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From: nlt@macbeth.cs.duke.edu (N. L. Tinkham)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Halloween
Message-ID: 
Date: 1 Oct 89 01:08:59 GMT
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Organization: Duke University CS Dept.; Durham, NC
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     Doug Jenkins asks for advice about celebrating Halloween.

     The primary Bible passage that comes to mind is Paul's advice in
I Corinthians 8-9 concerning meat offered to idols:  those who, like Paul,
felt that the offering meant nothing, because the idols meant nothing,
were free to eat the meat; those for whom such meat was a reminder of
polytheism should abstain; and each group should be courteous towards the
conscience of the other.

     The observance of Christian (or secular) festivals which are closely
associated with pagan festivals seems to me analogous.  These festivals can
be harmless fun, or occasions for meeting God, or both; they can also have
pagan associations which are troublesome to some people, and, as in the earlier
case of meat offered to idols, that troublesomeness should be respected, both
in oneself and in others.

     In my own case, Halloween is the holiday which comes closest to treading
on my "meat offered to idols" boundary; I enjoy carving pumpkins and dressing
up in costumes (and do so guilt-free), and I like having All Saints' Day in
the calendar, but occasionally I have encountered rituals or customs that
made me feel uncomfortably close to what are, for me, the very powerful
associations of Samhain.  As in the case of the Corinthians, the location of
this boundary will vary from person to person:  for some, any reference to
ghosts and other "things that go bump in the night" will be uncomfortable;
others will say "Don't be silly; there are no such things as ghosts" and will
have no reservations about the holiday at all.  My advice is to examine the
associations that you and those close to you have with Halloween symbols and
set limits for yourself accordingly.  Selecting the clown costume over the
scary one, if the scary one feels "wrong" to you, is a good example.

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"The dead do not walk."  - Leela                Nancy Tinkham
                                                nlt@cs.duke.edu
                                                {decvax,rutgers}!mcnc!duke!nlt