Why EVERYONE Absolutely SHOULD Celebrate Halloween

Today we address yet another of my FB friend's contributions. She's a pretty "devout" Christian and any time anything Christian related comes up on her feed she has to share or comment on it so it shows up on MY feed. This one I had to address (and did).

"Why Christians Absolutely Should Not Celebrate Halloween"

This article is almost cliche in it's propaganda-believing nonsense. I can't believe my friend even took it at face value. The site is called "End Time Headlines" and to me that in itself sends up red flags in regards to its legitimacy. But I'm not here to discuss the site, I'm here to address the many issues with the article ON the site.

First off...the author claims she is a 2 year Saved Christian. She makes the EXACT SAME mistakes ALL novices to religion and spirituality make (even me!); reading the propaganda against a religion and actually believing it. I want to see this woman at 15 years "saved". I'm positive she's going to shake her head at her naivety. Negativity towards another is not the way to "love your neighbor". Neither is judging them. Both are noted in many places in the bible, yet here many Christians indeed keep disobeying the laws of their own religion.

The major problem with people (espeically novices to a religion like Christianity), is it's far to easy to read into things. The bible is so convoluted, mistranslated and misinterpreted that its difficult to know what's right and what's wrong, especially when the wrong thing is condoned as doing the RIGHT thing.

This article discusses the negative impact Halloween has on society, and in children in general. First off, Halloween didn't become about fear and scare-factor until the last hundred years. Before that it was nothing more than dressing in mom's dresses and asking neighbors (of whom we knew closely back then) for treats.

The article starts off discussing how everyone nowadays is embracing Halloween...even churches. Has this woman ever stopped to ask WHY the church embraces the holiday? It's probably best to ask questions, rather than make assumptions based on little more than your vivid imagination. She condemns churches and other Christians for allowing themselves and their children to become so involved with this holiday. Stating it focuses on "death".

Her first (of many) points states "...but halloween focuses on death. Should I celebrate a holiday where people decorate their front yards with tombstones?"
--Decoration is just that. Decoration. Garlands and tress really have nothing to do with the birth of Christ, so why do people use them at Christmas? My biggest problem with this first points is, she dismisses death as something demonic. Everyone dies. It's a part of life. Even Jesus Christ himself died. Celebrating his death isn't seen as something negative and demonic; it's celebrated (mainly because he rose three days later, but that's beside the point). Why the double standard...condemn Halloween as a holiday of death, yet celebrate Easter as a holiday of death?

Her points go on to tell us what scripture says (excuse me if I don't take scripture at ITS face value, considered, as stated above, the bible has been mistranslated and re-translated so many times, it no longer actually means what it originally meant). "Put away deeds of darkness (Rom. 13:12)" "Light has nothing in common with darkness (2Cor 6:14)". We forget that without darkness there IS no light. And darkness is not necessarily something to be so afraid of. Darkness is just that which we cannot see. For eons God lived in darkness before deciding to create light. Does that make him negative and/or evil? No. it just means he couldn't see what was in front of him. Too bad so many can't either.

"I had been delivered from fear and panic attacks and knew that fear comes from the enemy". I congratulate her on conquering these mental problems, but it wasn't God that stopped them, it was her through hard work. Using "the enemy" as an excuse only hides the problem. That's like saying you quit drinking because you started smoking. The problem is still there, you're just using something else to replace it. God isn't a replacement.

"Should I participate in a holiday that has fear at its very foundation?" Like I said above, halloween didn't become the focus of fear-for-fun until well within the last 100 years. It's always been a night of frolic.

This one really rather hits below the belt: "Witchcraft is clearly detestable to the Lord (Deut 18:10-13). Shouldn't something that glorifies Witchcraft...be detestable to me as well?" Well, if you choose to allow a book to determine your thoughts for you, rather than making up your own mind. For one thing Halloween doesn't glorify Witchcraft. The only reason Witches are associated with Halloween (not Samhain, I'll get to that in a minute), is because of "The Wizard of Oz". Thanks to Margaret Hamilton's fantastic portrayal of "The Wicked Witch of the West", Witches wouldn't have been seen during this time of year.


