Redeeming Halloween

Every year at this time, I marvel at the irony in the annual “Christians v. Secularists” battle about naming and usage of holidays. The big two, of course, are Halloween and Christmas. Leave it to Evangelical Christianity to reject Halloween – an historically Christian holiday – and embrace Christmas, a pagan holiday co-opted by early Christian leaders.

I just want to make a few comments in this regard.

First, Halloween. The name “Halloween” is derived from the phrase “All Hallows Eve”, which precedes November 1, All Hallows Day (or All Saints Day). This name dates back to the 16^th century; All Hallows Eve can be found in records dating in 1556. Historically, on this day, the Church would have a feast to remember initially the martyrs, but the celebration was expanded to include the celebration of all the saints who had died. This celebration dates back to 609 B.C. and Pope Boniface IV.

The practice of Trick-or-Treating dates back to the Middle Ages, known as “guising,” where the poor would travel from home to home, asking for food in exchange for prayers for the dead. The threat of “trick-or-treat” calls back to Celtic tradition, where people would leave out treats to placate evil spirits. If a home didn’t provide a treat, it ran the risk of suffering the wrath of those spirits. Trick-or-treating first appeared in the U.S. in 1911, but rose to prominence in the 1950s.

I never heard this about Halloween until I was an adult. Even in my mid-twenties, I heard stories about the occult and witchcraft and the evils of Halloween. The church I was then attending held an annual “Harvest Party” (a pagan celebration indeed!) as an “alternative” to Halloween.

It’s a shame that this holiday – which I believe we should observe (in the traditional sense) – has been hijacked by us. There’s nothing evil about Halloween, and there’s nothing wrong with dressing up and celebrating the day. I’m a new father, and this year my six-month-old will be going Trick-or-Treating. I’m looking forward to the treats he receives. As he gets older, I intend to spend time with him teaching about the significance of the day, but encouraging him to enjoy the fun.

Patriotism in the 21st Century

I read this in a manuscript I’m working on. A Korean War Vet who had no interest in fighting, but went because his country asked him to, said of patriotism in modern American culture:

I fear that people are getting so caught up in … personal freedom to do anything they want at any time, that the love for their fellow man and their country has fallen by the wayside.

Well said, sir. God bless you, and thank you for serving.

Nobody Likes a Waiting Period

People want to watch their favorite shows, and DVR isn’t always the best option. TV networks need to pay attention to the fact that fans WANT their content, and find a way to make sure that it’s available. Making it more difficult won’t stymie the fans, but it will cost the networks money.

When Fox erected its paywall, downloads of both Hells Kitchen and MasterChef surged on BitTorrent, according to TorrentFreak, a blog that monitors file sharing online. “During the first 5 days [of the paywall], the number of downloads from the U.S. for the latest episode of Hells Kitchen increased by 114% compared to the previous 3 episodes. For MasterChef the upturn was even higher with 189% more downloads from the U.S.”

via With Fox Off Hulu, Would-Be Viewers Turn to Illegal Downloads – Nicholas Jackson – Technology – The Atlantic.

The President Surrenders on Debt Ceiling – NYTimes.com

Paul Krugman:

Slashing spending while the economy is depressed won’t even help the budget situation much, and might well make it worse. On one side, interest rates on federal borrowing are currently very low, so spending cuts now will do little to reduce future interest costs. On the other side, making the economy weaker now will also hurt its long-run prospects, which will in turn reduce future revenue. So those demanding spending cuts now are like medieval doctors who treated the sick by bleeding them, and thereby made them even sicker.

Furthermore, this debt deal is nothing more than a Congressional game of passing the buck. They agree to fight about it later. And the GOP isn’t going to be any more willing to compromise. It’s frustrating.

via The President Surrenders on Debt Ceiling – NYTimes.com.

The “Better Safe than Sorry” Fallacy

Recently, when having conversations with some of my more traditional, conservative friends about Christian liberty, they’ll cede my point, but reply with “Yeah, but I just want to be on the safe side.”

This “Better Safe than Sorry” mentality is broken, because it starts with a failed presumption. This mentality assumes that Christian liberty is the fine line between holiness and carnality, and that one can be “more” holy by avoiding exercising Christian liberty. This is called asceticism. Paul speaks on this in his letter to the Colossians (Col 2:16-23):

¹⁶ So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. ¹⁷ For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. ¹⁸ Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, ¹⁹ and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.

²⁰ You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, ²¹ “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? ²² Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. ²³These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.

In Corinthians, Paul says that people who are unable to exercise liberty are weaker Christians, not stronger Christians. Christian asceticism is a weak form of Christianity!

We’re not made holy by what we do or what we don’t do. Yes, there are things that are black and white sins. But, as a mentor friend of mine says, we should whisper where Scripture whispers and shout where Scripture shouts. If the Bible doesn’t clearly define something as a sin, don’t add to the Bible because you’re uncomfortable with it. Just as someone can go too far with liberty and abuse it, so can someone go too far the other direction and become legalistic. Both are sins.

Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” If you add to the burden because of a “Better Safe than Sorry” mentality, and it causes someone to stumble under that unnecessary burden, you’re as responsible for their lost soul as you would be if you told them that praying to a bowl of Fruit Loops would result in the forgiveness of sins.

Do you want to be safe, not sorry? Then be Biblical. Don’t add to Scripture, and don’t steal away from it. Don’t prooftext to find some straw to support your conclusion; look to the whole body of Scripture and find the whole message. If you don’t align with Scripture, change yourself, not what you see in Scripture.

Words for me today

2 Cor 5:16-21

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

It’s not anything I did.

Margaret Thatcher won’t meet Sarah Palin

I’m reminded why I love the Britons:

Lady Thatcher will not be seeing Sarah Palin. That would be belittling for Margaret. Sarah Palin is nuts.

via Margaret Thatcher to Sarah Palin: dont bother dropping by | Politics | guardian.co.uk.