Talk About Your Trick-or-Treat!!

This video is from a Division III game. The teams are Trinty vs. Millsap. The play is ridiculous!

The Christian & Halloween

Halloween has become one of the most popular “holidays” on the calendar. It is second only to Christmas in commercial value, and it has become one of the premier party dates of the year. it’s easy to understand why. Dressing up in costumes can be fun, and who doesn’t like going from house to house and getting free candy?!

As I child I had great fun watching The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (the one with Jeff Goldblum), dressing up as a cowboy, and walking with my parents up and down my street – Dutch Hollow – getting candy from all my neighbors. I don’t ever remember being scared. We never celebrated the occult. It all seemed so innocent.

I still believe, however, that this question must be asked and answered: Should Christians be involved with a “holiday” that celebrates death, witches, ghouls, and other aspects of the occult?

As with anything, Christians – especially Christian parents – should exercise discernment. I do not think it is necessary to retreat from Halloween. I do not believe that parents are failing to lead their families if they allow their kids to go trick-or-treating. I do believe, however, that parents should not celebrate the occultic roots of this day. Therefore, costumes of evil characters are not a good idea. Why would a Christian want to dress himself as an agent of the Adversary? Why would a Christian want to celebrate death?

Dr. R. Albert Mohler, President of Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY makes this comment:

Christian parents should make careful decisions based on a biblically informed Christian conscience. Some Halloween practices are clearly out of bounds, others may be strategically transformed, but this takes hard work and may meet with mixed success. The coming of Halloween is a good time for Christians to remember that evil spirits are real and that the Devil will seize every opportunity to trumpet his own celebrity.

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther began the Reformation with a declaration that the church must be recalled to the authority of God’s Word and the purity of biblical doctrine. With this in mind, the best Christian response to Halloween, might be to scorn the Devil and then pray for the Reformation of Christ’s church on earth. Let’s put the dark side on the defensive.

John MacArthur has also written a fantastic article on this subject. I highly recommend that you read Christians and Halloween. It will be time well spent. The article is so good because it provides the history of Halloween, and a suggested Christian response; which I have excerpted here.

First, Christians should not respond to Halloween like superstitious pagans. Pagans are superstitious; Christians are enlightened by the truth of God’s Word. Evil spirits are no more active and sinister on Halloween than they are on any other day of the year

Second, Christians should respond to Halloween with cautionary wisdom. The real threat on Halloween is from the social problems that attend sinful behavior- drunk driving, pranksters and vandals, and unsupervised children.

Third, Christians should respond to Halloween with gospel compassion. The unbelieving, Christ-rejecting world lives in perpetual fear of death. Witches, ghosts, and evil spirits are not terrifying; God’s wrath unleashed on the unforgiven sinner–now that is truly terrifying.

As with all things, a Christian’s life is to bring glory to God. Think about how you can make God look good as you make decisions, not only regarding Halloween, but every aspect of your life.

I Like Mike

As you can tell by my newest sidebar widget – I like Mike Huckabee for President. I did not lightly come to this decision. In the near future I will post the reasoning behind my decision. Until then you may read these past posts which focused on Huckabee. Click here and here.

I’d also encourage you to read the following posts (being sure to read the linked articles) from my good friends at Doses of Reality:

• Post #1
• Post #2
• Post #3

I would also encourage you to read this post by Christian bloggers Justin Taylor, Joe Carter, and Matthew Anderson.

Starting to Hate Boston

The only dynasties that I can stomach are the dynasties of my teams. IU in the 70s. The Big Red Machine; also in the 70s. (And now I am out of examples.) I loathe other dynasties. In MLB I want to see the Yankees lose every game. In NCAA b-ball I love to see UK and Duke defeated. I voraciously cheered the Appalachian State upset of the Wolverines in the Nut House…er…I mean Big House. I always enjoy it when a Florida team posts an “L”. USC’s three losses are fantastic!

As inconceivable as it may at first seem, Boston’s sports teams – at least the Sox and the Pats – have been added to the above list.

It wasn’t always this way.

I remember feeling sorry for the Patriots when the Bears humbled them before the word in 1985. It was bad enough that they were forced to play in those ugly red and white uniforms with the ridiculous logo of a minuteman snapping a football. I remember thinking: “This is the best the AFC can produce?”

When the team hired the Tuna and changed its logo, I was genuinely happy for them. I was ambivalent in 1996 when they lost to the Packers in the Super Bowl. I was sincerely happy for the team’s first ever Super Bowl victory in 2001. I gave them no chance against the “greatest show on turf”. I was happy to see the AFC win, and I enjoyed a great Super Bowl game.

Now I just want to see them lose. I’m sick of the Patriots. I’m tired of Brady. Belichick and his ugly, chopped up hoodie just make me tired all over.

Now the Red Sox may officially be labeled as a dynasty. I must tip my hat to them, however. After 86 years of near misses, balls between the legs, etc. this franchise which seemed destined to never finish higher than second has accomplished an amazing feat. Twice the Sox have recovered from a 3-1 deficit in the ALCS. In both cases, 2004 and this year, the Sox went on to sweep the Series. In 2004 I thought it was a great story.

Not so much this year.

I’m starting to hate Boston. (I’m afraid that this time next week I’ll really hate Boston.)

This Might Help

Indiana is definitely a basketball state, but we play other sports too. I enjoy football, even though I never played for my high school squad. I wish I had played, but that is a post for another day. My old high school, the South Dearborn Knights, are in the news this morning. They are scheduled to play Shelbyville in the sectional semifinals this evening. Shelbyville is 10-0 and ranked 7th in the state in their division. South Dearborn is…well, South Dearborn is not. But there is hope for the Knights of South Dearborn. Read this report from today’s Indianapolis Star:

SHELBYVILLE, Ind. — Several members of Shelbyville’s football team have been diagnosed with an antibiotic-resistant staph infection.

