Come Sunday, we all celebrate Halloween again, that strange night of the year when, with one accord, American civilization dredges up all its darkest fears of the supernatural and waffles between scaring itself and laughing at the whole thing—nervously.
It’s an odd thing really. Halloween urges upon us a particular *kind* of fear. Nobody associates fear of terrorism, or a rise in prices, or dogs, or bullies, or cancer with Halloween. It’s ghosts, demons, witches, and all that sort of fear that our culture plays around with. We sense, somehow, that there are deeper terrors and evils in the world than just muggers or other workaday fears like unemployment. We whistle past the graveyard 364 days a year and then, on this one night, we run up to the door of the crypt, ring the bell, and run away. To be sure, much of the business is good clean fun, what with running around visiting the neighbors, getting candy and bobbing for apples. But there’s also that other side of it, that makes people surf the web looking for creepy “Tales of the Unexplained” that are found, not on the fiction pages, but on those sites that relate some weird story of a haunting or other paranormal event with straight-faced “just the facts, ma’am” sobriety that insists the thing really happened. It’s the night where people—even jolly happy godless secularists—take a moment and wonder if, really, after all, there might just be something to this whole “supernatural” thing.
It’s not an unreasonable starting place, particularly if you don’t have the good fortune to have been raised in the Church. I remember a girl in high school who was greatly troubled by whether or not God existed. She had a dream in which she met a vampire and was greatly relieved because she realized that if supernatural evil existed, then the supernatural good who is God could too. And when we look at our world and the sort of evil that can occur—piles of human ash as big as a house at Maidanek—the notion of supernatural evil doesn’t look all *that* outrageous, particularly when we look at the fascination the occult held for the people who were the architects of the Nazi project. Not for nothing did Pius XII say that Hitler was “diabolical”.
Jesus confirms this intuition by confronting not mere sickness or sin, but the demonic powers behind such evils. He does not simplistically state that a sick person had it coming due to sin (indeed, he goes out of his way to destroy such assumptions). And he denies, with emphasis, that those to whom bad things happen are somehow extra sinful. But he does affirm that evils in this world are aided and abetted by the devil, that Satan can hold us “bound” in sickness as in sin, and that there are such things as demons (i.e. supernatural intelligences called “angels” which have abused their freedom and set themselves as enmity with God and man).
The vast panoply of scary creatures the human imagination has concocted to express our fears reflects this awareness that there is some deeper and more ancient evil behind mere human evil. Always at the shadowy edge of human evil is the awareness that it trails off into a darkness where something is breathing: something that hates us and wills our destruction. We call such things “monsters” in our art, and the interesting thing is that “monster” is a word related to both “monstrance” and “demonstrate”. That is, a “monster” is a thing that shows forth in visible form something Horrible for all to behold, just as the Monstrance shows forth in visible form something Beautiful for all to behold.
We make monsters because it is our nature as sub-creators in the image and likeness of God to do so. We create, as He does, in our image and likeness and dredge up out of ourselves different faces to show us who we are. When God made us, he made us innocent and without sin, pure as He is. But when we fell and chose to trust the word of the Ancient Dragon, who is called the Devil and Satan, we allowed into our souls things that are the stuff of nightmares. In our art, we give these things body in order to face our fears, not only of what we are, but of what lies behind our fall. Through those stories we discover again our capacity for evil—and the possibility of resisting it by grace.
The Faith presents this to us in stark form in the form of what the Didache calls the Two Ways: the Way of Light and the Way of Darkness. It’s what Jesus calls the broad and the narrow way and it boils down to this: the Monster or the Monstrance.
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Interesting to noe that ‘monster’ comes from the latin word ‘monstrum’, which meant several things, including: wonder, miracle, prodigy, deformity, oddity
In some roman languages (like Italian) ‘monster’ is still applied in the sense of prodigy like “you are a monster of skill in painting”
I have always loved the irony that ensues when confronting someone who is convinced of the ‘proof’ they have of ghosts and such like but their inability to admit God exists as well. The ghosts are allowed as long as it is not the “Holy Ghost”.
I also found it ironic that there are people who don’t believe in God because of the existence of evil…they ask, “How could horrible things exist in this world if an all-loving God is supposedly watching over us?” And those same people find it hard to believe there is a devil.
Bla Bla Bla ! Friendship with the world is emnity against God. You cannot drink the cup of demons and also partake the cup of the LORD. Absolutly no God fearing person would ever have anything to do with Halloween or the Occult ! You keep your own traditons, all the while rejecting the commandments of God ! Therefore God will reject you from being in His Kingdom ! Repent; and believe the Gospel and God will forgive you.