Here is where things get misconstrued. "Halloween is a sacred, high holiday for Wiccans". Ohhh. I could write PAGES about how this one tiny sentence is so totally and utterly wrong. Sure Samhain falls on the same date as Halloween, but that doesn't mean Halloween is the High Holiday for Wiccans. Halloween is a Christian holiday. Based on the concept of "All Hallow's Eve", it was shortened to Halloween (why, who knows and who cares??). It's also called "All Souls" and "All Saints". Four holidays in 1-2 days. Three of them Christian based. It would seem that Halloween is more a Christian high holiday, than it is to Wiccans.

"It's cute when we dress our kids like the devil? Isn't it, well, demonic?" No more than dressing up as a princess. People have to get it out of their heads that dressing up and playing make believe doesn't necessarily result in negative things. And when something negative DOES happen that you think is a result of this make-believe play...it's ONLY your subconscious playing tricks on you, not demons. For one thing, demons are not what we think they are, hence why I say "I don't believe in demons", merely because people believe demons are the evil minions of Satan. Demons (or Daemons to be more accurate) are lesser Gods (so think demi- or sub-God like being). They're more inclined to be on the same level as angels, than minions of Satan. But because people misconstrue and intentionally misinterpret terms, we now think of "demons" as these evil little critters whose sole purpose is to carry out the bidding of their master.


"...even dressed as a fireman, aren't I sending him a mixed message by allowing him to participate in a celebration of evil?" No. For the simple fact that halloween is NOT a holiday of evil. Well, not intentionally and not originally.



I have half a mind to assume this woman is less a "Saved" woman and more someone duped into LDS or even JW. These types of people take their book FAR too literally. And because of people like this, thousands up on thousands of people have been tortured, tried and even murdered because people take a book like the bible as something that is infallible; written by God (not men) and therefore must be followed to the letter.

Christians are always worried about siding with Satan. Have they actually read the book with an open, unbiased mind and stopped to think..."wow, I don't know what to believe any more. How can a God that praises justice and love, do so many unjust things filled with hate?"

It's time for Christians to stop using their bible as a means of judging and justifying inhumane acts. They want a world filled with peace...they need to stop determining what others need to do and let them determine it for themselves.

Go out and let your kids be kids. Have fun. Go out and meet your neighbors. Make friends, turn this night into a night of celebration of death, transitioning from this life to the next (or into eternal life if thats what you believe happens). Death is not something negative. It's something positive.



*article:
http://endtimeheadlines.org/2015/10/why-christians-absolutely-should-not-celebrate-halloween/

"A Must Read..."

A FB friend of mine posted this to her wall:

"A Must Read"

In it, it details all the times someone denied God or Jesus, and died shortly after. If someone were to look at this in a logical sense, or in a common sense way, they would know it was all coincidental.

Apparently "Marilyn Monroe" stated to "Billy Graham" that she "didn't need your Jesus" and died not long after. I could say she didn't believe in their Devil either and she died...or for that matter she flat out denied the existence of Hecate and she died.

A person denying a deity doesn't mean they died as a result. If it were, then that would make that a pretty crappy God in the first place, wouldn't it?



I don't claim there is no God, I just don't believe God is the vindictive, jealous, POS everyone makes it out to be. I believe in a more powerful force out there greater than ourselves. We can call it God, The Great Creator, whatever you want. It's bigger than us and ultimately unknowable. If we were made in God's image, you'd think he would also carry some common sense and not be entirely built on jealousy and vengeance, and at the moment we come face to face with it...it wouldn't condemn us to a fire hell, it would inquire on how our life went and if it went the way we expected it to.

Fear tactics make it so people stay faithful to the popular system. Scare people enough and they will remain faithful to that religion and/or that deity. The link above is a perfect example of this. They scare people by telling them all these celebrities denied God and Jesus and ultimately died (which, of course is NOT true), but naive people will believe this and cling to Jesus like a toddler to his favorite blankie.

I truly hope this is not the God that created this world...otherwise we're ALL going to hell.

"What if you're Wrong??"

