Season of Spin (repost from Oct. 08)

Ah, it is again that time of year when powerful opponents with many followers attempt to influence the public by telling falsehoods against the other. No I'm not referring to the current political contest in the States, but I'm referring to Halloween.

Halloween, which is the Christian name for Samhain an old Celtic holiday, has long since been a boogie-man to many a pulpit percher. This year the 700 Club published their annual propaganda against the holiday (story here).

Now while we encourage ANY faith or practice that distracts from the Other Side, the celebration of Halloween is NOTHING compared to the campaign AGAINST it that comes every year. What a great way to win converts by telling candy collecting children and other fun loving celebrants that they are going to Hell. Handing out tracts and shouting out judgements actually pushes people further in our direction than if one reaches out in love and concern.

But are any of their arguments true? Is Halloween Satan's Christmas? Do modern Wiccans still hold evil rituals during this time of year? Well to tell the truth Halloween is rather a "meh" holiday around here. But that doesn't prevent the 700 Club from putting their spin on it. Let me do a "factcheck.org" by dispelling a few points against their campaign:

• Samhain, while truly the original name of the ancient Celtic festival, is NOT the name of their "Lord of the Dead". There was NO "Lord of the Dead". There is a "Lord of the Dance", and Michael Flatley scares the maggots out of me! Actually Samhain was the time of year, the time when the growing time ended and the long winter was to begin.

• The Celts did NOT sacrifice people for religious purposes at this time. There is only a single record of this and this was written by Julius Caeser. It was wartime propaganda.

• This wasn't a time to worship demons, but a hopeful time to honor long past relatives and to get messages of hope for the future.

• Costumes and "Trick-or-Treating" are actually from a later period and have much more to do with the Christian influences on the holiday.

• Halloween actually the Christian name which is short for "All Hallows Eve". November 1 is All Saints Day, a Church holiday to honor the saints and to give converted Celts a holiday to "replace" Samhain.

• His Lord Below had very little to do with the holiday other than promoting it as a distraction. It was just another "Also Ran" like other faiths. No more, no less.

• Wiccans typically celebrate Samhain on a date NEAR October 31. They don't want to be bothered by the many "Trick-or-Treaters" who are out on Halloween.

For more information, from an unbiased source, I direct you to the Library of Congress's website HERE. And for more info about Wicca I humbly submit this from Religious Tolerance.org HERE.

But maybe our best tactic here shouldn't be to dispel the rumors and falsehoods directed against us. Perhaps we should "turn the other cheek" as it were. For as long as people are fighting against this harmless bastardization of a now defunct belief system they aren't spreading the true and more dangerous message of the good news of the Nazarine. They aren't focusing on the real ills of the world and worrying about establishing good relationships with hurting and lost people. Their bad witness might win more converts for us than the mess Christmas has become.

Hmmm. Well, I could do with a rest. I've been up late nursing Toby, my Mongolian death worm through a bout of IBS. That's hell on a worm, they are ALL intestine!

- Happy Halloween,

Brackish

Bluetooth Meets Jew-Tooth

Thousands of years after the Law of Moses was given unto man, man keeps adding onto it.
As if the Ten Pushy Orders and the whole of Leviticus wasn't onerous enough! Sheesh. What is WRONG with "Do what thou wilt"? I ask you? The One Below doesn't ask for much, just live for yourself, that's all. If other people get hurt, they can always take revenge. But I digress...

It would seem the latest wrinkle added by the ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel is that it is all right to turn on your cell phones on the Sabbath day, as long as you use your TEETH (story here)! How delightful another burden lifted by adding a subsequent burden! This was to solve a problem faced by orthodox emergency workers who were forced to use cellphones instead of beepers.

Reminds me of the Pharasees of Jesus' day. Grand ol' party poopers they were. Instead of just teaching the people to follow His law, they added a whole bunch of other stuff on top of it so no on would even come CLOSE to committing a sin! In 3rd century AD these interpretations were written down into the Mishnah, which in English would be a book of about 800 pages. These interpretations were then...interpreted and then more "whisper down the lane" volumes followed. These are the Talmud. Fun reading, those. The Command about not working on the Sabbath day was scrutinized to the point they had to define what "work" meant. They figured that you were allowed to carry a burden as long as it didn't exceed the weight of a dried fig and so on. Petty rules and endless regulations became the focus instead of the actual state of their souls. Thus any joy and meaning was squeezed out of life. I loved those guys.

The Kid saw through this distraction and violated the silliness whenever He could. Preaching Grace and Forgiveness of sins through believing and relying on Him. With Him it wasn't the things you did, but what you believed that united you with the Creator. Sounds like cheating to me.

Anyhoo we still have the orthodox Jews to keep running in their hamster wheels. As the world keeps moving forward, the weight will get heavier and heavier. They even have an organization dedicated to adding MORE legalistic rules when dealing with modern science and technology www.scienceandhalacha.org. I wonder how many chapters are dedicated to the Xbox?

Despite what most American Christians think though, the Jews are still His chosen people. And He alone knows His plans for them. Until then weapons of mass distraction are key, lest they should realize that life is more than rules and the Kid is getting ready for His second world tour.

- Brackish

Miracle of the Fishes and Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwiches

These days it's not unusual to find that a priest has something dark in his closet. However when that dark thing is a leather jumpsuit with rhinestones, that IS enough to peak our interest (story here). Father Antonio Petrescu who lives in the tiny Italian town of Sorbo, sees no conflict of interest between the "King of Kings" and the "King of Rock and Roll" as they both spoke of love in general. For us the similarities ARE rather striking. Both died and were sighted later, both have touched the world with their message, and both are frequently painted on velvet. Hmm, now which one died of a drug overdose again?

Brackish

Torah and Order

"In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories."

dun dun


It always makes for great drama when a person who is wrongly accused of a crime, finally has their name cleared by the legal system that condemned them. However when the criminal in question is the Son of God, the story becomes somewhat anti-climatic. A Kenyan religious group called the "Friends of Jesus" is attempting to set the legal history straight concerning "He Who Sits on the Right", claiming that he was railroaded by Pontias Pilate and the Roman legal system (story here). Pardon me for being inarticulate but...DUH! I'm about as sick of this as I was the O.J. trial. Of course He was railroaded, there was no record of Him committing blasphemy or doing anything wrong. Anyway how can you commit blasphemy if you ARE God? Our one victory and they want to take it away from us. After His execution, he conquered death and atoned for the sins of all mankind. That kinda stole the sweetness from us.

What they hope to accomplish, I'm not sure. I don't think He was having trouble getting jobs or buying a new house. Maybe they want to horn in on the book deal.

Brackish

Was He Smoking Jeru-Salems?

Well I have to give our over-seas division credit for trying, but sadly the Christians of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia are too hard to incite to riot. On Tuesday the Tamil-language newspaper, Makkal Osai, mistakenly printed a picture of "The One Who Sits on the Right" smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer for a cover story they were running (story here). Christian groups were angered, but most seemed to accept an apology that the paper ran later explaining the mistake. Oddly enough it's the Hindu controlled Malaysian government who is up in arms, with officials calling for Makkal Osai to be shut down.

It's too bad Christians aren't as explosive as Muslims or the paper would be in flames by now. That whole call to forgive just keeps getting in the way. I fondly remember the Muhammad Cartoon riots of last year with the violence, the fires, and over one hundred people killed (see here). What a great vacation that was! Oh, well better luck next time, guys.


Brackish