October 31, 2018
Halloween is a touchy subject for Messainics. Actually, in my experience, it’s is not a ‘touchy subject’ at all. According to messianic thinking and beliefe, October 31 would be considered to be bad. In fact, to a small majority of Christians Halloween is bad.
I love the way I was raised. I would not change anything about it if I could go back and relive my adolescence. However, with any denomination, there are going to be problems that present themselves over time.
As many parents raising their kids in the faith try to do, I was very sheltered. So many things were deemed as being ‘Bad.’ From Jell-O to a Christmas tree (yes that sounds silly but these are things that cause controversy in the messianic community). While these seem small, they can quickly turn into an argument over if its ‘Right or wrong’ to have in your life or even be around.
I have witnessed, and even been a part of every discussion possible about paganism, how it affects our lives. I have been apart of intimate discussions that go for hours on end about the evils in the world, and especially how —bad nonscriptural holidays are. It is no secret that those who were raised similar to my upbringing have and are leaving the synagog, once they are old enough to choose if they are going to keep the life that their parents made them have. I personally think, its because we were all raised strict, and sometimes hostile environments that we need space and time to breath a little bit. We got judged by our peers and sometimes even in trouble for wanting to taste a Pepperoni Pizza. And while there can be tremendous joy-filled in the temple, it is difficult, especially as a young child to live a life that is extremely different then what the world teaches us to be. We got pulled out of class for Christmas parties, learned how to politely decline when we were offered food that wasn’t Kosher (or accept and feel guilty afterward), and if we were raised around Christians we constantly had to explain our beliefs to our friends who tried to constantly convert us. Again, I am by no means stating that I would change anything about my upbringing, I am simply stating that it can be difficult to grow up in the movement.
As someone who has been in the Messianic movement for most of their life, I urge other parents to do the following:
Trust. Trust that your children will walk in truth.
Trust that your children will know when to leave a Halloween party if they need too (or any party for that matter)
Trust the work you have done as a parent whether your child is 6 years old or 16 years old.
Teach them about the ‘evils’ of the world but at some point allow them to decide how they are going to handle them because if you look deep enough there are pagan roots in pretty much everything. And as much as every parent would like too, you cannot shield your Child from the impurity of the world. And eventually, they are going to decide for themselves if they are going to make your faith their own or not.
I am not an expert in human or relations or even my parent. These are just my thoughts on this subject. Feel free to reach out.
-Leah
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