WHAT IS HORRIFYING?

It used to be just one night when children would dress up and go from house to house to collect candy, and their families and neighbors would laugh and enjoy their homemade costumes. But sadly, today parents worry about their children’s safety in their own neighborhoods and what might be in the treats dropped into their bags. So instead, they host parties at home or in public buildings or churches, where children stay inside a safe building and treats can be controlled for safety.

The history of Halloween is not widely known today, so let me share a brief overview from History.com. “Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago, mostly in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.”

Halloween is big business now and one of the most decorated and celebrated holidays of the year. Homes and yards are decorated with expensive and mechanical demons and monsters keen to win your attention. As this celebration grows in participation among teens and adults, its original purpose is ultimately hidden. No one discusses the celebration’s evil, dark side, or connections to death. As society grows less sensitive to evil, we find the truly horrifying results written across our daily news media. “Mother strangles three young children.” You would think the attention would first focus on the three young children and their grieving Father. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. Instead, attention canters on the mother and how her deeds can be hidden from our sight. There must be a way for her to escape responsibility; after all, that is the goal of the new hidden evil: to remain undiscovered, unannounced, no justice. This most horrifying event must not reach the jurors’ eyes, because then they will have responsibility. The horrifying reality is that the four true victims are bearing the responsibility; it is their eyes that see the mother and wife they trusted for life bring death. All that was suffered by these three children, and their father, now must be hidden so we can go on with our non-responsibility for hidden evil. YAHWEH has many major attributes, and one of them is justice; in reality, we will not be able to hide and play the ignorance game of no responsibility. The eyes of children and all their horrifying pain now stand before YAHWEH, who will wipe away their tears, and then HE will take full responsibility to bring justice.