It's Halloween! Or is it?

Well it's finally here, the day some Christians dread. Halloween! Or as some Christians might like to refer to it, Helloween. But since that name is being used by a heavy metal band there might be infringment issues. Every year around October 1st, Christians get their panties in a bunch over Halloween. So much so, that in an effort to not celebrate Halloween, the local churches offer up Fall Festivals or Harvest Parties. These are nothing more than a sanitized version of a pagan holiday that has gotten the stamp of approval from the church.

Here's what a local church in my area is offering as part of their Fall Festival 2006:

Food, games, candy and lots of FUN!!! They will have an obstacle course, bounce houses, pony rides, petting zoo, train rides, "paintball the pastor", (that can't be a good thing, giving kids guns and telling them to shoot their pastor), water balloons, air-soft games (there's some more guns for you to give your kids so now instead of shooting the pastor they're shooting each other. I don't think video games and movies are really to blame for kids shooting each other these days. No, I think I'm gonna start to point the finger of accusation at the local church, I mean with games like this how are kids supposed to keep the sixth commandment. Jesus himself said in Matthew 5:21

21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder,[a] and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment."

Just what kind of values does this church hold to? Don't know, never visited it. They wiill also have a Bible Lane, and more!!

Hmm, wholesome family Christian fun or secular holiday that's even worse than what "everybody else" celebrates this time of year known as Halloween. A holiday where kids dress up in costumes, go trick or treating with their parents or friends, so they are either participating in quality time with their families or having fellowship with their friends. How can the church be against that? But apparently they are, for they have to sanitize this holiday with Harvest Festivals and Fall Festivals.

I say no more! I say it's time we learned about our past and celebrated a holiday that holds great meaning for us as Christians, Reformation Day! The day when Martin Luther in 1517 nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg, Germany thus sparking the Reformation movement, that gave rise to not only the Lutheran churches but all Protestant churches eventually. It's a no brainer to me. Instead of Harvest Festivals we could have Reformation Day parties. Instead of paintballing the pastor we could restage the debates between Luther and his critics, we could dress as our favorite Reformation figure, we could stage Reformation plays, we could have fun and learn something in the process about our history as Christians. The best part is that we'd be totally true to who we are too, we wouldn't be hijacking a Pagan holiday and trying to santize it to make it acceptable for us to participate in. How can we in church on Sunday constantly say "Be in the world but not of it" when we take the holidays the secular world participates in and try to pass them off as something they were never intended to be? It's hypocrisy and it has to stop.

So from me to you, Happy Reformation Day! Today, look up Martin Luther or read the 95 theses if you are so inclined. Listen to a Lutheran podcast or read a book about the Reformation. Learn about your past, so in the future you don't have to fret about Halloween ever again.