Eye of newt, wing of bat, toad tongue and lizard nose... Everyone knows these are the ingredients of a spooky witches' spell (or the dinning hall menu for next Tuesday). And what Halloween would be complete without one? Ah Halloween, the time when everything gets a little scarier, and your dentist gets a little richer.
Childhood memories of Halloween
When I was a kid I couldn't wait for Halloween night. It was always a big deal in my family. Mom made us great costumes (not the cheap ones from the store) and Dad dressed up as a monster to scare the little trick-or-treaters out of their minds. I always had fun running through the neighborhood from house to house and begging Mom to go just one more block. And then there was that certain house none of us would go to, even though we said each year we would. Fear would always get the better of us.
When we arrived back from our adventures, I would go to my room, dump the contents of my bag onto my bed, and evaluate the loot. If I was strategic in my rationing of my candy, I could keep a sugar buzz until Thanksgiving. As a kid, I loved Halloween. But it seems these days that things have changed. Now, it's not just one house on the block that concerns us, but every house. Hospitals offer free X-rays of your candy, some malls provide "safe" trick-or-treating, and the police are always on the lookout for trouble.
What happened to that innocent holiday I knew as a child? Or was it as innocent as I thought?
Halloween as a spiritual holiday
Maybe there has been a deeper side to Halloween all the time, and I just missed it. Maybe Halloween is more than just the candy, scary stories and costumes I thought it was as a child. Could there be a deeper side to Halloween? What is its origin? Why do we celebrate it? Is it just fun and games or is there a spiritual significance to the holiday? Well, with just a little study and observation, it's easy to see that Halloween is more than what it appears to be on the surface.
Halloween is a very spiritual holiday and through history has been one of great significance. From its very beginning as a Celtic celebration of the new year, Halloween has signified deep spiritual importance. The Celtics believed that on Halloween night supernatural creatures would roam the earth and the souls of the dead would be permitted to revisit their former homes. Large bond fires were lit to ward off these creatures, and guards would watch through the night to keep their villages safe. Pretty spooky stuff, huh?
The question that Halloween raises
Now I don't know how you feel about ghosts and goblins, but it's not hard to see, there is more to this holiday's origins than just the hockey masks and sugar highs. Spirits roaming the earth, and the dead returning to their homes really makes you think maybe there is more to Halloween, and something more to life... maybe something more after life.
"What lies on the other side of this life?" is a question just about everyone struggles with. It's one of those nagging fears that on occasion keeps us up at night, right up there with questions like: What's on the other side of a black hole? How were the pyramids made? And what happens to your other sock in the washing machine? It's obvious the originators of Halloween believed in something after this life, but what do you think?
It has been documented through multiple public polls that the majority of people believe in some sort of after-life. And, most of those people believe in the literal heaven or hell that the Bible speaks of. But how do we know if these things are real? Who's to say that they are not just as much a fantasy as ghosts, mythical creatures and the Browns winning the Super Bowl?
In search of the after-life
Well, if I were going to find out if the after life was real, I would consult an expert, someone with credibility, who knew what they were talking about. I would consult a person I could trust to tell the truth, maybe even someone who had been there and back.
This leaves us with a pretty short list of possibilities. There are some who might come close but I think the one who meets all these qualifications is the person, Jesus of Nazareth. No matter what you may think of Christianity, you will be hard-pressed to find anyone who wouldn't agree that Jesus was at least a good man, possibly the greatest person ever. And as far as knowledge and first hand experience goes, the Bible says that Jesus was dead and came back to life. So, I think that you could agree that Jesus has those qualifications covered as well.
So what did Jesus have to say about the after life? He definitely believed in one and spoke of it often. He even said that he would go to prepare a place in the after-life for those who had a personal relationship with him.
Jesus spoke of two possible destinations for us after we die. One - to be with him in heaven, experiencing joy and the presence of God. Or two - to be removed from God and thus be removed from everything that is good, forever. He also said that there was only one way to avoid being separated from God and that was by asking him to forgive the wrongs we have done and to help us live the life he created for us.
How can we come into this life of knowing God and experiencing good?
Related reading:
Paganism and witches: the search for truth and proof
Astrology and spirituality: searching through the stars
A journey through every avenue of New Age
Who is Jesus?
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