Edward:
Where on earth do you get the notion that I’m recommending the occult?
Atheists, agnostics, and people of assorted philosophical, gnostic “faiths”, like buddhism and new age, who don’t believe in a creating and sustaining monotheistic God, and yet who still believe in an afterlife (a rather haphazard, no-one-at-the-wheel afterlife), have poor logic. They believe in some sort of system (who created the system?) for the soul whereby the soul exists here on earth within a fleshly body and then persists afterward. They start to get nervous and haughty if asked to define their thoughts on the soul’s existence prior to fleshly life. They get equally nervous when asked Who created the creation, namely the soul. They are Materialists and yet believe in the soul (ghosts). Their illogic is answered easily and only by one concept: God: the architect of the system they believe in. But then again, their denial of God falls to shreds in a foxhole, the axiom goes.
Lo tienes en español? porque no le entiendo
“Come sunday, we all celebrate Halloween again”. Are you serious ? True Christians do NOT observe pagan holidays! Obviously your decieved. The “holiday” has bewitched you ! “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord,and the cup of Devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lords table, and of the table of devils”. 1 Corinthians 10:21. Revelation 22:15 says sorcerers will not be in the Kingdom of God. If you think the celebration of an ancient pagan holiday is harmless, excusable, Christian, you are WRONG. Satan loves the dark and all things associated with it. Do you ? God is light and in Him is no darkness at all ! So says your Bible.
Edward:
A quick question. My computer doesn’t show me what time zone you are writing from. Is it still Friday or already Saturday where you are?
Why ?
Call me curious. Friday or Saturday? Just tell me.
Sorry, I do not give out personal information over internet, phone etc.
While you are getting around to answering me, read and learn. But do tell me: is it Friday or Saturday where you are?
Your links you sent do not work.
oops,, the link did work.
The day of the week is not personal information.
Deuteronomy 18:10 in the latter part says ALL who call up the dead are an ABOMINATION to the LORD . “Have No fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them” ! Epheseians 5:8-11
Edgar:
Prayer for the dead is not calling up the dead. Nor is asking the dead in Christ to pray for you. Unless you want to charge Jesus, Peter, James and John with abominations for speaking to Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration. Again, read and learn.
And, to rephrase my question, would you agree that today is Saturday and not Tuesday?
Matthew 17: 1-9 is a “vision” notice verse #9, Jesus showed them a vision of the future, Not the present. Also it says Jesus Christ talked with Moses and Elias. NOT Peter, James and John. To restate it, Peter, James and John saw a “vision”, they talked with no one. The “vision” they saw was Moses and Elias talking with Jesus Christ in the Kingdom of God, so says your Bible. Notice through out the Old and New Testaments those who looked to or sought the dead were considered heathen, unchristian, Satanic ! That is why in Deuteronomy God calls it anabomination to seek the dead.
Also to correct your misunderstanding of scripture I must say this: Ecclesiastes 9:10 clearly says there is no knowledge, or wisdom in the grave. Also Ecclesiastes 9:5 says the dead know nothing. Why seek the dead who know Nothing, when you can go directly to God the Father through Jesus Christ who sits at the right hand of power. Besides this asking the prayer’s from ” the dead in Christ ” would obviously refer to those who are alive at this present time. The dead are as asleep and await the resurrection AT the time of the return of Jesus Christ. The dead whom you seek are actually deceiving spirits (demons). Seek God thru Christ only !
Matthew 17: 1-9 is a “vision” notice verse #9, Jesus showed them a vision of the future, Not the present.
Rubbish. You just made that up to fit your fundamentalist theology. Scripture says nothing about a vision of the future. They were discussing his “exodus” which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem, as Luke points out. Moral: the dead in Christ are not dead, as Jesus himself pointed out when he reminded the Sadducees that God is the God of the living, not the dead.
Prayers for the dead are in fact older than apostolic Christianity and a part of the Jewish faith that gave birth to Christianity.
You still haven’t answered my question. What day of the week is it?
About one third of the Bible is prophetic. The context of the vision was “Future”, because who they saw with Christ are dead and buried. As Ecclesiastes teaches us. SIX day’s earlier, in the preivious chapter of Matthew, they were discussing Jesus “FUTURE” torture and murder. Yes there are those who are dead in Christ who are alive and live. And there are those who are dead in Christ who have physically died and await the resurrection. Now this “Prayers for the dead”, being older than Christianity is correct. BUT it was Not practiced by the ORIGINAL CHURCH OF GOD at all. Yes GOD is the God of the living, WHY then do you seek the dead on behalf of the living(retorical). This is Jesus question to YOU !
