Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 170 ｜ Is It OK to Celebrate Halloween？｜ Guest： Lisa Simmons

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Friday. Hope everyone has had a great week so far.

00:00:05.560 It is October, which means that Halloween is just around the corner. So I am going to address

00:00:11.080 a topic that many of you have asked me to talk about, and that is should Christians celebrate

00:00:17.260 Halloween or how should we celebrate Halloween if we do? I am going to talk to a very special

00:00:23.120 guest, and that is my mother. I think that she did a really great job growing up of showing us how to

00:00:30.400 celebrate things in a godly way. So she's got some insight for us today. Okay, now I am going to talk

00:00:37.760 to my lovely mother about Halloween. So a lot of people have asked me to talk about how I was

00:00:46.480 raised. They've asked me a lot about my parents. They've asked me to interview my parents. And so

00:00:51.040 now I am giving you what you have asked for since your wish is always my command. So mother,

00:00:58.580 could you tell everyone a little bit about who you are, what you do, what you like to do,

00:01:06.040 and why you're here? Well, I'm Allie's mom mostly, and I have two other children and

00:01:13.760 four grandkids now. Yeah, two additions this summer, so it's kind of hard to keep count.

00:01:20.860 Yeah. I was a school teacher, you know, long time ago, and I've homeschooled. I've done,

00:01:28.000 you know, I've kind of stayed a teacher. I'm just kind of a teacher at heart. Yes. So yeah. Yeah. And

00:01:34.460 a lot of people have asked me, because I think I mentioned once on the podcast that one thing that

00:01:39.080 I'm so appreciative of, because my grandmother was also a teacher, my mom, like she said, is a teacher,

00:01:43.560 teacher. And both of them were at home a lot with me when I was little. And so they took a lot of time

00:01:49.580 to teach me things to teach me, especially how to read and how to write and how to memorize things.

00:01:55.960 And I've gotten questions about that when I've mentioned it on the podcast. So just before we

00:02:01.040 get into the Halloween conversation, which we are going to get into for the moms that are wondering,

00:02:05.120 okay, how do I make sure that my child is a good communicator? What are some things that you did

00:02:10.700 with us when we were little? Well, of course, the biggest thing is to talk to your kids and to read

00:02:17.600 to them. I mean, it's really that simple. Like even when they're infants or from the get go. I mean,

00:02:24.600 I read books to all of you when you were just tiny infants, there was no way you couldn't even hold

00:02:31.840 your head up. But I was reading books, mostly and little words, you know, and things especially that

00:02:40.080 rhyme, because it's very important. And people don't really understand this, that there's a rhythm

00:02:46.540 to reading. Yeah. And when you teach your kids to read, even mother goose and just little things that

00:02:54.520 rhyme, they pick it up easier. That's why songs, you know, kids songs are so popular. Yeah.

00:03:01.280 They learn that quicker. They learn that quicker. It's the reason why we sing the ABCs rather than

00:03:05.120 say the ABCs. Yeah. So if you read books that rhyme, they begin to pick up and, and that also makes

00:03:12.440 them a good reader because it's important as you're reading, not to just read like the, you know,

00:03:17.640 like a robot and they get more out of it when they're reading in an energetic way and a fun way.

00:03:24.520 Yeah. I think that does help. And you kind of had me memorize books and not just the alphabet,

00:03:30.460 but also the words that corresponded with the letters in the alphabet. And I do think, I mean,

00:03:36.440 I don't know that much about teaching your kids or I've never been a teacher either, but it seems

00:03:42.600 from my own distant memory that making those kinds of connections, especially like you said, with songs

00:03:48.760 helps you not just with, okay, memorizing things, but having some kind of comprehension and being able

00:03:56.020 to repeat it in a meaningful way. So I think that's, I think that's what you and dad and grandma all did

00:04:02.400 growing up. And then also I would say we had like a close relationship growing up. You also just had

00:04:08.760 conversations with me. Yes. I think. Yeah. And I, I think that's important that, um, I'm not against

00:04:15.700 baby talk. I mean, I talk baby talk to your daughter and my other grandkids and all that, but it's also

00:04:23.020 important to talk to them like a person and to have conversations on their level, of course, but, um, to

00:04:30.680 not be afraid to use big words, um, and, and then helping them to understand the context of how that

00:04:37.680 happens. And it's amazing how, uh, quickly, uh, you and, and other kids and, um, learn that way just

00:04:47.020 by having conversations. It's just so important to just talk. Yeah. Yeah. And I think sometimes we

