Halloween or Harvest?

It is really interesting to me how some churches and religious folk take offense to Halloween. My church has what they call a Harvest Festival...which by the way I think is okay. My church doesn't tend to be all that against Halloween really. They just offer an alternative place for the kids to go have fun and get candy. It is not extreme by any means. Yes, they will learn about the Gospel and Jesus. But they can come dressed up in their costumes and it is a fun time. Jesus isn't crammed down their throats.

This brings me to last night, while I was watching the local evening news. There is a church in Chandler AZ called The Door. What they offered was a haunted house that had scenes of abortion and meth addicts and hell, yada yada yada...(insert your extreme right wing evangelical stuff here). Not only did they offer this, but they charged $15 a head to see this stuff, and then they had a fire and brimstone pastor telling them to accept Jesus or be damned to an eternity in hell! I was LIVID when I saw this. There were mothers who took their little kids through this and the reporter was interviewing them about what they experienced. Sadly, these people will probably never step into a church again. They did not expect what they got until they went through the place and saw graphic scenes of abortion and the like.

That's my rant. I'm pissed because of Christians like this. Like I said though, I am NOT against an alternative to Halloween. My church does a wonderful thing for the kids...and THEY DON"T CHARGE FOR IT!

What say you?

End of rant!

Peace!

'The risk-taking disciple, who dares to listen to his feelings rather than to the pontifications of authority or the clamor of the majority, may quickly find that his inner convictions do not resonate with popular opinion. He finds the situation unnerving to himself and disturbing to the palace guard.' Brennon Manning

SAMM - We Are All The Same (HQ)

Song "We Are All the Same" by Samm from the movie Lord Save Us From Your Followers. Enjoy your weekend everyone and be kind to EVERYONE! We're all different, yet we're all the same.

Snippets from the AWESOME book Bo's Cafe - Will Grace Finally Win?

“Grace is a gift only the nonreligious can accept. They’re the only ones who can get it. Religious folks see grace as soft. So they keep trying to manage their junk with their own willpower and tenacity. Nothing defines religion quite as well as a bunch of people trying to do impossible tasks with limited power while bluffing to themselves that it’s working.” (p.89).

“You know what shame does? It takes a particular violation or several violations from your past, something that really got to you, and convinces you felt like in that violation is who you’ll always be, for the rest of your life. Sad,huh? — We don’t want others to see us for the person the lie has told us we are. We almost unconsciously create a lie to protect us from the lie. Bad combination.” (pp.146-147).

My thoughts... Don't let church and religious folks bog you down with shame, guilt, obligation and rules. Accept God's Grace right where you are. If you've been wounded by church folk...move on and live in the Freedom that is God's Grace.

Peace!

Superior Religious Folks

Andy continues. "It's a myth about needing superior religious folks to impart truth to the rest of us. Such people do not exist. Only those who think they are. Each of us, Steven, walks with a profound limp. Some have just learned to hide their limps better. Don't ever trust anyone who makes you feel intimidated by their presence because of some aura of religious superiority. People like that are almost always hiding something - incredible arrogance or a secret depravity that would shock you."

Pg 93-94 Bo's Cafe - Will grace finally win?