BUT it was Not practiced by the ORIGINAL CHURCH OF GOD at all.
Of course it was. Only complete ignorance of the early Church allows you to make such a claim. Be very careful of your reading. If you ever find out what the actual early Church believed and did, your fundamentalism will fall like a house of cards.
PS. Are you *afraid* to answer my question, Edgar? Come on, dude. No “personal information” is betrayed if I ask you, “What are the days of the week?” What are you afraid of? Is you faith so fragile that it can’t even bear up under a simple question?
Why do you not correctly address me by my name Edward anymore, why the change to Edgar ? More importantly Why do you not use the source document the (Bible) to correctly support your belief system. I was not trying to offend you, just correct you and your readership ! God corrected the Jewish community (or parts thereof), for there fall into “IDOLITRY”, this IS HISTORY. Don’t repeat it !!! Lastly when someone does not want to answer a question on the reason of “personal info”, you should really try to be professional and LET IT GO ! If you have a point to make , then make it. A word of caution; the Bible is “the great spiritual mirror”. Let’s look into it to see ourselves, As God sees us !
Isaiah the Prophet from God was inspired to write; “Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them”. So if people want to be Christian then they had better do WHAT CHRIST SAID ! HE DID NOT DO halloween,all saints day, samhain, or anything as such. He in fact said like I showed you in revelation 22:20, SORCERERS will NOT inherit the Kingdom of GOD . God Himself Commands like I showed you in Deuteronomy 18:`10 Not to call up the dead. If we do not do what Christ taught and showed by His life as an example, And if we keep NOT the Commandments of God, we walk in the dark. Halloween is pagan, Heathen practice. You have been taught .
Sorry about the mixup on your name. But you continue to be ignorant, since All Hallow’s Eve is not Samhain and Catholics do not believe in trying to summon the dead. I repeat. Telling me what day of the week it is, is not “personal info”. It’s making a point. Namely, you call the days of the week Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Shall I then feel free to accuse you of idolatry, since these days are named in honor of the Moon, Tiwaz, Woden, Thor, Freya, Saturn, and the Sun? If not, why not? Merely noting that something seems to resemble something in paganism is not proof that it is pagan. The resurrection of Jesus, after all, resembles pagan myths like that of Osiris. Noting that is no more *proof* that it is pagan than noting that All Hallow’s Eve happens around the same time as Samhain proves that it is Samhain.
Learn some history. You have been taught. Stop believing urban legends spoon fed you by people who are just as ignorant as you are.
Oh, and stop bearing false witness against Catholics.
To quote catholic sources they say; the TRUE ORIGINS lie with the Ancient Celtic tribes who lived in Ireland,Scotland, Wales, and Brittanny ETC, BLA, BLA, BLA, these people celabrated Samhain Bla, Bla, Bla ! I’m not going to requote the thing. You wouldn,t believe it either probably. The Bible show’s very clearly that the dead are buried and awaiting the resurrection of the dead at the last Trump, at the return of Jesus Christ. All the while Catholisim ignores this and goes to saint whomever, not God directly, and “communes” with a lying spirit, ( who says they are such and such saint, LIES),This is evil. Now, God made the days of the week, such as the SABBATH. All the new Testament is written in Greek, and where you make this childish connection with paganisim, forgive me, I don’t get. The point the Bible (GOD) makes Plain is you are not to mix FALSE WORSHIP or religious practices with His(GOD"S) Commandment’s PERIOD, full Stop ! Satan or used to be Lucifer had “prievious” knowledge of the plan of God. So what better way to confuse the masses as to create simmalarities himself. Such as “fase christianity”, that is why the Commandment’s are a light to our feet, our path. That is why God say’s not to worship Him in any other way than He say’s. IT’S Idolitry when you take this and that and try to honnor God in such away. Why wouldn’t a person who say’s they are a follower of Jesus Christ keep the day’s He kept ? I will tell you why rightly, out of your own Bible, “Full well you reject the commandment’s of God so you may keep your own tradition’s”. This all-saint’s day (Urban legend), or what ever you desire to call it makes no difference, it has no Biblical teaching and is NOT AMONG the faith once and for all delivered to the SAINT’s PERIOD ! Why do you call Jesus LORD, LORD and NOT do the thing’s that HE say’s ? WHY ? I am well versed in your catholisim, You have miss quoted, taken out of context ,twisted scripture to suit your tradition’s. Do you think your the only one who has read a book or two. The Bible is the only authority here, not catholic tradition. Do you not fear God. You probably don’t even understand what Godly fear is ? Show from Scripture CLEARLY your belief system. Catholisim is Babylon the great, mystery, mother of Harlots ! Rev.