00:04:53.380 think that, oh, well, kids don't understand. And so it's not, we don't really need to talk to them

00:04:57.740 about stuff, but I guess that really is how we learn. It is amazing just how quickly kids pick up. I mean,

00:05:03.720 obviously my daughter is only 13 weeks old, but you can tell already they start having some kind

00:05:10.300 of emotional or natural reaction to certain things that you say. It's just amazing to watch

00:05:14.900 their minds kind of develop. Okay. We're going to talk about Halloween. Thank you for dressing in

00:05:19.740 Halloween themed clothing. That's very important for this podcast. I always get very dressed up as you

00:05:25.380 can tell. Um, and this is a topic that I think is a little bit controversial. There are a lot of

00:05:32.400 different views on it. And I think that there are a lot of different biblically valid views on it

00:05:37.800 that can differ. That's not true with every single subject. Not everything is relative,

00:05:41.820 but with something like Halloween, there are a lot of different ways that people approach something

00:05:46.360 like this. But, um, from your perspective, and you can start wherever you want to from the,

00:05:52.020 you know, how Halloween started and all of that from your perspective, how can Christians think about 0.84

00:05:57.160 this in a way that is God honoring? Well, you know, there's a whole history of Halloween,

00:06:03.420 uh, beginning with the Celtics and, and starting, you know, back in the... It was like All Hallows Eve.

00:06:08.820 Yeah. And they, they were really celebrating the harvest and, but they didn't know who God was.

00:06:15.680 They weren't Christians, you know, at this point. It was when the Catholic church came in

00:06:21.000 and, and kind of mixed those two, that it, it began to take a little more, um, of a turn toward

00:06:28.800 what we know now as Halloween. And so I, there were, yes, a lot of satanic rituals that, uh, we would

00:06:38.840 associate with the original Halloween celebrations, but, um... And there probably still is some.

00:06:46.380 And there is. There are people that are definitely... With the occults and... The Wiccans and, and things 0.99

00:06:51.740 like that. Yes. They take this opportunity to, um, just... Celebrate Satan. To celebrate evil. Yeah.

00:06:58.980 Yeah. And, um, and that's very true. Um, I grew up, you know, the traditional trick-or-treating,

00:07:06.380 dressing up in every kind of costume that there, uh, that there was. And so I didn't really think

00:07:12.880 about it when I was growing up and no one ever said to me, oh, you shouldn't do that. And we were

00:07:17.840 church-going, you know, Christians. Um, so, uh, that wasn't an issue. It was only when I had

00:07:25.900 children and that it started the, I heard just, just sort of this rumbling among moms. Ooh, should

00:07:33.180 we really be dressing up and celebrating Satan? So you hadn't really thought about it. I had not

00:07:36.880 thought about it. Yeah. And, um, so I took the, the tactic. Okay. Well, maybe we just won't dress

00:07:44.100 in evil costumes. Yeah. And that's what I remember. Yeah. That we'll just dress in fun costumes. I mean,

00:07:50.420 my favorite costume for you was Lamb Chop. Oh yes. That's another thing. She's very creative

00:07:56.300 and crafty. She made my Lamb Chop costume. Now there are people listening to this podcast that are too

00:08:01.620 young to know who Lamb Chop is, which makes me feel very old. Yes. Lamb Chop was a little puppet

00:08:08.380 that she loved and she, um, just loved it. So she was probably about two years old and I got a white,

00:08:16.820 um, sweatsuit and glue. I mean, literally this is how creative I am. I glued or felt red buttons on it

00:08:24.860 and got a little hat and put eyelashes on it. And that was, that is pretty. If I can find the picture,

00:08:30.800 the picture somewhere in your house, maybe I'll post it on Instagram. Yeah. And anyway,

00:08:35.160 that was my favorite, my favorite one. So, so not scary stuff. Tried to do not scary stuff. I do now

00:08:41.600 looking back, I saw some pictures, like I think Justin was a vampire one year. Oh yeah. So would

00:08:46.800 you do that? Would you now knowing what you know, would you still allow your kids to dress as a vampire

00:08:55.300 or witch or something? I would not, you know, I just don't see any point in, uh, sort of glorifying

00:09:02.600 evil or evil or scary, you know? Yeah. Why do that? I mean, there's just no point. It's fun to dress up.

00:09:10.400 Kids don't know the difference. If they're dressing up as the ballerina or a doctor, they think it's fun.

