Missing A Halloween Party
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Chuck WhickerNovember 1, 2013
It's a good story, and meaningful; and certainly your parents' way of celebrating Halloween is far more appropriate than the traditional way. But I was hoping this would be an article about how inappropriate it is for those who "call themselves after my name" to recognize Halloween as a holiday at all. There are three scriptural items that come to mind. First, we all know how adamant the Lord was in forbidding Israel to celebrate the holidays of any of the pagan nations around them; and that the holidays the Lord appointed for Israel were part of the ordinance system of the Lord, which are designed for sanctifying the hearts of his people. They were truly "holy days." Second, one of our covenants is to "avoid all light-mindedness..." Dressing up has no spiritual value- it does not direct the hearts of participants heavenward, which is what the Lord's holy days are designed to do. Third, our celebration of Halloween is a clear example of the many ways in which we participate in the "eat, drink, and be merry" philosophy, which we are warned not to do in the Book of Mormon. Fourth, the Lord said: "And truth is a knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come; And whatsoever is more or less than this is the spirit of that wicked one who was a liar from the beginning." (D&C 93:24-25). We have endowed members of the church participating in the creation of haunted houses -- all in the name of fun and entertainment, and "providing memories for our children." These are no different than the justifications by which Israel always fell into pagan traditions in the past, and lost their standing with the Lord, not to mention his protection against their enemies. Light-mindedness is spiritually destructive. It reduces the caution required of the Lord's people to keep from entering into deception. This one of the things ignored by our appointed "prophets" whose job it is to uphold the covenant that would have established Zion, had the church fully embraced it (see D&C 105:2). No people have ever become more spiritually lazy in the responsibility of discernment -- and it's all because their "prophets" don't want to confront them in any of their favored idolatries. If the Brethren can touch the emotions of the saints, they think they have softened their hearts -- not so; rather, let them preach repentance, pinpointing apostasy where it exists, and humble their people rather than merely touching their emotions and causing them to think that "all is well in Zion, yea, Zion prospereth, all is well!" (see 2 Ne. 28:21). Cease to rely upon the Brethren (the arm of flesh) to do your discerning for you. Cease to turn a deaf ear to the voice of warning coming from your scriptures, and from common-members who have the spirit of prophecy. Cease to assume that the church is the Lord's standard - for it never was established as such (see D&C 84:55-57). Zion is the standard, not church, not prophet, and not tradition. Cease to think that "fun and loving" is equivalent to righteousness; for that is the epitome of worldliness. Seek after Zion, and cease to seek after whatever is popular in the church, for the church has become the world: "Let not that which I have appointed be polluted by mine enemies, by the consent of those who call themselves after my name." (D&C 101:97) '
Marilyn PorterOctober 30, 2013
I hope you thanked your parents for teaching you a beautiful tradition. Thanks for sharing that.
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