As Christians, we always question how we should celebrate Halloween. It's a day considered evil, when trouble reigns. Right now, if I were to go outside there would be hundreds of people wondering around causing trouble. Cheap, dangerous fireworks are going off every second, probably being shot at people. Somewhere someone is throwing eggs at people's cars, and possibly toilet papering someone's house.
If you didn't know how Halloween came to be, the myth is that today is the end of the witch's calendar. November 1st marks the first day of the new year, with winter right abour the corner bringing death with it. Its supposedly a day when the gates of evil open up and the dead can come back to wander the earth. Then one day the Catholic church decided to take this day over, make it "Christian". November 1st was designated as All Saints Day, or All Hallows Day, a day to remember the saints. The day before become All Hallows Eve, eventually Halloween.
For me, Halloween means nothing. I'm home cooking and cleaning and blogging as usual. It's just another day. But this day does have special meaning for another reason. On this day, in 1517 Martin Luther published his 95 Theses on a Catholic church door. This is recognized as the catalyst for the Protestand Reformation. Before this day, all Bibles were written in Latin, and the average person had no access to God's Word. The Church kept the people in ignorance, making laws they had to follow in order for them and their loved ones to get to heaven. The reformation changed all of that! Eventually the Bible was translated into English and the common man, that's me and you, could read and meditate on God's Word.
I don't know about you, but for me, I'm very grateful for this day in History. I'm grateful that I can have a personal relationship with Jesus, without needing a pope or priest. I'm grateful God accepts my confessions anytime, anywhere! And I'm especially grateful I don't have to obey laws that say I need to give the church all my money so that my loved ones can get into heaven!
Happy Reformation Day Everyone! To celebrate, read your Bibles and give God thanks!
I think we should make it a tradition to watch Luther or some other movie about the reformation every halloween/reformation day! The guys are watched Luther at Brian's. Giorgio and I have seen it about 5 times each!
ReplyDeleteYea I'm not really a halloween person either. Mummy stopped our halloweening/trick-or-treating when we moved to blair and i haven't done anything since then. I don't really know how she (my mum) feels about it now, but I think that the guys might have dressed up/gone out with friends this year (I saw some pics of anna on fb), although I'm not really sure if that was just her or what.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, now that I'm older and can think critically about halloween, I don't like what it stood for traditionally, nor do I like what it has come to mean today for women in my peer group: an excuse to walk around as scantily dressed as you can, parameters set by your conscience/level of comfort only. It's not really a quick or easy answer to give to people when they ask me why im not dressing up, but it is what it is. Idk though, I still feel like I need to more research before I rule it out entirely. Maybe its like Christmas in that it's like a mixed pagan/non-pagan or good/not good day. Idk....tired of thinking about it!