I've often encountered people (mostly Christian solicitors) asking me "what if you're wrong about what you believe?" and I've actually thought about it.

My mentality in regards to my beliefs and what I do about them is that this is right for me. If it wasn't then I wouldn't believe what I do...I'd believe and be something entirely different. I believe what I believe because that's what makes sense to me. But what if I'm wrong??

Then I'm wrong!

I'm not afraid of the afterlife (it's the process of GETTING there that terrifies me). I'm not afraid of the possibility that I'll end up in the office of God (whomever it is...let's say the God of Abraham), and he'll ask me why I lived my life the way I did and why I wasn't Christian. I'd have to tell him:

"I followed what made sense to me. I tried to live as good a life as I knew how. I tried to be a good wife, mother, friend, sister and daughter. Sure I've made mistakes down the road, but isn't that what we we're put on earth to do? Make mistakes and learn from them?? 

As for why I wasn't Christian, Christianity didn't make sense to me. I couldn't fathom why people would believe that a deity figure who is said to be all forgiving, all loving...would send someone to a place of eternal torture for something so benign as a lack of faith or belief, or for following a religion that wasn't assigned to them. It would make more sense to eternally torture someone for doing something so heinous as to torture another person for no other reason than to give themselves personal satisfaction and pleasure. It would also make more sense to eternally torture someone who felt it was their personal mission in life to torment people through determining what is right and wrong for another and FORCE them to conform to their own personal desires and wishes. It DOESN'T make sense however to eternally torture someone because they decided that Shiva was God and Jesus wasn't. 

There are lots of religions in the world. There are lots for a reason. If humans were meant to follow one God and only one God...there would only be one religion in the world, and everyone would follow it WILLINGLY. There would be no need for people to go door to door asking if you've found Jesus; there would be no need for street corner preachers telling us we're all damned because we believe something else...humanity would live free from harassment from other religious people because there would be no other religions from which one would need saving. 

I did what I thought was right, and I'm not sorry for following what made sense in my heart. If I'm to be punished for doing what I believed was right, then so be it. I accept it with full awareness.


But the thing is...are these door-to-door solicitors willing to do the same? Are they willing to acknowledge the possibility that they too may be wrong? Have they thought about what they would say to the deity they find themselves face to face with in the afterlife? Are they open enough to think about the possibility that they are wrong about what they believe? Do they have the courage to admit they were wrong? I do...but do they??

Looking Too Far Into Symbolism on Products

Not sure how many people saw this video, but this woman at some sort of vendor/informational fair tries to show the Satanic origins of "Monster" Energy Drink by making note of the various "symbols" on the can's logos.

https://ca.screen.yahoo.com/editor-s-picks/monster-energy-drink-devil-150845932.html?vp=1

This is what happens when people look TOO close into a label...looking for a reason to hate it. For the life of me, I tried SOOO hard to see all these conspiracy subliminal messages on products for years. I DID see the words "S-E-X" on the Pepsi can years ago when they had a chaotic pattern on the can...but if you looked close enough to the entire can, using your imagination you could make ANYTHING appear on the can, and make it say almost anything.

There are numerous problems with her "evidence". Noting the 3 hebrew symbols on the can which make up the claw marks. Heaven forbid "Monster" coincidentally make marks that LOOK like hebrew letters. It must be the work of the devil...Satanists INTENTIONALLY marking their product with Satanic markers so as to convert people from blissful Christianity to chaotic Satanism.

The so-called "cross" in the "O" of "Monster". I never saw a cross, I saw an O with a vertical line through it. If you look close enough to anything you could see whatever you want.

This woman has no leg to stand on. Everything on the can is coincidental. I could make the same claims with the basic pepsi bottle that is now adorning cans and bottles. Pepsi uses the color red. What color is Satan??? He's red. Thus Pepsi MUST be Satanic!!!

Catholic Pope and Acknowledgements of Modern Topics

I'm thoroughly impressed with this latest Pope in the Vatican. While I remain faithful to the idea that the Vatican shouldn't be this gold filled place where the pope lives, dressed in his Godly-finery...the most recent Pope sheds new light and gives me new hope for the faith of Catholicism.