This will be my last “guest oppinnion”. Matthew said in chapter 15:14, to leave them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. Suggested reading, Mathew 7:1-29.
@Mark Shea:
It might entertain you to know that among the mostly-Catholic speakers of modern Irish, “Mí na Samhna,” which literally translates as “Month of Samhain” just means “November,” with no more pagan connotations than English words like “Wednesday.” This is in contrast to “Mí na Nollag” (Month of Nollaig, cognate with French “Noel,” both from Latin “Natalicus,” nativity), which much more consciously has the charming literal meaning “Month of Christmas.”
@Mr. Gontar:
A few thoughts:
1. I respectfully suggest that using spellcheck might improve the credibility of your prose.
2. The selection of which books would be in the canon of the Bible was made by the Catholic Church. This is why your Bible doesn’t contain, e.g., gnostic works like the “Gospel of Thomas.” It also why, in defiance of the heresy of Marcionism, your Bible does contain the Old Testament (or at least those bits that Martin Luther didn’t later see fit to remove, out of a desire to excise evidence of the Maccabaean prayers for the dead, even at the cost of abandoning the Septuagint Old Testament that had been in universal use among the Church Fathers).
How did the early Christians (i.e., the Catholic Church) select which materials to include in the New Testament? By asking themselves which accounts accorded with their trustworthy oral and written traditions. In other words, you cannot have Scripture without Tradition. I speak here not of “the traditions of man,” but of Divine Tradition, vouchsafed to the Church by the Holy Spirit.
As a corollary, this means you cannot, with any logical consistency whatsoever, cite the Scripture as authority without also acknowledging the authority of the Sacred Tradition of Christ’s Church. So until you are ready to acknowledge the rest of the Church’s Magisterium, please stop quoting OUR book back at us, if you please. Thank you.
Edward, I will join in this discussion first by admitting that I do not know everything there is to know about Scripture, nor do I possess any degrees in it. However, I do know that even Martin Luther acknowledged that all Christians owe to the Catholics the Bible, and since it is from the Catholic Church that the Bible comes does it not stand to reason that their explanation of its meaning is the one that should be the guide? Would you not agree that the author of a book is the best one to tell you what it means? I know that the Holy Spirit can guide our interpretations, surely, but I also know that our own biases against something or for something can lead us to misconstrue the messages sent to us by the Holy Spirit. This is why the Catholic Church has a Magisterium - a teaching office - so that we are not misled in our interpretations of the messages of the Holy Spirit. It is also why we are warned to test all spirits rather than putting our faith in everything we receive from someone else.
Since you refer frequently to Ecclesiastes, which is one of the 7 books of the Bible that Martin Luther removed because it contradicted his beliefs, I’ll point out to you that in 2 Maccabees 12:42-45 there is not only prayer for but sacrifice offered for the sins of the dead. Furthermore, in the New Testament, St. Paul writes to the Romans, “So do you also reckon that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.” He also writes in chapter 6 verse 23 that, “...the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” and in Revelations chapter six it speaks of the souls of the martyrs living under the altar and crying out to God, “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord (Holy and True), do you not judge and revenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given to every one of them one; And it was said to them that they should rest for a little time till their fellow servants and their brethren, who are to be slain even as they, should be filled up.” It also talks in Revelations chapter eight about the prayers of the saints being carried up to God along with the incense in the angel’s hand. Also in 2 Corinthians verse 5:1 “For we know, if our earthly house of habitation be dissolved, that we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, in heaven” This refers to our bodies, which are our earthly homes, and we are promised bodies in heaven to replace them. Also, in Hebrews verse 12:1 it says “And we, having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head…” which refers to the saints and angels which watch over us and assist us on our journey home. Church teaching tells us that at death we have a personal judgment where our eternal fate is determined and we are assigned to heaven or to hell, however there will be a final judgment where we will be resurrected and reunited with our bodies. This is supported by Scripture, as well. In Hebrews 9:27 it says “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment” so that we see that once a man dies, he is afterward judged.
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