Halloween

I am reading a book called Halloween: What's A Christian To Do? by Steve Russo, and it's pretty bad. It is filled with exaggerations and rabbit trails. He actually talks about Halloween for a small percentage of the book. He covers other subjects such as the occult (his favorite), media, and education.

The first chapter is about the historical forerunners to Halloween. He gives a nonbias background of the festivities that influenced Halloween. He did include such facts as Halloween is the Catholic conversion name, that it is not as popular anywhere else as in America, and that what Halloween is today is not even recognizable as the holiday's predecessors. Then he ends the chapter with the question of what are concerned parents going to do. What are they supposed to do? I was surprised at the positive view he was giving of it, but then he turns and acts as if any of the information he gave was cause for concern. The logical conclusion to that chapter would be that Halloween is a harmless holiday fueled by American consumership. On multiple occasions he points out that it's not an official holiday. Look at Memorial Day and Labor Day. The government's decree of what makes an "official" holiday is nearly irrelevant. The popularity of a holiday is driven by consumership. Besides the obvious costumes and candy, large sums of money are spent on decorations, entertainment, party supplies and more by the American people.

After this, he spends many chapters discussing how the occult has crept into general society, the evils of the media, etc. He doesn't relate it to Halloween much; it is stuff that is relevant all year long. His arguments never flow and he gets sidetracked often. If i were to try to outline this book, there would be no rhyme or reason to it. He takes this as an opprotunity to say how everything is evil. What is amusing is that he ends with suggestions of what a Christian is to do with Halloween. He accepts all solutions, from turning off your lights and pretending no one is home (maybe even a sign on your door about why you don't celebrate) to "harvest festivals" to giving safety tips for parents who still want to take their child trick-or-treating.

The way i see it, people should have a valid reason for celebrating any holiday. I don't celebrate Halloween, but Reformation Day. Halloween is to All Saint's Day as Christmas Eve is to Christmas. I could care less about the Catholic saints, which ties back into celebrating Reformation Day. I am thankful that there were men in the past that stood up for the Truth. God used them to bring back grace and faith into mainstream Christianity. It's dwindling again, which is why we are in dire need of a modern-day reformation, but that's another story. The second half to my view on holidays is that a person should be free to celebrate however they want, granted it does not conflict with the Bible. I personally enjoy dressing up and free candy, so if i want to reenact Luther's nailing his 95 Theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenburg with my hand as a hammer on invisible nails and paper, why not? I don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but i might happen to wear green on March 17th because it's a nice color and i usually feel like reconnecting with my Irish roots on that day. I don't celebrate St. Valentine's Day/2nd Halloween, but i might wear all black on February 14th and thank God that he loves us and enabled us to love with true love, and that we don't need pink or hearts or cherubs to obtain a weak copy of that love, or what the world calls love. What romance and love means is also another post. As far as Christmas, Easter, and birthdays, i recognize that they all have their roots in early pagan feasts ans rituals as well, but i celebrate them because of the meaning they have to me. A celebration is defined as a joyful occasion for special festivities to mark some happy event. So what i don't get is when someone blindly "celebrates" a holiday. They make the celebration itself the happy event they are celebrating, but that just bring them around in circles.

If someone doesn't want to celebrate a certain holiday, that's fine, but if they try to convince others not to without having any solid scriptural backing to their reasoning, then they should just keep quiet and agree to disagree. So why am i butting in? I support people's freedom in Christ to live how they want when it doesn't conflict with God's Law. I can't stay quiet when i see people trying to opress others. Viva la refomacion!