Now, I'm in no way considering re-joining the religion...I find too many hypocrites, and disjointed beliefs among the followers. However, in light of recent events, this Pope has made tremendous strides to gain back the trust of the pubic. For example...one of the latest announcements he made is his acceptance of homosexuals as God's creatures. While the bible may have an excerpt that says it's sinful to have a "man lay with another man", you cannot deny the fact that people DO live this way and are just as deserving of God's love as anyone else. No one is above another; no one is more Godlier than another. We all forget that Jesus hung around with the undesirables. Who are seen as undesirable these days more than Homosexuals (and unfairly so).

Another recent announcement is the acceptance of Evolution!! Whoa! That's an enormous step for the Catholic religion! Being Christian in nature, they tend to believe in Creationism (at least that's how my grand-in-law's believe). But evolution need not be in contrast to the Christian belief in how we all got here. The bible more or less says that humans **poofed** into creation: "So God created mankind in his own image..." --Genesis 1:27. It doesn't say that they started out in a puddle of goo and grew from there. In fact, the whole chapter and subsequent chapters since dont' say anything about HOW they formed other than God formed man from dirt.

Could this now be interpreted that we came from the ground...from the formation of the earth, evolved from sand, microbes, or even goo, to amphibious animals, to mammals, to a subspecies, to cro-magnon, to neanderthal, to what we are today??

My dear, ignorant neighbor believes that evolution says we all **poofed** into existence (clearly she didn't pay attention to science class when she was in school...no where does "evolution" teach that we all **poofed** into existence). She also is the type to teach her children that the sky is blue and the grass is green, all because "God wanted it that way", not because blue is the dominant color that breaks through the atmosphere when the sunlight hits it, and that the grass is green because of chlorophyll. She's against this Pope's ideas that evolution could be true...and chooses to misinterpret the bible in her own way (which is not surprising to me (She's also Christian-Reform,not Catholic)).

It's an enormous leap into the 21st century for the church to acknowledge these basic ideas. Naturally there are those who are rebelling against these ideas (even within the Vatican itself). Perhaps God is TRULY speaking through this man trying to get humanity to understand that we are NOT as bad as misinterpreting people have made us out to be, and is trying to get us to see that we are meant to be the way we are, and using the Pope to get that message through. And just like the Jewish priests in Jesus' time who rebelled against the idea of Jesus, the bishops oppose this Pope's ideas too.

It's been a while since I truly admired a leader of a religious group (that I am not a part of). I hope he continues with his crusade of halting the hate because we are all different, and denying basic common sense. I hope he doesn't let the nay-sayers push him around into retracting anything he's said, and remains faithful to these ideas.

"Oh, I feel good!"

I feel good today but it comes at the expense of someone else lol. I had one of those pesky Jehovah's Witnesses come to my door trying to sell her religion to me. I'm so not interested and told her that...but naturally, being a JW, she continued with her sales pitch, showing me her pamphlet and what not. I just continued to tell her I'm not interested in her religion, and she proceeded to try to get me to tell her what I believe about how we got here, and where we go after death, and I said when we die, we die (not entirely what I believe, but I was just trying to get her off my doorstep). So she says "We turn to dust, eh. Well it DOES say that in the bible", and I said "the bible says a lot of things". She asked if I was catholic and I was honest and said I went to catholic school, and she tells me that JW's follow the true ways of the bible, and I told her "everyone says they follow the bible, Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholics, Christians, etc", and she kept trying to make her point that they were the true way, and I proceeded to tell her sternly that I didn't need someone coming to my door telling me what I need to believe, and that if I was interested in something I could find out for myself, so she tells me that you'll find a lot of inaccurate information on the internet. I said (again, sternly) I knew where the Kingdom Hall was and if I was interested I'd go there (not that I am). She proceeded to walk off my porch, continuing to mumble to me and I just closed the door.

I get a sense of pride when a JW walks off my doorstep unsuccessful. Try as they might, but I'll never become a JW.