00:09:16.160 So why don't just do something fun? Um, so for years I really, I decorated for fall. I didn't do

00:09:24.440 really the Halloween, you know, black cats and witches and that kind of stuff. And, and it was

00:09:30.140 really when you were little, probably when you were five or six years old and, um, Allie was always my,

00:09:36.740 uh, let's have a party person. So everybody else's houses were decorated with the traditional Halloween

00:09:44.120 and, um, Oh, I think you let me put spiderwebs up. You, you said, mom, can't we just have a black cat?

00:09:51.560 And I was trying to explain to you why we didn't do that. Yeah. She never decorated for Halloween. 0.95

00:09:57.340 I think grandma finally bought you like a little statue with a little witch and a black cat and I'll 1.00

00:10:02.560 let you have it. So anyway, it was, um, you know, I just, it was always torn because I didn't want to be,

00:10:09.020 you know, that, uh, yeah, a fuddy-duddy. Yeah. Just a stick in the mud about it. But I just didn't

00:10:16.080 want to glorify something that shouldn't be glorified. So probably when you were about 13,

00:10:22.080 um, I was sitting in church one Sunday and, uh, the pastor started preaching from Ezekiel

00:10:30.080 and the verse he said was, Oh, dry bones, hear ye the word of the Lord. Now I'm sure I'd heard that

00:10:37.440 verse hundreds of times before never hit me. But that Sunday, it was like this huge light bulb went

00:10:43.420 off. Like I could use that for Halloween. Yeah. And so I went home, literally went to the home

00:10:50.900 improvement store, got some, uh, cloth, like drop cloths that you use for paint and came home and,

00:10:59.120 uh, drew that on this drop cloth, decorated it in fun Halloween colors and, um, put some

00:11:07.180 skeletons, you know, out beside it. And that was my Halloween thing. And then I was like,

00:11:12.700 I got so excited. I went and made another one with jack-o'-lanterns and, you know, said like,

00:11:18.180 let your light shine. Yeah. Let your light so shine. And so I put, those were my only two that year.

00:11:24.800 And in that, at that time, the neighborhood we lived in, we would have at least 300 trick-or-treaters.

00:11:32.320 Yeah. It was like constant. It was constant. I, every year I would run out of candy. I would think

00:11:38.680 I have enough and I never had enough. And, um, so, and the reason I knew that there were about 300

00:11:45.400 is because I made up about 300 of these little tracks just on construction paper, um, about a

00:11:53.480 pumpkin and how we are like a pumpkin, how God comes in and scoops out the yucky stuff and puts a light

00:12:00.740 inside of us, you know, very simple. Yeah. And, um, I would put those in with the candy. So I made up

00:12:08.400 the first year, I made up 300 of those thinking, you know, I'll have enough for two or three years.

00:12:13.960 No, I ran out. So I know that you type up those little cards. I did. I typed them up and printed

00:12:20.960 them on orange and, uh, like share the gospel in a kid friendly way. And it was, it was a tiny

00:12:27.580 little thing. And I put a couple of scriptures on it. I only had one child, um, give it back to me.

00:12:34.100 And that was because she was not, um, of the Christian faith. So, and I thought it was very 1.00

00:12:39.500 polite of her and, um, you know, she wasn't rude about it. She just, you know, said, thank you very

00:12:45.320 much. And she handed it back. So, um, mostly the parents loved it. They did. So what were some of the

00:12:53.160 responses that you got? Um, the parents would come to me, you know, when they're kids, they

00:12:58.420 would go, I love your signs. Because then of course, each year I would add a different

00:13:02.360 kind of sign. So this, so you had just so everyone can get a picture out front in front

00:13:07.040 of your house, you had the sign like, Oh, dry bones. Here are you the word of the Lord

00:13:11.020 with the skeletons on it that you made. And then you would also have the like, let your light

00:13:15.640 so shine with the pumpkins on it. And so you would take Bible verses, um, and not, not,

00:13:21.100 you're not changing them. They're, you're just kind of decorating. You're attaching it

00:13:26.280 to a traditional, a traditional Halloween, um, uh, decoration. And then, but putting a

00:13:34.780 Christian message with it. And I started calling it Holyween. Now I realized that hallow means

00:13:41.860 holy. Yeah. So people don't really think about that anymore. Yeah. We don't really use the

00:13:46.600 word hallow, uh, that much. So I, it sounds now I think of it as scary. Yes. Yes. And, uh,

00:13:55.080 so holy to me just said the, what I wanted people to see. Um, so I, I painted a banner that

00:14:03.080 of Jesus and you know, the, the traditional Jesus and the children coming to him picture

00:14:08.620 that we see, well, I painted the kids coming in, in, um, costume. And, uh, so let the children

