Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!psuvax1!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian 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 Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Duke University CS Dept.; Durham, NC Lines: 36 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The dead do not walk." - Leela Nancy Tinkham nlt@cs.duke.edu {decvax,rutgers}!mcnc!duke!nlt