Trick or Truth?

Disclaimer : During an intense moment of procrastination a few months back, this will be my second entry for 2018. Please do take note that the views expressed here are solely those of myself in my private capacity and does not intend to disrespect anyone and/or their beliefs.

So if you feel you are about to be offended by this, please discontinue reading.

Funny things happen here around October… do they happen where you are too?

First come the spider webs. Everywhere! And huge spiders on the fronts of people’s houses -- then everything’s covered in orange and black.
And by the end of the month all kinds of monsters and superheroes walk the streets asking for food.

You’d think they’d ask for something interesting like brains or 'suman' (sticky rice cake) at least -- nope, they ask for candy. I guess everyone loves candy. So does it hurt if you or maybe one of your kids joins in on Halloween?

A Brethren told me, "we’re members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ), we don’t celebrate Halloween or Christmas.”

So why don’t we celebrate holidays like Halloween and Christmas?

Our doctrines teaches us that they are of pagan origin -- that’s kind of a big word for me. So it is explained that anything pagan is simply not Christian. They are man-made holidays. God didn’t make them and He does not approve of them. In fact they go against God’s teachings.

Did you know Halloween actually celebrates evil spirits and allegedly, ghosts of the dead? That just creeps me out -- it’s like a party FOR them.

And what about Christmas?

It’s pagan too. People say it’s to celebrate our Lord Jesus Christ’s birthday, but can anyone even prove that December 25 was really his birthday? It actually came from a pagan festival that worshiped false gods; in particular, the pagan Roman sun god called Sol Invictus. Now, that’s kind of a big word again, but that’s true -- and that just makes our Almighty God angry.

We don’t believe in any of those festivals. I know I don’t -- so some of my colleagues ask why I can’t just join in for fun?

I’m glad my Brethren's have an answer for that, too. They say :
“If we let you dress up like everyone else you’ll get confused about God’s teachings. You’re Christian. You don’t have to fit in with the rest of the world. If we let you do this, you’ll start to think it’s okay to pick and choose which of God’s commands to follow. And we should follow all of His commands, not just the ones we like.”

My Church wants me to know what it means to stand up for MY faith. And sometimes that means NOT fitting in with the crowd, no matter how much fun they look like they’re having. I’m an aspiring member of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ) who follows all of God’s commands. Sure! Of course. There will always be that little kid inside of us. Who wants to do what other kids do? But when we beg you to let us do something that our fellow kids do but is wrong, please show us the right way to go.

And remind us again and again to stand up for OUR faith. Not just by what we believe in -- but by the choices we make every day. Thank you for reading, if you're a parent, relative or friend. I may forget to tell you, but I love you and I thank God everyday for you.

Your brother in Christ,
Roy Spike DY