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I grew up in the bible belt, where there is a lot of tug of war between bible thumpers and kids who wag their tongues at them - so there's the setting.
But as a teenager when my buddies and I would "prowl around" on Halloween, we were on drugs and doing all kinds of things to probe into this world of spirits and fright. It was real terror we wanted to incite, and we weren't interested in jelly beans or Snickers.
When there are troubled kids, there are triggers that set off behaviors and thoughts - I don't expect everybody to understand that.
With all due respect..... that's just it. You were, apparently, a troubled kid doing drugs. Would you have looked into the dark side if you weren't doing drugs?
Guys like Charles Manson succeed because they know to pick out the troubled, vulnerable kids who are on the fringes. He didn't pick out the kids who had stable families, were drug-free and studying to get a scholarship to a good college. He went for the person who was vulnerable because he/she was alienated for one reason or another.
You even saw what version they were carrying? Really?
Honey, I can spot a Kings James version broke-in bible a mile away. True Southern Baptists clutch them raised towards the heavens as thought they could evoke the power of God himself.
Why have a night for spooks - is it compatible with life in the Spirit, fellow Christians?
I think so. Or it's not INcompatible. You're trivializing the spooks by making them into nothing more than a silly children's game. Once upon a time people truly feared those spirits on that night. Since Christ came into the world, they've been reduced to kitsch. There's nothing to fear in the dark anymore.
I thought Wicca was a what, not a who, but I'll take your word for it. I'm not claiming any Wiccan expertise. You may wear the I-Know-More-About-Wicca-Than-You-Do crown and I won't try to snatch it from ya!
Wicca is a what. That's why I said Who's wicca. Not what is wicca. I know wiccans that dabble in the occult, demon calling, things of such a nature. I've been to Samhain and Beltane ceremonies with friends. I manned the bbq while they did their thing. Really good people that I visited with except for one drunk that shot a .38 at me after he got drunk. AND they handled him appropriately, although it was sorta a downer on the occasion. I spent many hours discussing with them faith, and things. It's amazing how many shared beliefs we have where mostly pedantics separate us.
Most of my time was trying to UNDO the damage other evangelical type Christians had done to their perspective of God. AND NEARLY EVERY ONE OF THEM, went that route, to avoid the hateful, stubborn, evangelicals that they had experienced in their life. I found that ironic. That was the time in my life, I realized that there was more ministry IN the church, than outside of it, and until the innards was fixed, the people outside of the faith won't see God in the Church and the confusion will continue.
Why have a night for spooks - is it compatible with life in the Spirit, fellow Christians?
We have a night to celebrate the dead, those who have passed. I don't consider my deceased family spooks.
My opinion is that it is not against the spirit of Christianity. Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Easter, which also has roots in Pagan practices. How is Halloween any different. Granted the customary festivities have morphed from the original intent and practices but hasn't Christmas and Easter also?
Wicca is a what. That's why I said Who's wicca. Not what is wicca.
"Who's Wicca" = "Who is Wicca". But I get it--you mean "Whose Wicca", as in who does it belong to.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xian Catalyst
I know wiccans that dabble in the occult, demon calling, things of such a nature. I've been to Samhain and Beltane ceremonies with friends. I manned the bbq while they did their thing. Really good people that I visited with except for one drunk that shot a .38 at me after he got drunk. AND they handled him appropriately, although it was sorta a downer on the occasion. I spent many hours discussing with them faith, and things. It's amazing how many shared beliefs we have where mostly pedantics separate us.
Well, glad you didn't get shot! I do think there is a core truth we all seek no matter what our beliefs are clothed in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xian Catalyst
Most of my time was trying to UNDO the damage other evangelical type Christians had done to their perspective of God. AND NEARLY EVERY ONE OF THEM, went that route, to avoid the hateful, stubborn, evangelicals that they had experienced in their life. I found that ironic. That was the time in my life, I realized that there was more ministry IN the church, than outside of it, and until the innards was fixed, the people outside of the faith won't see God in the Church and the confusion will continue.
I can agree with that. I had a lot of damage myself from what I experienced in the church I grew up in. It was all focused on hell and death and sin and punishment. Very dark. Won't go into detail here, but that was very harmful to me starting from my childhood, to put it mildly.
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