Sitting here enjoying a great cinnamon roll breakfast with the family, decided to take a little time before we head out this morning to reflect on the weekend. Kenzie has kicked off the morning by asking if I'm going to take her trick-or-treating again today...might be a long day trying to explain this one.
I turned 41 Saturday (technically I'm 21 and 240 months) and it was fairly uneventful. Oh it was fun, and I enjoyed being with all my girls, but it was uneventful in regards to how I felt being another year older. I remember growing always hearing adults lament being another year older, how they wished they could go back to being 21, etc...and though I joked about earlier, I really don't mind getting older. Turning 41 is no big deal...I don't act 41 (just ask anyone), I don't feel 41...41 is just a number. The only thing I find changing as I get older is a deeper longing to be with my Savior in eternity. I love this world and its beauty...Arizona has presented new beauties I thought I would never see. However, I know the beauty of this world pales in comparison to the new heavens and new earth. Another year older on this earth is not a big deal...because its also another year closer to my true home.
We held a "Trunk of Treats" in the neighborhood of our church building Saturday night. It was a pretty good event. I scheduled it too early, as most of the kids that came didn't start arriving until it began to darken. Apparently kids in Phoenix don't come out until late (Phoenix doesn't observe any specific trick-or-treat hours, which I found to be odd). So, we live and learn. We figure we had about 50 kids, which was good. We also made a couple contacts with local families who seemed excited about bible study starting tonight! Guess we'll see. I am so grateful to my brothers and sisters from Hillside Baptist who came out and supported us! We would have been pretty pitiful looking in the parking lot with one car, haha.
The BIG news story in Phoenix revolving around church Halloween outreach events was centered in Chandler, just to the southeast of us. A church there is in its 4th or 5th year of hosting a 'hell house' type of event they call Final Destination. If you're not familiar with these events, a 'hell house' is a haunted house attraction churches put on as an alternative to traditional haunted houses. Generally these are filled with theatrics revolving around themes like abortion, drunk driving, homosexuality, etc...and will often follow a 'lead character' as they make their way through all these things, ultimately leading them into a one-way trip to hell as a result of their life and choices. The event in Chandler utilizes this technique. Apparently some parents raised a stink, as they went through the event, and found the theatrics to be a bit over the top. They were interviewed on local news stations, and were upset the church did not advertise more thoroughly what the event entailed. Here's my take...I've not gone through this one, but I've been in 'hell house' type events before. The news station did show some of the inside of Final Destination and I have to agree, what I saw was over the top. One room the t.v. station showed had a crib inside of it with Michael Jackson posters on the walls above the crib, referencing I'm assuming claims of child molestation against Jackson. In my opinion, that's over the top. They also had the abortion scene, the "drunk" scene, etc...my issue with 'hell house' type events is this...I grew up, as many of you did, in the days of "hellfire and brimstone" preachers, especially at church revivals. A church would bring in an 'evangelist' who would proceed to preach for 3-6 nights on how many different ways a sinner would burn in hell, suffer torment, etc...I put 'evangelist' in quotes because I've learned to evangelize is to spread good news, and most of the preaching I sat under as a kid in these settings was anything BUT good news. Anyway, most of these events in decades past succeeded in 'scaring' people to accept Christ, cause really, who wants to burn in hell? Ultimately what happened was these individuals got later in life, with no real discipleship offered, and realized they made no real decision to follow Christ, just a decision to not go to hell. In my opinion, these 'hell house' type events are nothing more than a modern day version of the same. They are about shock factors, and scare tactics. Neither of those things seemed to be a mainstay of how Jesus, Paul, and others shared the good news of the coming kingdom with people. Oh I know, I'll probably get comments back like "Jesus spoke about hell more than He did heaven!", and it's true Jesus did utilize teachings on hell. However, one of His greatest teachings on eternal separation occurs in Matthew 7:21-23 where those He teaches will not enter the kingdom of heaven are not those who were overtly sinful, but those who thought they were good to go, maybe because of their heritage, history, etc...and Jesus says to them He never knew them. Most scholars agree, these people referenced by Christ are the religious people of His day...and ours. There is no real biblical basis for using scare tactics to get people to accept the gospel. Additionally Jesus made it pretty clear that we don't get the privilege of convicting sinners of their sin. In John 16, describing the work of the Holy Spirit Jesus says in verses 8-11, "And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer, concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged." You won't find in Paul's writings the command to bring judgment down on unbelievers...Paul is all about holding those who claim fellowship with Christ accountable. 1st Corinthians 5:12 & 13, "For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you." These 'hell house' tactics are about judging others and scaring them into a false acceptance of Christ...both things I feel confident from scripture God is not pleased with.
However I also struggle with the women who brought this to attention. They expressed how 'wrong' it was for young teenagers to be exposed to these theatrics, and on that note we agree. But I also have issue with exposing young teenagers/children to the gore, horror, and even demonic theatrics in what the women called 'traditional' haunted houses, which were acceptable. I worked 5 years in a local haunted house event back in KY when I was in my 20's and I can tell you, we exposed kids/teenagers, even adults to things that were way over the top. We went beyond a simple ghost or witch here or there, and instead moved into the realm of 'pretend' rituals, demonic presence, and evil, evil characters. These type of tactics are common today in 'traditional' haunted house events, and I would argue are no more appropriate for kids/teenagers than the tactics of the 'hell house'. I love a good scare now and then, and suspenseful movies are a favorite of mine. There is a difference between a good scare, and mass amounts of gore. To say its not okay to expose a teen to the 'hell house' atmosphere, but it is okay to expose them to a haunted house built around a serial killer (there's one of the these in the Phoenix area) who mutilated bodies and destroyed lives is an illogical statement. We already live in a society that glorifies violence too much.
So, that's my take...you won't catch Springwater Community putting on 'hell house' type events anytime soon, and you won't catch me taking Katie in 5 years as a young teen to watch scenes of sadistic butchers cutting up body parts...neither of those events have redeeming value.
All in all, a pretty good weekend...looking forward to Sunday night bible study, and what the new week has to offer!
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