David Adams, superintendent of Shelbyville Central Schools, said the district sent e-mails Tuesday and mailed letters Wednesday to inform parents and guardians about the situation and provide information on the infection. Schools were dismissed early Wednesday for parent-teacher conferences and were closed Thursday and today for fall break. Shelbyville (10-0), ranked No. 7 in Class 4A by The Associated Press, plays at South Dearborn tonight in a sectional tournament semifinal.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, does not respond to penicillin and related antibiotics but can be treated with other drugs. The infection can be spread by skin-to-skin contact or sharing an item used by an infected person. Kim Owens, administrative assistant for the school corporation, said the infected Shelbyville students are receiving treatment.

More than a dozen other cases of MRSA have been reported in schools around the state, including at least five in the Indianapolis Public Schools district.

I sure feel bad for the Shelbyville kids.

But…

GO SD!!!!!

UPDATE

My beloved South Dearborn Knights were defeated by the staph infected Shelbyville Golden Bears 41-13.

I’m Not Kidding!

Stephen A. Colbert has declared in recent weeks his candidacy for President of the United State. Evidently, he is the choice of 2% of Democrats; that is the statistic according to this New York Post report.

The faux anchorman/presidential candidate is creating publicity for his newly released book I Am America (And You can Too), but his comedy act may hit a snag with the federal government.

I love comedy, but I do not appreciate Colbert’s farcical run. I do think it’s hilarious (in a scary kind of way) that 2% of Democrats are in favor of a Colbert candidacy. Of course, I’m sure they would just state they know how to take a joke and play along with one. Now that I think about it, most of this election’s candidates – GOP and Dem – are jokes!

No Cussing Allowed Association

The NCAA has instituted a “no-cursing rule” for basketball coaches, and they swear that the rule will be strictly enforced. Follow this link to read the Indy Star article. According to the new policy coaches will no longer receive warnings for offensive language. They will be slapped with a tech for the first foul phrase or word. Cuss again and that will earn the coach a second technical which means an automatic ejection.

I’d love to be sitting behind the Texas Tech bench this year.

Get Off the Phone!

Kelvin Sampson, head coach of my beloved Indiana Hoosiers, is in trouble. Again. IU hired this man with full knowledge that he had violated NCAA regulations on phone calls to recruits while coaching Oklahoma. After being disciplined by the NCAA Coach Sampson has not learned his lesson.

Today’s IndyStar.com reports that IU coaches made more than 100 potentially impermissible phone calls to recruits, not just the 35 that school officials initially disclosed. Sampson was on probation, and he clearly violated the terms of his probation. IU has levied a stiff in-house penalty on Coach Verizon, but the program will surely receive additional discipline from the NCAA, and until the NCAA acts, “Phonegate II” will follow the team around like a dark cloud.

On the cusp of what could be the greatest IU basketball season since 2002, when IU defeated Sampson’s Oklahoma in the Final Four, Sampson and his coaching staff off shot the program in the foot.

It also does not help Coach Sampson’s image that he is recruiting alleged drug dealers from Kentucky.

Should Sampson be let go? IU legend (and Bob Knight apologist) Kent Benson seems to be in favor of Sampson’s release. Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz believes that the university (his alma mater) has a moral obligation to fire Sampson, and then send AD Rick Greenspan out the door as well.

I just wish that someone would take his phone away.

Urine Trouble

Baylor University is the largest Baptist university in the world! As such, one would expect the University to be a bastion of Baptist decorum. A place where Christian ideals and Baptist distinctives are upheld are modeled for the world to see and glorify Christ.

One would be wrong.

Baylor has repeatedly been in the news for anything but the gospel of Jesus Christ. Four years ago was the basketball scandal, involving not just NCAA violations but the murder of one player by another.

A year before that Playboy came to Waco as part of their “Women of the Big 12″ issue. Some members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity posed clothed with some female students in bikinis at an off-campus sand volleyball court. One student posed separately for the magazine au natural and was suspended; no students were expelled according to the university’s website.

Then there is today’s news story from the Associated Press which has the following lead sentence:

Baylor athletic department officials said they are considering disciplinary action against an assistant football coach cited for urinating on the bar at a tavern.

Considering? What is there to consider? A man charged with leading and training young men, not only in playing football but in being men, is instead charged with a Class C misdemeanor for publicly whizzing on a bar.

What really bothers me is that the university which employs the uninhibited Eric Schnupp is the “world’s largest Baptist university”. The fact that Baylor is a “Baptist” university should connotate that it is a “Christian” university. Based on the three news stories listed in this post, however, could one differentiate between Baylor and any other Big 12 school? Should not coaches who belong to “the world’s largest Baptist university” handle adversity better than Coach Schnupp?

Baylor had been humbled 58-10 earlier in the day by that traditional college football powerhouse Kansas. (If you are not college football savvy, the previous sentence is dripping with sarcasm.) Evidently the coach wanted to drown away his team’s dismal performance with “several shots of hard liquor, most bought for him by other people.”

How is this behavior any different from any other assistant coach in the Big 12, or any of the D-1 conferences for that matter? Why does Baylor insist on continually trumpeting that they are “the world’s largest Baptist university”?

So what?!

As a Christian, and as one who holds to Baptist convictions and distinctives, I wish Baylor would find a new tagline. Maybe they could say, “Baylor: We’re just like everyone else!”

Inconvenient Truth