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Church Family Meeting, My Thoughts on Halloween (Pastoral Emphasis for 10/30)

Radical Experiment 2011 Update

We have the opportunity to spread the Gospel to the young men at the C.A. Dillon Youth Development Center on Wednesday, 11/9. The Male Choir is going and we want to take as many men as we can. Ladies are welcome to come as well. You have to be 18 or older. If you are interested in going, we will have short meeting after church to discuss.

The Church Family Meeting is tomorrow at 7pm. All members are asked to be present.

Since tomorrow is Halloween, I'd like to share a few thoughts on it.  Because there are so many different opinions on this topic, we must think biblically. First, we must guard our hearts so that we are not judgmental.  We should not judge harshly other Christians who may differ from us. Colossians 2:16 says, "Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath." As believers, we have been freed from legalistic rules around eating certain foods or celebrating certain festivals.  The reality is that the way most people celebrate Halloween, it is just a secular holiday about dressing up and getting candy with no indication of its pagan origin.  Excluding any involvement in demonic activity, the celebration of Halloween can be a matter of personal conscience before God.  Personally, my family does not celebrate Halloween due to its often glorification of monsters, witchcraft, etc. My wife and I prefer to focus our children on more wholesome imagery.  They are free to play dress-up and get candy at any other time of the year.  But if you do celebrate Halloween, consider using it as mission field and opportunity to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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