I recently read (and posted) Tim Challies’ article about Halloween.
As is often the case, sometimes when we, who are Christians, respond to something, we respond to the wrong problem… and Tim has brought attention to what the real problem may be now…
The Harry Potter books are one of my favorite example of this…
Years ago, I received a number of emails the cited a newspaper article in which JK Rowling confessed that she was, in fact, trying to covert
children to witchcraft, just as many reactionary Christians had claimed (having know members the Wicca movement, anyone who joins bc of Harry Potter is going to be reeeaaally disappointed – alohamora!)
The problem was that the newspaper being cited was The Onion – “America’s Finest News Source” I am going to include the link here, even
though The Onion isn’t for everyone – it can be irreverent and crass… I am not endorsing it by putting the link here, and at least this one is funny: http://www.theonion.com/articles/harry-potter-books-spark-rise-in-satanism-among-ch,2413/).
The Onion is a sarcastic spoof online paper. Besides, why should Christians be up-in-arms about a book with “magical” occurrences, witches, supernatural stuff, and teenagers? We would need to throw out Tolkien, CS Lewis, Ted Dekkar, Frank Peretti, and uhm, The Holy Bible?
No, to me, the main issue of Rowlings books was that the heroes lie, cheat, break rules, put people’s lives in danger regularly… and never face any meaningful consequences from the good teachers. Only bad teachers offer punishment for rebellious and delinquent behavior. Good teachers wink, nod and make you the youngest seeker of all time.
This seemed like a dangerous message to me. Good = ignore the rules and get rewarded. Bad=enforce the rules. Granted, bad also meant steal people’s souls and seek to kill humankind, but at the smaller level… the one where young people actually live.
I have already written in depth about my views of what the Christian response should be, and you can read it at https://chrismlegg.com/2011/10/10/a-christian-response-to-halloween-my-opinion-re-released/
Back to Tim’s article, though, and how it inspired me to want to write a new chapter in the Halloween series.
http://www.crosswalk.com/blogs/challies/my-halloween-theory-tim-challies.html
I think Tim has brought to attention what IS the right thing for us to be upset about in Halloween.
It is being stolen from our children by the pornographic world.
I noticed a couple of years ago that I could no longer let my children come with me to any Halloween store! One whole section of the store will be like the trashier section of an already trashy lingerie shop!
It felt to me like the purpose of the shop, and based on the posters on the front windows – the main purpose – was actually meant to be an
adult shop for role-playing encounters. Great for the bedroom, if you are into that sort of thing, but not for… well, I almost typed “walking the street” (thinking “trick-or-treating”), but maybe the double entendre is the problem re-defined. Sorry.
Now, it has begun to infect the local, family friendly retail stores. Children’s costumes and then the adult costumes… and as Tim notes, there are more of the latter… and the adult ones are more of what I saw in the “Halloween” shop. “Sexy” “Naughty” or worse f whatever you want to be.
And now the influence is reversing. Of course…
Little girls always want to look like big girls…
And the big girls are going dressed like members of the oldest profession to Halloween events…
And this is the most disturbing part… just today I saw an ad for children’s costumes on television… the boys, who were very young, were the
normal movie heroes, robots and ninjas…
But the girls, who were all early and pre-teens, were cat-walking with as much flirt and shake as possible, in the small version of the adult-woman inappropriate-for-public costumes. Short skirted little red-riding hoods.
So, may I please write a caveat to my earlier post about Christians embracing the fact that God owns Oct 31st? Something else God gave was sexuality – and being the kind Creator He is, He informed us as to how sacred and special it actually is!
Please don’t use this or any other excuse to let society steal away our daughter’s modesty.
As I have noted before, human sexuality is a treasure. Special, wonderful, beautiful.
It isn’t meant to be treated as anything other than that… certainly not as… well, Common.
Our Declaration of Independence is stored in a protected case to be viewed and treated with awe and wonder. We don’t pull it out and hand it around in public all the time, because it is a treasure worthy of being treated as such. That is how treasures are treated.
Modesty is a protective case for sexuality. Here now is my new concern for Halloween: we cannot let it become an excuse for encouraging the women in our lives… and especially not our girls… into believing the cultural lie that their sexuality is a common thing – but a sacred gift from God.
And, thanks to Tim for his insight into the need for community this reveals as well…