00:14:16.240 come to me. And, you know, that was one of the banners. Then I did a Charlie Brown one,

00:14:21.540 you know, um, about, uh, walk as children of light. And I did that one. So it, it was becoming,

00:14:29.000 people were starting to want one of these banners. And I was like, I can't paint everybody

00:14:35.740 a banner, you know, and I was trying to get them to, you go paint it. You know, you, I'm

00:14:40.160 not an artist at all. And you can tell from some of the banners, they're really bad. You

00:14:44.600 were just doing this for fun at your own house. You weren't like, Oh, these are professional

00:14:48.800 and making a business out of it. Not at all. But, but parents would come to me, where did

00:14:53.560 you get your signs? Or can you make me a sign? They just like the idea so much. They probably

00:14:57.340 didn't care that it wasn't perfect. And literally when, uh, and I started to do it for other

00:15:02.340 holidays as well. And, uh, when we moved somebody who I did not know walked up to my door, rang

00:15:09.780 the doorbell and said, are the new owners going to do the banners? So I felt so bad. Um, but

00:15:18.060 anyway, I did find an online company that, um, I can create vinyl banners. I've sold a few

00:15:26.160 of those. I'm not trying to go into the vinyl banner business. Yeah. You can go on the same

00:15:30.980 website and, and make your own. Yeah. They have some, you know, just really stock vinyl

00:15:37.420 banners that you can add your own pictures to in your own words. It's very simple. So,

00:15:42.980 um, I encourage people to do that. And I've also done t-shirts and the little. Oh yes.

00:15:49.220 This is a little onesie that she gave, that she gave me. It's cute. Let your light so shine

00:15:54.980 Matthew 5 16. It's super cute. Yeah. There are all kinds of ways. I think that you can

00:15:59.640 redeem things like this. Although I do understand it's kind of like I was talking, someone asked

00:16:05.080 me a couple of weeks ago about Christians and alcohol. And obviously you don't drink.

00:16:09.820 There are a lot of Christians that don't drink. And I've always said that is a totally viable, 0.79

00:16:14.140 valid option. And maybe that's the best in the wisest option, but it is, there is a way to

00:16:19.620 responsibly drink as a Christian. The Bible warns against, uh, drunkenness and, um, filling yourself 0.99

00:16:26.520 with wine for that is debauchery as Ephesians says, but there is a way to responsibly drink as

00:16:31.720 long as you are keeping those things in mind, as well as keeping in mind the faith and the struggles

00:16:36.720 of the people around you. And I think it can be similarly said of Halloween that if someone feels

00:16:42.320 like they can't celebrate Halloween at all, that it's strictly pagan, it's strictly satanic.

00:16:47.480 There is no part for a Christian to play in it. I think that's okay. And I know I mentioned earlier, 1.00

00:16:53.920 oh, you don't want to be a fuddy-duddy. I don't want to imply that people who don't celebrate

00:16:58.220 Halloween are that way. There are valid reasons, but I also think it can be valid to redeem it as

00:17:05.640 much as you can and use it to share the gospel. And I think you don't have to decorate. You can do

00:17:09.940 like, I still just decorate with really fall things and now my banners. Um, but, um, I think you could

00:17:17.060 just have a cookout at your house. Um, our church does a thing called light the night and they just

00:17:24.460 encourage people. We don't have a fall festival anymore. We used to have this gigantic fall

00:17:28.940 festival. Um, and now they just encourage people to stay home and have a cookout in your front yard

00:17:35.500 or your backyard or invite your neighbors and just do fun stuff like that to encourage people,

00:17:41.060 um, to one, get to know each other. We don't really know our neighbors anymore. And, um, just to,

00:17:48.840 if you can share the gospel. And I just think what other night or day of the year do people come knock

00:17:57.300 on your door? Are you having strangers? Yeah. And you open the door without, uh, you know, hesitancy.

00:18:03.400 Yeah. And then, and, and they're asking for something and you can give them what you want

00:18:09.760 and they'll take it. Yeah. Now you don't necessarily know what they do with it, but

00:18:14.460 after that, you don't know. But from my experience, people came back year after year. I love your house.

