Should we celebrate Halloween?

On Monday we shall be celebrating Halloween, but just what is it actually a celebration of? And how did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as some claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual?

The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honour of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.

One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living. Naturally, the still living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighbourhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.

The Harry Potter books and films have made it popular to talk about witches, wizards and spells. Yet I’m not sure we should celebrate a festival of darkness.  You may reply, "But we only do this in fun...we don't practice witchcraft.  The practice of “trick or treat” is a mystery to me – why is it on 364 days of the year we tell our children not to talk to strangers but on 31 Oct its OK to walk the streets knocking on doors dressed in our scariest costume and instilling fear into many elderly people in the process!

Surely we need to be aware of what we are exposing our children too, the world of demons and evil is only too real and the darker side of life is not to be taken lightly. Many churches across the UK and here in Chester are holding a “Light Party” on Monday evening. ‘If you're off to a light party, then the sort of thing you can expect would be singing, games, crafts, food, and learning more about Jesus, who said, "I am the light of the world."  Check out the Hoole Baptist Church Facebook page for more info…

Have you got the time?

A couple of weeks ago a national newspaper ran a a story accusing the BBC of 'absurd political correctness' after they dropped the terms BC and AD in case they offend non-Christians! It seems that The Corporation has replaced the familiar AD and BC with the more obscure terms CE and BCE. Now CE usually stands for "Common Era." AD is an abbreviation for "Anno Domini" in Latin or "the year of the Lord" in English. Both measure the number of years since the approximate birthday of Jesus of Nazareth (a.k.a. Jesus Christ) a little over two millennia ago. CE and AD have the same value. That is 1 CE = 1 AD, and 2011 CE = 2011 AD. The word "common" simply means that it is based on the most frequently used calendar system: the Gregorian Calendar. BCE stands for "Before the common era." BC means "Before Christ," Both measure the number of years before the approximate birthday of Jesus. Designation of a year in BC and BCE also have identical values.  Many people assume that Jesus was born at the end of 1 BCE. However, most theologians and religious historians estimate from evidence within the Bible that he was born in the fall of a year, sometime between 7 and 4 BC. Of course, one has the option of interpreting the letter "C" in CE and BCE as referring to "Christian" or "Christ's," in place of "common. "CE" then becomes "Christian Era." "BCE" becomes "Before the Christian Era."!!

In the UK and across the Western World we seem to be slightly obsessed with time we measure it, we use it we lose it, we waste it? Generally most of us these days don’t seem to have enough time i.e. we are too busy! Or we can waste time i.e. how much time do you spend on the Xbox or watching the TV? In a couple of weeks time we will “lose” an hour when the clocks go back from British Summer Time to Greenwich Mean Time!! Now have you ever thought about how God doesn't see time as you and I do? The Bible tells us that to God, one day is as 1000 years and 1000 years are as one day. He sees the past, present, and future all at once, for He is over time. That blows my mind. We are so finite. We begin, we end. God always was, is, and will be. Isn't that amazing? When we get to heaven, there will be no clocks, no calendars - just unlimited time. That unsettles me. Clocks and calendars give order to my life. A place with no time just boggles my mind. But we'll never be tired, and that will be great! Even though God is over time, at the perfect time He became one of us - as a baby boy. He invaded history right on time - BC/AD - it was the zero hour - to show us Himself and save us from sin and offer us eternal life with Him - timeless life. Isn't that amazing? Won't you take "time" to consider this?

What is success?

It was Albert Schweitzer who once said, “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” This got me thinking. What is success and how do I know if I am successful? I think it is important to form your own definition of success. If you don’t, there is a good chance you will waste a lot of time and energy chasing someone else’s version of the word. Now I’m not sure there is right or wrong as to how we define success. The term itself is a subjective thing, so what success means to you might be different from what it means to me or other people, and this is perfectly fine. That being said, I think it is useful to discuss a little some such definitions, because it helps us to analyze whether or not we are moving in the right direction.

I read an article recently where the author was questioning what should be considered success and he comes to the conclusion that success should be measured as the positive impact his work will have upon the lives of other people. For example, most people tend to equate success with money. That is, the more money you make, the more successful you are. But under this definition one could argue that a drug dealer who makes millions of dollars annually is a very successful person. I don’t agree with this. I could give you that such drug dealer is a savvy businessman, but I wouldn’t call him successful, because the impact he has on the life of other people is actually a very negative one. Which leads us to one question: are you working to make as much money as possible, or to make as big an impact as possible?

How do we become a lasting success? What would your definition be? Ann Landers, the great guru of newspaper advice, once wrote, "To a great many people, money is a measure of success. If they are living on a lavish scale, they think they are successes. And yet many are dismal failures." Og Mandino, the author of The Greatest Salesman In The World, says, "The only difference between success and failure is good and bad habits - success is a state of mind." What is your definition of success? Let me suggest this one: Success is the process of fulfilling your purpose in life and doing it well. In short, success is a by-product of a life well lived.

Thinking about these 2 definitions I propose to you that the most successful person who ever lived is Jesus Christ. He knew what His purpose was: to reveal God to us in a person and to offer himself as our Saviour by dying for our sins. He fulfilled it perfectly. I would argue that the life and death of Jesus has easily had the biggest impact on humanity more than any other person who has ever lived. So was Jesus Christ the most successful man who ever walked this earth? Why don't you look to Him in faith? He'll put you on the road to success--God's way!