For so many Christians October 31st (Halloween) is
a wicked day. Some call it a Pagan Holiday and do all they can to disassociate
themselves from it. Others embrace it as though it is nothing more than a time
to give out candy to all the children in the neighborhood. Many Church try to
develop and alternative event Harvest day, where they do pretty much the same
thing everyone else does, just in a church environment, and call this
evangelism. How this day is or is not celebrated is not the issue. What we need
to know is nearly 500 years ago the actions of one man so discourage by the
false teaching that he and others like
him changed the face of Christianity forever.
What does this day actually mean for the church. October 31st 1517 commemorates the
day that Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five
Theses on the Church door in Wittenberg Germany, Which began the severing
of ties with the Roman Catholic Church and the birth of the Protestant,
Lutheran, Reformed, and Anabaptist Christian Faith as we know them today.
Angry at friar Johann Tetzel for selling indulgences (supplied by the Pope Leo X ) on behalf or
Albert of Brandenburg as a way to finance the cost of buying the position of Archbishop of Mainz. These indulgences sold
by Tetzel and supplied by Pope Leo X not only were payment for past sins to be
forgiven but also for future sins to be forgiven as well. And for those that
had relatives that passed away these
indulgences also allowed the buyer to get his relatives out of purgatory. And so Tetzel began selling
these indulgences, using a jingle to sell them: “As soon as a coin in the
coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.” (What is the
Reformation , 2015) (Paraphrased)
Now if this wasn’t enough, for hundreds of years the Latin
Vulgate has mistranslated Matthew 4:17 to read “…do penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” While
it should have been translated “…Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” and this error
of translation, and the tradition that followed it, caused penance (indulgence)
to become a means of buying your way into heaven. which Martin Luther despised.
So on October 31st 1517 he nailed his disapproval on the Church door
in Wittenberg Germany beginning the translation away from Church Tradition and
birth of the Reformation (returning to
the truth of the Word of God)
So whether you dress as ghost, or superhero this Halloween,
or celebrate October 31st as
Harvest day, or even refuse to celebrate this day at all, Remember As
Christians before we celebrate the worldly holidays, let us acknowledge our victory
over false traditions, over false teaching, over the Christianizing the
American Dream, Over the name it and claim it gospel, Let us learn from Martin
Luther and nail our own 95 theses on the
door of false teaching and those who would profitize the gospel of Jesus Christ,
and proclaim
“I’ve had enough!
This day forward I will follow the word of God and nothing else!”
“I’ve had enough!
This day forward I will follow the word of God and nothing else!”
Sola Scriptura
Blessed Reformation Day
FireSpeaks
I am all for what started the reformation and getting back to the truth of the word of God...any day of the year. But I thought you were going to discuss Halloween itself,it's origin,purpose etc....Since ur blog speaks ur opinions, what is ur opinion ,based on scripture re the celebration of Halloween?
ReplyDeleteThank You Linneta, I appreciate you posting this inquiry to me.
DeleteHowever, my Blog is not opinion driven, If it were it would have no value. FireSpeaks ( the Blog) is only scripture driven, I do bring up cutting ( bleeding) edge thoughts but I seldom write out of my opinion, when I do its in “the Lower case i“ under the In my Opinion section. As a hold my opinion is not worth the paper it’s written on this section is more about me venting.
Also I’m not sure if you are responding to my Facebook post or this blog, so if I get some things wrong, please provide me the grace.
The debate about Halloween is great. The reason this debate is so heated is that the Bible never addresses Halloween in any fashion. Please here what I’m going to say next “Not one Scripture” ”Not one!” says anything about celebrating Halloween, and because of that I must look somewhere else to discern God's intent.
Every Commentary, and almost every theologian I have read, when addressing whether or not we should participate in the Halloween festivities have used Romans 14 to develop their argument. This passage addresses what we as Christian should do with an issue that is not addressed in the Bible.
From My Facebook page (in the Faith in Christ2), group I armed you with that very same book and passage. For the sake of truth of Doctrine a Church should always be silent where the Bible is silent, and speak only on those thing which the Bible speaks on. It is in support of the truth of scripture that my post was neither in support nor against the celebration of Halloween.
When I said in my response to your Facebook comment that “pointing my finger at God loving Christians that enjoy Halloween festivities or lifting up those (Christians) that don't. Was a slippery ladder that we climb” what I meant was that disputable matters ( like drinking, speaking in tongues, smoking, and even Halloween) are never going to reach an addressable conclusion because scripture speaks of these matters not in the context of good or bad, but of the intent of the heart. Therefore, , these things are debatable, and if they are done in moderation than the sin comes from the heart of the practitioner.
In Romans 14 we have Paul addressing the Church at Corinth where some Christians were eating meat which had been blessed by the pagan priest. This caused a diversion between those that ate the meat and those that would not, And what Paul was teaching that in arguing over which was right, the two groups were causing new Christians to doubt their faith and become confused about what they should do. ( stumble) Romans 14:21-22 ( taken right form Facebook post.)
Mary Fairchild of About Religion, in the article “What Do I Do When the Bible is Not Clear?” Addresses this issue the very same way as I do. Spiritual weakness vs Freedom in Christ, Stumbling Blocks, then concludes pretty much the same way I did, that our own personal faith and conscience should allow and convict us on such matter not any person. Take the time to read what article please.
Now consider what I’m about to say, If you think that Halloween is a celebration of darkness then you should not celebrate it. But the second that we tell someone else that they are wrong ( because God has not revealed His intent on Halloween) we are making and idol to suit our perversion and causing other Christians to fall.