00:18:23.860 Not, not my house, but what we did with our house. Coming to your house. I love that you do this. Um,

00:18:30.740 and I would always say, go do it. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's fun. I love thinking of, you know,

00:18:37.940 scripture in a different way and how can I share this in a way that's not, um, uh, scary or like

00:18:45.120 I'm coming at you with a, you know, giant Bible or something. And I, like I said, I've, I've really

00:18:51.260 never had anybody. I've had more people say, I love this. I love what you're doing than, uh,

00:18:57.560 any kind of negative. Well, they don't have to take it. They can throw it away when they get

00:19:01.660 home. I'm not following up with them the next day. Um, did you read that, that I put in your

00:19:06.340 trick or treat bag? Yeah. I think that, that you make a really good point. A lot of people think

00:19:11.100 of Christians as going door to door and knocking on their door and saying, do you know Jesus? Not that 0.97

00:19:15.920 there's necessarily anything wrong with that, but now the roles are reversed. People are coming up to you,

00:19:20.840 knocking on your door and saying, what do you have for me? And there's no reason for a Christian. 1.00

00:19:24.520 Yes. You can give candy too, but there's no reason. Yeah. There's no reason whatsoever for

00:19:28.740 a Christian not to give something that's actually going to give sustenance forever. Yes. Eternal, 1.00

00:19:34.680 eternal sustenance. And I think so many times Christians, we're just afraid. We're afraid that

00:19:40.360 we're going to offend someone. We, we just want people to think that we're nice. We want people to

00:19:45.480 know that we're not the bigoted kind of Christian. Like we're not the mean kind of Christian.

00:19:48.600 And so unfortunately, a lot of people use that as an excuse to not talk about Christianity.

00:19:55.360 To just blend it. Yes. To just blend it and to not share the gospel. I'm just going to share candy.

00:19:59.560 And maybe if I'm really nice to them, they'll see the love of Jesus in me. But I think more times

00:20:05.660 than not, and especially from what you said, from your experience, people like not only the kindness,

00:20:12.040 but they're looking for truth. And maybe they're looking for light in a night that they feel like

00:20:16.520 it's dark. Don't you think as a young mom, when you were conflicted about whether this is good or bad,

00:20:21.560 if someone had reached out to you and shown you some sign of redemption in Halloween, you would have

00:20:26.320 felt, I don't know, comforted by that? Oh yeah, absolutely. I, I, you know, I was trying to figure

00:20:32.140 it out on my own. Of course, there was no internet to, to go look at or look up, uh, answers or, uh, in a

00:20:38.520 chat room or any of that, you know, there was nothing. So you just kind of, uh, did what other

00:20:44.040 people did and, um, tried to figure it out. And this, you know, I've, I'm sad that it came so late

00:20:50.860 and you didn't get to really experience it since you were already a teenager.

00:20:54.560 Mom, if you want to whip out the lamb chop costume, I'll try to see if I can wear it again this year. 0.98

00:21:00.820 I'll go trick or treating just for you.

00:21:02.840 Save it for baby girl. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I do think it's important though, for Christians

00:21:08.820 to stay away from the glorification of evil and the satanic and things like that, and to stay

00:21:17.940 on the light and right side of it as much as they possibly can. Because I, I quote Ephesians all the

00:21:24.300 time, but I was thinking about a verse the other day that convicted me that it was talking about the

00:21:30.040 fruits of darkness and the people of darkness. And it says, God through Paul says, it's shameful to

00:21:35.640 even speak of the things that they do in secret. But the fruit of light is everything that is good

00:21:40.920 and right and true. Walk as children of light, which is one of the verses that you have used.

00:21:46.240 And that's so convicting to me. How often do we just kind of like toe the line in the evil works

00:21:51.840 of darkness? Like we talk about it. We might even be fascinated by it. We might play with it a little

00:21:57.440 bit on something like Halloween, but I don't think Halloween is an excuse for Christians to all of 0.87

00:22:03.200 a sudden be like, ah, the darkness and evil is okay. Yeah. Yeah. No, I agree. And, um, I think it's

00:22:09.820 just some of the verses that I've used of the years I've mentioned, um, the Ezekiel one, which is

00:22:17.600 Ezekiel 37, four, Oh, dry bones, hear you the word of the Lord. Um, Psalm 139, 14, I am fearfully

00:22:25.440 and wonderfully made. And the banner that I did with that was just one of children dressed in

00:22:30.940 Halloween costumes, you know, great message. And it's just, you know, it's still, uh, has a

00:22:37.400 Halloween theme, but I'm getting a message out there through that verse. Um, the one you mentioned,

00:22:43.060 Matthew 5, 16, let your light so shine. Um, Ephesians 5, 8, walk as children of light. Um,

00:22:49.420 this one was a little out there and this is for verses that you can use for banners or just to

00:22:56.500 think about. Yeah. And, um, I just found it, you know, really easy to, to, to attach a verse with

