So I would like to announce that me and my family will not be participating in anything Halloween related this year. It was hard for my son at first to swallow the fact that he wouldn’t be able to dress up and go trick or treating or carve a pumpkin but me and my husband have explained to him our reasons. I know that many people are going to think we are crazy and there is no harm in participating in these activities. But I have come to believe that it IS harmful to blindly follow some traditions. It all started about a year ago. I went to church one night and something truly amazing happened to me. I was born again. Jesus talks about it in the third chapter of John: There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” I was born again that night on November 14th 2012. The Lord has given me a new heart. He has opened my mind and my eyes to so many things. He starting prompting me to ask myself why do I do some of the things I do? Why do so many Christians do what they do? I thought we were suppose to be “set apart from the world?” I thought we were suppose to seek God and his will for our lives? Romans 12:1-2 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” So I started questioning. It started with Easter. If we are celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior then why do we have bunnies and eggs and baskets and why is it called Easter? What does all that have to do with Jesus. The answer…nothing. It has everything to do with an ancient pagan celebration. The name Easter is from a goddess of fertility. The spelling of her name has changed but the pronunciation is suppose to be the same. Pagans would have a festival in her honor around the spring equinox. They hoped she would show them favor in the upcoming planting season and “bless” them with an abundant harvest. Some research showed that the people would paint eggs or decorate them and place them out in the fields during the full moon. Symbols associated with the goddess are eggs and bunnies. Other research showed that Constantine combined some of the pagan rituals with Christian rituals because they knew the pagans wouldn’t come into the church if they had to stop their rituals. In other words people in the world are going to stand up for what they believe better than Christ-followers. Or the leaders of the church knew people weren’t going to give up their sin, so we will just turn our heads, we will make it acceptable bc we want them in here paying tithes. It was all about money. Imagine that? I did find out that Christ was crucified after the Passover which does occur around the same , the spring equinox. The Jews followed a lunar calendar so that is why the date always changes every year. My family will celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior bc He did die and rise the third day around that time of year. But as for the Easter eggs and all that other stuff we stay away from. Any time the Israelites participated in Pagan rituals it angered God. So you may think that it really isn’t that big of a deal. It’s all fun and games or that we don’t mean it that way. We aren’t decorating eggs to honor an ancient goddess of fertility. But let me ask you a question. If a tree falls in the woods but there is no one there to hear it, does it still make a sound? If you follow along with traditions that you really don’t know the meaning of, does that make you innocent? No. The tree makes a sound. You make a choice to follow the world. You make a choice to not find the answers to the questions that God prompts you with and blindly go along with traditions. I will no longer do that. And I will teach my son better. I do not want to be conformed to this world! I want to seek God! I want to seek His will, what is good and acceptable and perfect! So therefore I CANNOT take part in anything Halloween related. I find nothing in all those activities and festivities but evil. After all it is kind of nick named “the devil’s holiday” isn’t it? People may call me crazy. They may think I have become fanatical or extreme. I don’t really care. After all Jesus did say “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. – John 15:18-19” I will take people thinking I’m crazy or even hating me because being chosen out of this world is worth it to me. Thank you Jesus!
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 05:39:14 +0000
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