(sorry for the run on sentences and no paragraphs, but this just freshly happened lol)

Love Letters from the In-Law

Oh, I love the little emails I receive from my Grandmother-in-Law. She, for some reason, feels the need to send me messages from a site called "Holy Love" (interestingly enough, I haven't told her my beliefs, I prefer to keep this from them because they're a little TOO into their religion). Another interesting thing is...I have NO idea how she got my email address lol. (which is ok, 1) I get to read these entertaining little emails and 2) I really don't care lol)

Anyways, the reason I read them at all are for the very reason that this post is about:

This "Holy Love" site is Christian in nature (no surprises there). Here is but an excerpt from the latest email I received:

"Today, I have come to tell you that the disordered use of free will...is in danger of destroying the world as you know it." 

I just had to laugh when I read this. I've been saying this for a long time. Many Christians get this twisted, sorted idea that "free will" only exists when it's THEIR idea of free will...the "will" their "God" imposes. "Free will" is just that...FREE will. Meaning the freedom to do what we wish, regardless of if it pleases or angers "God".

Will just doesn't exist in the form their "God" determines...that wouldn't be "Free" will, that would be "God's" will. So if you're going to state "Free" will when talking about free will, don't say:

"that is, free will which does not align itself with Holy Love" 

That's not "Free" Will, that's THEIR God's "will".

Another beautiful excerpt from this proves my previous points on the character of "Satan":

"The free will of such radicals has been captured by Satan."

The very fact that they blame everything on a faceless, formless figure in the hopes they don't have to take personal responsibility for their own actions, and use "Satan" as their scapegoat. Satan hasn't "captured" the free will of any "radicals", Satan doesn't capture anything because Satan is a concept, not an actual entity.

The ideas and thoughts from these people are slowly but surely increasing my distaste for the Christian religion.  Oh, sure I'll keep my thoughts and opinions to myself, unless I'm in company who shares the same views as me. My youngest sister-in-law's experiences with her grandmother only push my distaste even further. She (grandmother) proceeds to write my sister-in-law a letter pretty much putting her down (and kicking her while she's down) for having a baby out of wedlock and moving in with her daughter's father (of whom she is now separated from, for good). It's this type of mentality that pushes me further and further away from the church, to the point that I don't ever want anything to do with it. We've also stopped going to church as a family. No, it wasn't my choice (though I'm not going to throw a fit over it). No one seems to have the drive anymore to get up at the ass-crack of dawn just to go sit in a stuffy church, and watch buddy at the altar do all the work.

Things don't help though, that my children attend a Catholic school that is also starting to push my buttons. I was seriously considering transferring my children to a small private school not far from my home...what's stopping me is the cost for this school, which is $13,500 a year (that'd be $1,125 a month...a shitty part time job wouldn't cover that, and I certainly don't have the "education" needed for a job worth more).

I just feel that I may not be able to hold my tongue anymore...mostly the main reason I don't is because my  husband holds true to his beliefs (even though a lot of the time he contradicts himself). I don't like getting in a debate with him, because we are both passionate about what we believe, and they're both on opposite sides of the spectrum. While I feel good about winning a debate against my husband in a religious nature, I also feel bad. I don't like to have to hold my tongue when it comes to religious discussion because many people don't understand where my beliefs come from (I'm not one for open discussion about my personal beliefs, especially when they're so taboo).

This upcoming election in the US is also making it difficult for me to hold my tongue on religious issues. I tried to write a response to a friend of mine who had moved to the US a few years ago, and discussing the presidential candidates made me realize just how Anti-Christian I am becoming. I don't like being anti anything...however I don't find myself to be as harsh or ignorant regarding many Christians as many atheists I've encountered. I still believe there are numerous Christians out there who are truly respectful to those who wish to believe what they want, and feel they are free to believe what they want, just as much as they are free to be Christian. But it's hard for me to believe that there are as many as I would like to think there is.

I used to respect my grandparents, for holding true to their beliefs...but after seeing the way they treated my youngest sister-in-law (who has done FAR LESS than her oldest sister)...they make me rethink that respect. I can't respect someone who outright tells someone they're going to hell for doing something that's completely natural for the human being. Respect has to be earned, and this is no way to earn respect. Respect can be given, but it can be taken away just as easily.





Ma’iingan