00:23:05.680 that. Um, this one was a little bit out there. Um, I had just read Mark Batterson's, um, I think it

00:23:11.840 was grave robber, um, book at the time. So I thought, Oh, grave robber, how can I do that? And so

00:23:19.160 I came with, uh, first Corinthians 15 55, that death has no power over us, that there's no sting

00:23:27.180 in death. And so I found a traditional Halloween graveyard, uh, picture, put it on a banner and put

00:23:36.260 ultimate grave robber with that verse. So most people don't really get that one, but I still like

00:23:42.360 it. Oh, I like that. There's definitely something you can do with tomb and grave. Yes. Yeah. And you

00:23:48.400 know what, if nothing else, it gets people to go look for that verse. Yeah. Maybe, maybe they'll

00:23:54.100 go read it and go, Oh, I never thought about that. Well, if we believe that the word of God is

00:23:58.340 powerful and sufficient and certainly that the Holy spirit works as another thing that you could use

00:24:02.620 Holy ghost, Holy spirit. Um, and that's kind of, that's one that's sort of been around for a long

00:24:08.900 time. I'm sure people have seen no one lives here. No ghost lives here, but the Holy ghost or

00:24:13.120 something like that, you know, and that's been around for a long time. Um, and then the Matthew

00:24:18.820 19 14, let the children come to me and having, you know, a Jesus thing. I haven't really found a vinyl

00:24:24.580 banner option for that one yet. So still working on that one. Um, Genesis one 21, God created every

00:24:32.380 living creature. And that one I did spiders and cats and bats and, you know, which are all living

00:24:38.820 creatures that God made. And then just put that verse with it. And they also happen to be Halloween

00:24:44.840 items. That's cute. And then, uh, Romans 10 13, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be

00:24:51.720 saved. And I used an owl, uh, for the calling, you know, yeah, I know that's a little out there too.

00:25:00.420 She's very creative. So anyway, those are just some fun ones. And, um, every year I try to think of,

00:25:08.320 uh, a new way to use a verse. And, um, so anyway, uh, so for, for moms that maybe are where you were

00:25:17.420 and maybe where I'll be in a few years of, okay, they're not creative. They're not crafty. They can't

00:25:23.900 do this stuff. Or maybe they feel like they don't have time to do this stuff. What are some other ways

00:25:29.420 that moms can kind of feel like they are, uh, celebrating this in a glorifying way, or what are

00:25:36.740 some ways that they can talk to their own kids about it? Yeah. Um, well, I just think one, you

00:25:42.900 don't have to go, we don't do that. We do this. Like, we're like, we're better than some other

00:25:49.440 people who maybe celebrate in a different way because you don't want to ever one, make your kids

00:25:55.380 feel like they're better than everybody else. Um, but you also don't want to make them feel ostracized.

00:26:00.840 Like we are so different that, you know, we are not, you know, we're in the world, not of the world.

00:26:06.540 And we get all hung up in that. But, um, I think you can, you know, explain what fall is and how fun,

00:26:15.000 how God created, uh, the, the fall season. And we celebrate things in lots of different ways. We

00:26:22.140 have Thanksgiving in the fall and, and Halloween. And that's a day, you know, this is a day the Lord

00:26:28.280 has made, let us rejoice. And from Psalm 118. And so, um, don't, don't let it be, uh, a day that,

00:26:37.320 um, Satan has taken over. These are all days that God has made. And I think you emphasize that to your

00:26:45.960 kids and just, you know, you don't have to make a big deal about, we don't do this. We only do this.

00:26:53.260 Yeah. It's kind of, this is who we are as a family. This is what we believe. This is what our

00:26:58.260 heart is surrounding this. Now. I do think I could imagine that there could be some points

00:27:04.380 of clarification that might be needed for older kids, or it depends on what age they are for.

00:27:10.000 Okay. Can people really like rise from the dead? Do skeletons really rise from the dead? Are there

00:27:14.980 really witches? Are there really vampires? Um, and they might have questions about that. And I do think

00:27:21.020 it's important for one, for parents to know the answers to those things theologically, to know

00:27:27.560 what the Bible says about those things. You can even, if you want to get really in depth,

00:27:31.580 you can talk to your kids about the resurrection of the bodies that's going to happen. And the

00:27:35.560 difference between that and skeletons walking around today and zombies and all that kind of stuff.

