Well, I guess I will start with this.
My name is Mark Bishop.
As a former witch who is now involved in outreach to the folks walking in witchcraft’s many forms, I feel the need to respond to yet another article that has been brought to my attention dealing, erroneously, with the subject of Halloween.
As the author of a piece at Answers in Genesis, Paul S. Taylor has trotted out a few of the half-truths that have been running around the church for years and deserve to be looked at with a different light. I have no issues at all with his assertion that this is one heavily debated topic in the western church. His next paragraph contains some good and some bad.. :
“The history of Halloween should give cause for concern.” Why? I would think the present of Halloween would be of more concern.
“It was originally the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. This was a night when the spirits of the dead allegedly walked abroad, and it was thought that they could be conjured to do the will of those who summoned them.” Actually, not quite right here either. The Celts lived in many areas and had their harvest festivals roughly at that time of year. Samhain is somewhat different as it is a season where the veil between the physical and spiritual worlds is thinner for some reason that I have never figured out. It’s not actually tied to the man made calender that we use.
Rather than continue point by point, we’ll cut to the chase.
Halloween is not an ‘occult’ holiday. If anything, it is the candy maker’s holiday. Do some evil things happen then? yes. Sometimes even more than on other days. October 31st is a day that the Lord has made, and we should rejoice in it too! All the more since the local mission field will walk the path to our respective doors looking for treats, and getting prayer as well and maybe even age appropriate Gospel tracts to go with those treats. No, the witches don’t really do much with Halloween except perhaps to make it a party, Any real work is done elsewhere, on a day usually not too far from it.
Are parents opening their children up to occult influences by letting them go ‘trick or treating’? not really, but if the child goes, the parent better go since there are bad people in the world. That is the real danger that is posed in the current times. A little different than in years gone by but not really different from any other day of the year when you shouldn’t let your children go wandering around unattended.
Yes, the culture is going downhill fast in many places, and this does have an effect on all days, including October 31st. As with many things though, it is a matter of intent. You won’t be accidentally dabbling in the occult by celebrating Halloween, just don’t engage in some of the more ignorant things that go on… such as intentionally trying to contact the spirit world…
There is much more to the subject, but it will have to wait for another time.
I’ve heard of you through Tower’s second book. Nice to see this is your web site.
You at least are trying to correct some of the many misconceptions Christians have about Wicca and so forth. Good luck in that area.
I’ve been a Wiccan/ Pagan for 35 years, so naturally I’ve seen a lot of the claims certain Christians have about my religion and the Goddess. You can imagine what I’ve found. Liars like ” Dr” Rebecca Brown and Mike Warnke and people who I suspect might want to burn me at the stake.
It honestly makes me wary of Christians.
Hi Moe,
Yes, I try to correct those problems… and sometimes it works. 🙂
Sometimes I get to correct misconceptions that Pagans have about Christianity also.
I’m glad that you found the site, right now it is just a blog format, which is a bit unwieldy, so I may add another forum to the mix later.
Mark
I feel kind of weird cutting in, but you hit a nerve.
I’ve been Christian, in fact Lutheran, all my life. October 31–evil?? Hardly!! For me, October 31 is the festival of the Reformation. The day when Luther “published” (by nailing them to the church door) his 95 thesis and thus, restoring Christ’s gospel from all the superstition of the dark ages. It is truly a day to thank God that his word will remain through all time. And, what a better day to be in church!!
Did I miss any fun–hardly. Growing up, after church on October 31 was the fall festival–a big dinner, games, and, yes, even candy for the kids.
It just saddens me how many Christians, including Lutherans, forget their history and want to make everything into something else.
That’s right, it’s also Reformation day. 🙂 Thank you for that reminder.