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10-31-2009，万圣节前夕，庆祝主耶稣战胜撒旦，嘲弄主耶稣的仇敌
11月1日是基督教的万圣节，今天是万圣节前夕Halloween，晚上5点我们要到牧师家
参加Halloween Party，今天上午思思的忘年交Mary(也是思思的私人写作教练和游
泳教练)特意赶来我家，给思思送了一套公主裙，但是裙子太大了，不适合思思。喜
乐让我穿，我一试，还刚刚好。
思思盼望Mary来，简直是望眼欲穿，结果公主裙还不能穿，她失望地哭了，说自己
从小到大从来没有一件costume。我默默地看着她搂着她，说我理解她的心情。这个
宝宝如此甜美柔和，她说她穿自己的蓝长裙也行，泪中带笑，真让人疼爱。我说：
你只是公主裙不能穿，公主的戒指、魔棒、皇冠、耳环、项链，你都可以戴啊，配
你的蓝裙子也非常好看，思思高兴地穿上自己的蓝裙，戴上全副武装，去专心写作
了，还配合我拍照了，问我是否把耳环也拍上。她是如此甜美柔和，感谢神与她同
在。
上午思思除写作之外，还读了科学书。思思老想到图书馆去借经典小说，她时间紧
张，我怕浪费时间总没去，我告诉她，从图书馆借回来的那一堆科学书，只要读完
5本，我们就可以再去图书馆。今天她说她已经读完6本了，可是我们实在是太忙了，
没有去成。
狗妈要送给思思一条能帮助调节水族箱内部环境平衡的鱼，专门吃青苔的鱼，趁思
思写作的时候，我和喜乐赶紧把思思的水族箱清理干净了，除去了很多旧青苔，只
保留了一点点石头上的青苔。
下午2-4点我外出教课，思思和爸爸在家，我让思思先把写作完成，然后爸爸会教她
数学。结果她完成写作就该到牧师家了，她没有空跟爸爸学数学了。
我教完课，Shu借给我她女儿的睡美人裙，思思终于有costume穿了！
晚上5点我们到牧师家参加Halloween Party。我跟思思说，我们庆祝主耶稣战胜撒
旦，我们来嘲弄主耶稣的仇敌。撒旦已经被主踩在脚下，他对我们毫无权势，我们
在主里一无惧怕，今晚就是百般嘲弄撒旦的时候，显示我们最高信心的时候。
思思跟教会的孩子们一起，一家一家地去敲门要糖。今晚真是热闹，大家小巷全是人。
感谢神，在主里我们毫无惧怕。感谢神，借着这么多可爱慷慨的陌生人，带给我们
这么多快乐。
这个人好可爱，一粒糖都没有，一人发一把钢蹦儿。
思思要到了很多很多糖，她很有礼貌，称呼男士为sir, 女士为Ma'am，祝福称谢不
离口。她送糖给我的朋友Michele，又送给狗爸狗妈，她说还要送给我的学生，说今
天是她生命中最高兴的天之一(这句话别扭，是我翻译过来的，似乎有更好的说法，
但我想不出来)。
回到家，有人按门铃来要糖，思思就把她要到的糖又发出去。
喜乐没灵修，他吃了生牛排喝了红葡萄酒就昏然睡去：-( 洗澡后，思思和我的灵修
内容是：
Concerning Halloween
by James B. Jordan
August, 1996
It has become routine in October for some Christian schools to send out
letters warning parents about the evils of Halloween, and it has become
equally routine for me to be asked questions about this matter.
"Halloween" is simply a contraction for All Hallowsó Eve. The word "hallow"
means "saint," in that "hallow" is just an alternative form of the word
"holy" ("hallowed be Thy name"). All Saintsó Day is November 1. It is the
celebration of the victory of the saints in union with Christ. The observance
of various celebrations of All Saints arose in the late 300s, and these
were united and fixed on November 1 in the late 700s. The origin of All
Saints Day and of All Saints Eve in Mediterranean Christianity had nothing
to do with Celtic Druidism or the Churchós fight against Druidism (assuming
there ever even was any such thing as Druidism, which is actually a myth
concocted in the 19th century by neo-pagans.)
In the First Covenant, the war between Godós people and Godós enemies was
fought on the human level against Egyptians, Assyrians, etc. With the coming
of the New Covenant, however, we are told that our primary battle is against
principalities and powers, against fallen angels who bind the hearts and
minds of men in ignorance and fear. We are assured that through faith, prayer,
and obedience, the saints will be victorious in our battle against these
demonic forces. The Spirit assures us: "The God of peace will crush Satan
under your feet shortly" (Romans 16:20).
The Festival of All Saints reminds us that though Jesus has finished His
work, we have not finished ours. He has struck the decisive blow, but we
have the privilege of working in the mopping up operation. Thus, century
by century the Christian faith has rolled back the demonic realm of ignorance,
fear, and superstition. Though things look bad in the Western world today,
this work continues to make progress in Asia and Africa and Latin America.
The Biblical day begins in the preceding evening, and thus in the Church
calendar, the eve of a day is the actual beginning of the festive day. Christmas
Eve is most familiar to us, but there is also the Vigil of Holy Saturday
that precedes Easter Morn. Similarly, All Saintsó Eve precedes All Saintsó
Day.
The concept, as dramatized in Christian custom, is quite simple: On October
31, the demonic realm tries one last time to achieve victory, but is banished
by the joy of the Kingdom.
What is the means by which the demonic realm is vanquished? In a word: mockery.