00:27:39.820 I know at some point, maybe that can be easy for older kids to be able to compartmentalize. They

00:27:45.540 know witches aren't real and it's not a big deal to them, but it might also be important for parents

00:27:50.620 to have those conversations with kids that, okay, you might see some people celebrating this kind

00:27:55.700 of stuff, but here's what the Bible, here's what the Bible says about this. And you don't need to

00:27:59.840 be scared because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. You're going to see a bunch

00:28:03.700 of scary stuff tonight. You don't have anything to worry about because the God of the universe is

00:28:07.520 protecting you. I think that's also important because kids can, even if you celebrate it in the

00:28:12.860 right way, kids can get scared. They see stuff on TV. They have a friend or a cousin who told

00:28:17.580 them a scary story. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just like anything with your kids. You don't talk to your

00:28:24.180 two year old in the same way you would talk to your eight or 10 year old about any subject. So you do

00:28:33.100 the same thing with Halloween. You have fun with it in an appropriate way that you feel is right for

00:28:41.120 your family. You use as much biblical background as you can and, um, use it to share the gospel.

00:28:49.940 That's the most fun thing to me is that, um, I even got to where I was, um, I would sit on the front

00:28:56.080 porch and of course we're in Texas, so it's still like 80 degrees at Halloween. Um, and I would sit

00:29:02.500 on the front porch in a rocking chair and I had the skeletons hooked up to the rocking chair so that

00:29:07.720 when I rocked, they danced and I had, I had Mary Mary playing in the background, take the shackles

00:29:15.240 off my feet. So I could take, and you had your banner and everything in the banner. Yeah. I kind

00:29:21.660 of went maybe a little overboard, maybe kind of, but it was so fun. It just, it became probably

00:29:29.200 fun. Yeah. I mean, I love Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it was just so much fun because Thanksgiving

00:29:34.700 Christmas. And people aren't really expecting that for Halloween. They're not. And it, it just,

00:29:39.720 um, it just lit up my life where, you know, for, to do that. And to see people probably like

00:29:45.240 surprise reactions. They're just not used to things like that. Okay. Tell us about the Holy

00:29:51.380 Ween acrostic. So moms, dads can remember, okay, this is how Christians, this is a good way for 1.00

00:29:59.340 Christians to think of Halloween. Yeah. So I just kind of did H as the history of Halloween. If you 0.97

00:30:04.960 want to teach your kids kind of where Halloween started and go back to the Celtics and the Catholics, 1.00

00:30:10.140 it's, you know, pretty easy to look that up on Wikipedia. So H is history. History, but also

00:30:17.280 to change hallow to holy. And, you know, that's just, it's, I guess, semantics a little bit,

00:30:24.680 but holy is more understandable, I think to kids and to most people than hallow. Um, O is your opening

00:30:31.740 doors to strangers. You don't do that any other time of the year. Probably you're very careful.

00:30:37.620 You're looking through the peephole. You're, you know, not answering the door because you don't

00:30:41.540 know who it is, but on Halloween you open your door and, uh, and it's for L it's a good way to love

00:30:48.220 your neighbors. You know, if you're going to have a cookout and you're just trying to get to

00:30:52.760 know your neighbors, that's a great way to show love to them. The why is of course, young children,

00:30:59.260 um, teaching young children about the gospel, the, the younger they get exposed to that, the more

00:31:06.940 likely they are to believe that later on in life. Um, studies show that past the age of 13, it gets

00:31:15.020 harder and harder to share the gospel and for them to, uh, want to have that in their lives.

00:31:22.940 They've gotten a lot of other influences at that point. Exactly. And they're going to get a lot more,

00:31:27.360 um, through college. So, um, the W is, uh, the word of God and just using the word of God like that.

00:31:35.920 It's amazing. The word of God is alive and it, it, it touches people in ways that you had no idea

00:31:45.660 that, um, it was going to do that. And which reminds you, I love when that happens, when you

00:31:51.740 share a verse or you talk about a verse and someone gets something out of it that you didn't

00:31:56.380 even think of. It's just a reminder that it's really the Holy Spirit. We're just ambassadors,

00:32:01.260 messengers, we don't, you know, we proclaim truth and the Holy Spirit has it. And I think that that's

00:32:08.380 true. That's a, yeah. And so we try to get all fancy and, and, you know, share the gospel and we

00:32:13.860 do all these procedures that we go through and really it's sharing the word. Yeah. And, um, so

00:32:20.340 that's, that's W. Yeah. So E, um, um, everyone gets something for free and, you know, that's,

00:32:29.020 that's just an example of God's love and grace that his grace is free. Salvation is free. It's

00:32:36.740 to anybody who asks for it. Not cheap, but free because, and like candy, it costs you something.

