Halloween

A Christian sister of mine asked me the other day, nonchalantly, what we thought about Halloween.  I took a deep breath wondering if she really wanted to know or was it the usual: I already have my mind made up and  hope your answer makes me feel good about my decision thing?
Well, I told her that being it was a satanic holiday we did not celebrate it. 
Then, she did what I hoped she wouldn't, she went into the excuse bag.  She had some wonderful "reasons" why she and her husband felt it was ok to dress their little angels up in cute little Pottery Barn Halloween outfits and go get some candy.
I then told her that I didn't believe Jesus would condone us to celebrate a day honoring Satan and a day where people use it as an excuse to be bad all for the sake of cuteness.
I may have lost a friend that day.

Are you a Christian friend?  Do you profess Jesus as your Savior?
One thing I have learned through the years of much growth and yielding to the Holy Spirit is this....If I hear that still small voice whispering to my heart, "you should not do this,"  then who am I to argue?  It is the Holy Spirit speaking to our hearts, leading us from harm, helping us discern right from wrong.  I may not know all of the reasons why I should or shouldn't do something, for example Halloween, but I know through out the years I have heard that voice say that it's not ok.  I can rationalize, argue, and ignore, but it doesn't change the fact that to disobey is a sin. 

If you are a person who needs a visual example envision this...
Say we plant the seed of Halloween in our children's' hearts.  Getting them the cute outfits, trick or treating, harvest parties, etc.  Oh, aren't they cute!
Then, when they are teenagers they don't want to be a princess anymore, they want to dress up like a vampire from a movie they watched.  Uh, ok.  Not so cute.  But, what can we do? We have already opened the door. 
Then, they go to college.  Where, I learned from experience, they throw very large Halloween parties.  Now, your sweet princess is dressed up like a hooker with a lot of cleavage showing.. She is not inhaling chocolate bars and Candy Corn anymore.  She is downing some sort of vodka mix that was in a cauldron with cool smoke coming out of it.  Hmm.  Like a lot of sin, it starts out mostly harmless. But as we keep doing it, our appetite grows. 

Baby Rachel has learned the word "no."  And, she says it so sweetly with her little baby voice.  But, if I keep allowing her to say it without disciplining her, it will grow ugly.  It will not be a sweet little "no" anymore, it will be a defiant two or three yr. old sticking their tongue out at me and saying "no."

So, there is my rant on Halloween.