Satanós great sin (and our great sin) is pride. Thus, to drive Satan from
us we ridicule him. This is why the custom arose of portraying Satan in
a ridiculous red suit with horns and a tail. Nobody thinks the devil really
looks like this; the Bible teaches that he is the fallen Arch-Cherub. Rather,
the idea is to ridicule him because he has lost the battle with Jesus and
he no longer has power over us.
(The tradition of mocking Satan and defeating him through joy and laughter
plays a large role in Ray Bradburyós classic novel, Something Wicked This
Way Comes, which is a Halloween novel.)
The gargoyles that were placed on the churches of old had the same meaning.
They symbolized the Church ridiculing the enemy. They stick out their tongues
and make faces at those who would assault the Church. Gargoyles are not
demonic; they are believers ridiculing the defeated demonic army.
Thus, the defeat of evil and of demonic powers is associated with Halloween.
For this reason, Martin Luther posted his 95 challenges to the wicked practices
of the Church to the bulletin board on the door of the Wittenberg chapel
on Halloween. He picked his day with care, and ever since Halloween has
also been Reformation Day.
Similarly, on All Hallowsó Eve (Hallow-Even ǔ Hallow-Eóen ǔ Halloween),
the custom arose of mocking the demonic realm by dressing children in costumes.
Because the power of Satan has been broken once and for all, our children
can mock him by dressing up like ghosts, goblins, and witches. The fact
that we can dress our children this way shows our supreme confidence in
the utter defeat of Satan by Jesus Christ ǔ we have NO FEAR!
I donót have the resources to check the historical origins of all Halloween
customs, and doubtless they have varied from time to time and from Christian
land to Christian land. "Trick or treat" doubtless originated simply enough:
something fun for kids to do. Like anything else, this custom can be perverted,
and there have been times when "tricking" involved really mean actions
by teenagers and was banned from some localities.
We can hardly object, however, to children collecting candy from friends
and neighbors. This might not mean much to us today, because we are so prosperous
that we have candy whenever we want, but in earlier generations people were
not so well o_, and obtaining some candy or other treats was something special.
There is no reason to pour cold water on an innocent custom like this.
Similarly, the jack-oó-lanternós origins are unknown. Hollowing out a gourd
or some other vegetable, carving a face, and putting a lamp inside of it
is something that no doubt has occurred quite independently to tens of thousands
of ordinary people in hundreds of cultures worldwide over the centuries.
Since people lit their homes with candles, decorating the candles and the
candle-holders was a routine part of life designed to make the home pretty
or interesting. Potatoes, turnips, beets, and any number of other items
were used.
Wynn Parks writes of an incident he observed: "An English friend had managed
to remove the skin of a tangerine in two intact halves. After carving eyes
and nose in one hemisphere and a mouth in the other, he poured cooking oil
over the pith sticking up in the lower half and lit the readymade wick.
With its upper half on, the tangerine skin formed a miniature jack-oó-lantern.
But my friend seemed puzzled that I should call it by that name. `What
would I call it? Why a "tangerine head," I suppose.ó" (Parks, "The Head
of the Dead," The World & I, November 1994, p. 270.)
In the New World, people soon learned that pumpkins were admirably suited
for this purpose. The jack-oó-lantern is nothing but a decoration; and the
leftover pumpkin can be scraped again, roasted, and turned into pies and
muffins.
In some cultures, what we call a jack-oó-lantern represented the face of
a dead person, whose soul continued to have a presence in the fruit or vegetable
used. But this has no particular relevance to Halloween customs. Did your
mother tell you, while she carved the pumpkin, that this represented the
head of a dead person and with his soul trapped inside? Of course not. Symbols
and decorations, like words, mean different things in different cultures,
in different languages, and in different periods of history. The only relevant
question is what does it mean now, and nowadays it is only a decoration.
And even if some earlier generations did associate the jack-oó-lantern with
a soul in a head, so what? They did not take it seriously. It was just part
of the joking mockery of heathendom by Christian people.
This is a good place to note that many articles in books, magazines, and
encyclopedias are written by secular humanists or even the pop-pagans of
the so-called "New Age" movement. (An example is the article by Wynn Parks
cited above.) These people actively suppress the Christian associations
of historic customs, and try to magnify the pagan associations. They do
this to try and make paganism acceptable and to downplay Christianity. Thus,
Halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc., are said to have pagan origins. Not
true.
Oddly, some fundamentalists have been influenced by these slanted views
of history. These fundamentalists do not accept the humanist and pagan rewriting
of Western history, American history, and science, but sometimes they do
accept the humanist and pagan rewriting of the origins of Halloween and
Christmas, the Christmas tree, etc. We can hope that in time these brethren
will reexamine these matters as well. We ought not to let the pagans do
our thinking for us.
Nowadays, children often dress up as superheroes, and the original Christian
meaning of Halloween has been absorbed into popular culture. Also, with
the present fad of "designer paganism" in the so-called New Age movement,
some Christians are uneasy with dressing their children as spooks. So be
it. But we should not forget that originally Halloween was a Christian custom,
and there is no solid reason why Christians cannot enjoy it as such even
today.
"He who sits in the heavens laughs; Yahweh ridicules them" says Psalm 2.
Let us join in His holy laughter, and mock the enemies of Christ on October
31.
睡前思思祷告，感谢神让她如此快乐。
我关灯前，她说：“妈妈，你真漂亮。我爱你，good night。”
[ 本帖最后由 贤妻良母 于 2009-11-3 12:29 编辑 ] |
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