00:32:42.480 Yes. It costs you something, but the person you gave it to, it costs nothing. And obviously we

00:32:46.540 know that salvation costs the cost of God's only son, Jesus, but for us, it was free. So that means

00:32:52.360 it's not cheap, but it's free. And, and they're, they're at your door knocking and you just open it

00:32:57.560 and give it to him. That's, I love that. Um, the other E is eternity. You may be affecting

00:33:04.140 someone's eternal destiny by sharing the gospel. This one time, you don't know that that five-year-old

00:33:11.840 that sees your heart during this time of year, you don't know what he's going home to, but he may

00:33:19.180 there, that little seed may have been planted. You just don't know. So why not do it? You know,

00:33:25.660 if there's a chance to the parents are, that's a huge, you know, children lead their parents to the

00:33:31.480 Lord a lot of times, because what if that child now ask his mom, well, who is Jesus? Or what is

00:33:38.960 that lady talking about? Um, you know, eternal life. What does that mean? And then it makes their

00:33:44.940 parents who may have gone to church when they were children. And then as adults, they stopped,

00:33:49.580 it may get them to thinking, Hmm, maybe we need to, you know, go back to church. Yeah. So, um,

00:33:57.580 and then N is, um, new, you know, you're starting something new in your neighborhood. Um, and I

00:34:05.280 mentioned before our church does like the night where somebody in the neighborhood has a cookout or

00:34:10.300 just a get together and, uh, you're being the bearer of good news. And that's so rare in our day. We hear

00:34:18.240 so much bad news and, um, you also fake news. We hear the term fake news all the time. And this

00:34:27.080 is the least fake news you'll ever hear. This is the truth. Yeah. This is probably the only truth

00:34:33.800 that matters. The ultimate truth and the source of all truth, the beginning and the end of all truth

00:34:38.780 too. That's right. And, um, so, you know, the Satan wants us to believe that it's, um, that God's word

00:34:46.660 is the fake news. You know, he's been saying this from the garden. He's been saying, did God really

00:34:53.920 say, you know, he'd got Eve to doubt. And so that's the fake news that we have. But God said,

00:35:01.440 God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes it's for everybody. And so

00:35:10.700 don't believe the lie, believe the truth. And, um, so I can, that is the new good news that we are

00:35:20.360 giving people. And also new in the sense that this could be a new tradition that you start for your

00:35:24.880 family. Like my mom was saying, like one of her goals is not, it wasn't to sell banners, but to get

00:35:32.240 other people to, um, use this as a mode of redemption and to share the gospel and to love your neighbor and

00:35:39.460 to be hospitable to those around you. This is such a rare opportunity that all of us have. Um, and

00:35:45.360 that's, that's me included. I don't think that I've thought about it necessarily in this way. I think

00:35:49.140 just now that I have a child, I'm starting to think about it. I haven't celebrated Halloween in a,

00:35:53.700 you know, a long time. Um, but now I am starting to think about that and she's right. What an

00:35:58.220 opportunity that we have. So this could be, this could be something that you start with your family.

00:36:02.160 You could find your own verses, your own pictures. Maybe you are an artist. Maybe you're not,

00:36:07.000 maybe you're like me and you're not an artist at all. Um, but there's, there's a way that you can

00:36:11.640 share this message of truth with those around you. Yep. Anything else you want to add?

00:36:17.120 No, I think I can, I'll share, you know, and you can share on your, um, different social media

00:36:23.460 outlets. Yeah, I'll show you how she does it and the banners that she's made before. Yeah. And the

00:36:27.580 pumpkin story, you know, you can share that and, um, yeah, just go out and have fun. Yeah. Okay.

00:36:33.820 Perfect. Thank you so much. Thank you guys for listening. I will see you back here on Monday.

00:36:38.520 I think on Monday, you can, you can tell me what you think about this. We will talk about a biblical

00:36:43.740 forgiveness. This is a question that a lot of you guys have asked me. There was a recent, uh, murder

00:36:49.220 case in Dallas surrounding this, uh, particular issue. And a lot of you guys have asked me to

00:36:53.920 address it. So I think that's what we're going to talk about on Monday and I will see you guys back

00:36:57.920 here then.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - October 04, 2019

Ep 170 ｜ Is It OK to Celebrate Halloween？｜ Guest： Lisa Simmons

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - October 04, 2019

Ep 170 ｜ Is It OK to Celebrate Halloween？ ｜ Guest： Lisa Simmons

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript

Ep 170 ｜ Is It OK to Celebrate Halloween？｜ Guest： Lisa Simmons