other things in modern life which are not all good, they are all dependent on one another. Abortion feeds a culture of irresponsibility among men which supports pornography and crime which feeds a lack of self-control which feeds abuse of women which feeds abortion. And that is by no means a closed loop, causality goes both ways and is not limited to the small pool of ills mentioned.

But the causality for ill and evil are such a tangled and sturdy web that there is precious little chance for the fixing of one issue to “stick” and remain.

Political change can only change the outside, the mask. You can legislate right conduct but you cannot legislate right thought, and it is evil to try.

Instead, you need to balance the political change with a greater work of salvation. Only by Christ entering hearts and minds and reforming the dross and dregs found therein can there for any meaningful change significant enough to affect each and every issue in that person.

Political action is necessary and vital, but the work of Christ is first and foremost a work of the heart. Only by redeeming the hearts of those in the culture can we redeem the culture.

Every person may and each person must follow God’s calling in their lives where they are. Sometimes God calls one to leave where they are and follow Him in acts of more public or visible sacrifice. But the greatest mission for each of us is to, where we are, work to redeem those around us. For by doing this we can redeem the hearts AND the culture.

The effective campaign will seek not to win the hearts, but to change them. And the greater and more effective change is always found in the work of Christ.

I am now on my third essay in my English – so called – critical thinking class and after two previous essays about gender and Hollywood hero-myth I’m onto American culture paradoxes. Such paradoxes would be, “America’s curious dichotomy between cultural Puritanism and a capitalistic tendency,” and “The contradiction between America’s materialistic adoration of money and possessions and its profound commitment to religion and spirituality.” This article, which goes on to list three additional paradoxes, is just more disappointing drivel not unlike the other articles I’ve read in this required school book, “Signs of Life in the USA.”

This article is clearly over-simplistic and unreasonably concludes that it’s a paradox and puzzling. I am concurrently taking Western Humanities 300 which illustrates the cultures of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome and the same “paradoxes” are clearly in each of these historical cultures. In any culture there is always a necessary and healthy tension between two poles and without this tension and balance the culture becomes very unhealthy. A reasonable example of this would be the Victorian Age of ultra-Puritanism or the sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s; these are clearly sexual extremes. Another “paradox” of my own observation would be that of the American desire to be potent in the world’s affairs and a power for justice but then people’s concern and longing for the deployed men and women in arms. However, this is far to general and the fact this is the tension between the love for self and the love for the community. My cousin’s husband is deployed in Iraq currently and while I’m concerned for both of them, I also realize what he’s doing in Iraq is important for America. If I only cared for the individual I’d never condone war (protection of community) and if I only condoned war (at all costs) I’d undervalue the individual.

I am sure there are dozens of other examples but there’s a difference between hypocrisy and cultural tensions. These articles, always found wanting, are such typical liberal oversimplifications of “Signs of Life in the USA.” Another example that comes to mind that they can’t comprehend, due to their lack of moral compass, is the rational for being for the death penalty and against abortion. Nevertheless, if it weren’t for this book I probably wouldn’t appreciate well written books and well articulated arguments.