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Oct 28, 2003 Halloween time is here again, stores are filled with plastic pumpkins, costumes with ghoulish masks, extra aisles of candy and those skulls and witches that laugh and cackle at you when you walk by. Some people really get into the spirit of the season by decorating their yards with graves, corpses hanging from trees, dismembered body parts, the more gruesome and shocking the better. Jack-O-Lanterns and bed sheet ghosts dont scare anybody. Now I have to admit I think Halloween is fun, I like to carve pumpkins and wear something that I cant get away with the rest of the year. This year I will dress as an aging (Im 48) Hollywood star from the 60s and hang out with teenagers at my church youth group. My daughter will be Gothic Barbie with blue hair. My husband will come on crutches with a leg brace, neck brace, arm sling, ace bandages, a baseball and a Cubs hat. If you know what happened to the Cubs in the playoffs, enough said. All this is fun but there is a serious side to Halloween, a spiritual side. Its an old pagan holiday steeped in fear and superstition. Fear of death and what comes after. The Catholic Church tried to redeem it by naming it All Hallowed Eve a time to remember the saints who were martyred for their faith. The name stuck but who thinks of saints on Halloween today? Today Halloween is a time to think about death and the supernatural, witches, devils, ghosts and ghouls. Looks like we are back to fear and superstition again. As a Christian I see the spiritual side as very real, there is a reason to fear death because there is something after. People instinctively know this, thats where all the superstitions come from. Thats why Ive decided to redeem Halloween because I know what comes after death. All who believe in Jesus Christ have been spiritually reborn and already have eternal life. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. John 11:25-26. So how do I redeem Halloween? I take the opportunity to tell people that they dont have to fear witches, ghosts, devils or even death because Jesus will give them LIFE. Jesus brings life out of death, we are dead without Him, but through Him we will live! I think having eternal life is as fun as it gets. Some people still like to be scared and think its fun. They think evil is good and good evil, Im sorry to say they will get what they want. But for all of us who love life, lets redeem Halloween. ------------ Email Debbie Binder: debbie_binder@comcast.net Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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