Thursday, October 13, 2005

Flotsam and Jetsam

What's floating around today.....

-Let's talk about Halloween for a second. Now I like Halloween a lot, I think it is a fantastic holiday. My church does not. For as long as I can remember Porter has provided a Halloween alternative known as the "Fall Festival". At this Fall Festival, kids show up in costumes and get candy. I hate to do this, but HERE'S WHAT YOU DID PORTER MEMORIAL BAPTIST CHURCH: You're against Halloween, so you have a party where kids come dressed up and get candy, which is what Halloween is. That's what you did.

Now let me expand a bit more. I know Halloween was originally a pagan holiday and this and that and blah blah blah. That's all fine and dandy. You're afraid that exposing kids to Halloween is going to turn them into some kind of Satan worshipper. Let me let you in on a little secret: we have been doing this whole Halloween thing as a culture for many many years now, and how many kids have gone Satanic? Not that many I would say. No 9-year old kid goes trick or treating, sees Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman, then says to himself "Hey, I think I'll worship the Prince of Darkness. That looks like a good idea." Here's what's ironic: very few kids are harmed by Halloween, a "Satanic" holiday, but I would say a ton more kids are affected by the materialistic side of Christmas, argaubly the most important of Christian holidays.

My point here is this: get off Halloween's back, it never did anything to you except rot your teeth and get you into minor trouble with the law. And churches, there are much worse things you're child could be doing than trick or treating. Everyone knows anyway that when you have your Fall Festival kids just treat it like a another stop on their trick or treat trail: they stop by, get the candy, then bounce. Besides that it makes the church look arrogant. God tells us to be in the world not of the world. This is a great way to do just that.

-I know this has happened to you before: you're sitting in class, trying to listen to the professor, when suddenly you are interrupted by the people near you having a conversation at FULL VOLUME. ??????? This annoys me to the nth degree. If you don't want to pay attention, that's fine. Take your little party outside. But don't be a distraction. And have a little respect for the professor. I swear I'm gonna slap somebody......

-Getting back to the Halloween theme, I stopped trick or treating at about age 10 because my parents wanted to follow local "laws"which I dont't even think existed. This upset me because all of my other friends trick or treated up until high school (not cool mom and dad. not cool.) They also wouldn't let me dress up as anything scary. One year I decided to be a scarecrow. The vision I had in my head was of a scarecrow with freaky eyes and nasty teeth and a creepy voice. Well that wasn't happeneing on Mindy's watch. So instead of being a scarecrow that year, I went as more of a queercrow (sorry Mindy but that costume was lame). Anyway, I was thinking today of all the characters I would dress up as if I had my childhood back. Here's a few I came up with:

1) Ringwraith: Is there anything cooler or scarier? I think not. I would go door to door muttering only two words in a cold, harsh voice: Shire........Sweet Tarts..........

2) Rich Brooks: People would probably give me a lot of candy just to see me go away.

3) Rick James: Use your imagination.

4) "The King" from the Burger King commercials: I can't get enough of The King. The blank stare says it all.

-One final item. Let me recomend a CD to you: Catching Tales by Jamie Cullum. The British sensation just released his newest album and I must say I am quite impressed. His first album was great too, check it out if you have never heard it.

posted by Wes @ 10:52 AM

8 Comments:

At 10/13/2005 01:55:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hate the BK King; he creeps me out. Imagine that face on the other side of the window as you open your blinds in the morning... [shudder]. Ringwraiths are cool though. So are those things from Harry Potter 3...

 
At 10/13/2005 03:03:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

the BK King is a baller; did you see him intercept that ball against the Buffalo Bills?

On the other hand, Ringwratihs are sweet!! Do you get a huge black horse or huge bird/dragon/whatever it is they ride, with the hooded cloak?

 
At 10/13/2005 04:50:00 PM, Blogger JTapp said...

That's funny stuff. You're right about the Fall Festival, too.

Gotta admit though, a holiday where you enjoy hanging up scarecrows, witches, mummies, and black cat things is kinda jacked up.

 
At 10/13/2005 05:55:00 PM, Blogger Bryan Gotcher said...

I agree the BK king is one of the scariest people.

I also don't understand the whole Halloween thing. If we as Christians are against Halloween, then why do we celebrate Santa and the Easter Bunny. These characters take us very far from the original meaning of the holiday. If we throw out Halloween lets get rid of all the other secularization of holidays.

However, I am with you, this holiday represents candy and costumes not Satan. Also, this is good opportunity to teach kids about the spiritual world, demons, angels and all that jazz. Anyway, good post.

The scariest costume of all is that annoying old Six Flag's Guy

 
At 10/13/2005 06:30:00 PM, Blogger dc said...

the BK King is a PIMP. I love that guy. Those are my favorite comercials right now.

And that sandwich is the bommb..if you live through it. I've survived 2 so far.

 
At 10/13/2005 07:33:00 PM, Blogger Justin said...

kudois on the jamie cullum cd...he is a great artist!

 
At 10/13/2005 11:22:00 PM, Blogger Wes said...

I'm always ecstatic when John comments on my blog....I love you John! XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 
At 10/16/2005 06:56:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

your posts are extremely too long

 

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