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Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand. Halloween

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Speaker 1: a big day to some and an annoyance to others,

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Speaker 1: the pagan ritual to some, a time of candy and

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Speaker 1: frivolity to others. So it pops up, you know, every

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Speaker 1: year round this this holiday known as Halloween. I receive emails, calls,

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Speaker 1: and tweets with everybody asking me about the origins of

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Speaker 1: the celebration. And then the secondary question is always and

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Speaker 1: is it okay for Christians to partake in it? And

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Speaker 1: I think, first of all, it's incredibly healthy to ask questions.

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Speaker 1: Scripture says to test all things, you should be poking

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Speaker 1: at things and wondering what your participation is, if it's

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Speaker 1: even something that's edifying to you at all. However, what

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Speaker 1: I want is that level of discernment that surpasses just

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Speaker 1: I don't know or I don't think so, and just

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Speaker 1: pushing things away for the sake of pushing them away.

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Speaker 1: The appearance of that is a group of sometimes even inconsistent, unwavering,

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Speaker 1: not even well articulated groups of Christians that just spurt

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Speaker 1: things out and say this is why this is what

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Speaker 1: we do, but not why we do it, and that

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Speaker 1: becomes confusing to non believers. Like many things that surrounds

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Speaker 1: your life in this world and your faith. When it

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Speaker 1: comes to Halloween, there's some controversy. But is this controversy

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Speaker 1: this particular days, particular celebration, Is it in fact necessary?

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Speaker 1: Are the roots of Halloween found in paganism? Yep, absolutely

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Speaker 1: no doubt about it. Does this automatically mean that Christian

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Speaker 1: that a Christian can't partake in any part of a

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Speaker 1: Halloween celebration? Of course not, and I know there will

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Speaker 1: continue to be disagreements. But what is based on fear

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Speaker 1: of an ignorance versus the reality? That's what's important, because

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Speaker 1: the more you do something just based on fear and ignorance,

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Speaker 1: the less substantive your faith looks like to others. And

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Speaker 1: you may feel, well, I don't care what it looks

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Speaker 1: like to them, and if so, you should be ashamed

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Speaker 1: of yourself. It's important for those around you that are

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Speaker 1: non believers to it for you, when they are around you,

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Speaker 1: to give them the best idea you can of what

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Speaker 1: you believe in, why you believe it, to give them

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Speaker 1: that hope or maybe understanding in a way that they'll

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Speaker 1: want to ask questions or investigate on their own. Most

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Speaker 1: historians believe Halloween originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Salin.

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Speaker 1: It's also pronounced Savin or sam Hayne, and it means

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Speaker 1: the end of summer. During this festival, people would like

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Speaker 1: these huge communal bonfires, and yeah, they wear costumes mostly

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Speaker 1: comprised of animal heads and furs, and they did this

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Speaker 1: to ward off roaming spirits and ghosts. That's kind of

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Speaker 1: the basic element of what Halloween was in one sense

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Speaker 1: or another. It's kind of the roots. In the eighth

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Speaker 1: century finally rolled around, Pope Gregory the third designated November

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Speaker 1: first as something called All Saints Day. This was this

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Speaker 1: was a time to honor saints and martyrs that had

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Speaker 1: passed on. You can't look at that as a bad thing.

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Speaker 1: Essentially honoring those in the Christian family that had done

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Speaker 1: good and were no longer on this earth. Well, as

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Speaker 1: often is the case, this particular, this new holiday incorporated

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Speaker 1: many of the traditions of the Sun Festival. So a

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Speaker 1: lot of the things kind of that were already being

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Speaker 1: used to sell break and sowen were now kind of

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Speaker 1: attached to this All Saints Day. You can kind of

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Speaker 1: think of it. This way, it's much easier to paint

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Speaker 1: an old building and put up a new sign than

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Speaker 1: it is to tear down the whole building and start

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Speaker 1: from scratch. Right, And this was nothing new. It had

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Speaker 1: been done many times before. For instance, many pagan customs

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Speaker 1: were combined with Christianity. When Constantine went through the big conversion,

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Speaker 1: his was a slow conversion, but when he latched onto it,

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Speaker 1: sometime around his forties, he converted the official pagan religion

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Speaker 1: of the Roman Empire to Christianity. This was between three

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Speaker 1: twenty and three thirty eighty eight. So little things came

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Speaker 1: in and found their way home to Christianity that had

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Speaker 1: a beginning in paganism. So back to All Saints Day.

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Speaker 1: The evening before All Saints' Day was known as All

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Speaker 1: Hollows Eve, and this, as you could figure out, later

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Speaker 1: became Halloween. But over the centuries, this day, this Halloween

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Speaker 1: has evolved and continues to evolve and continues to change.

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Speaker 1: And now it's moved into this secular and incredibly commercial,

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Speaker 1: I mean right behind Christmas commercial. Go out to a

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Speaker 1: market or something today and you'll see just how commercial

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Speaker 1: it is. And it continues to get larger and larger

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Speaker 1: each year, and this Halloween becomes massive, so over the centuries,

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Speaker 1: it continues to evolve. It becomes secular, incredibly commercial, and

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Speaker 1: really it's the celebration that is embraced by communities, many

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Speaker 1: communities as more of a child centric holiday because of

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Speaker 1: its activities like trick or treating or decorating your home

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Speaker 1: to look spooky. Really focuses on children and their desire

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Speaker 1: to be creative or play, make believe or dress up

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Speaker 1: or these types of things. And I know that this

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Speaker 1: becomes controversial because of its origin, and there's a battle

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Speaker 1: within the church as to what to do. Now, the

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Speaker 1: first and foremost thing that should be thought of is safety.

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Speaker 1: Always if you're if you don't feel safe in your

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Speaker 1: neighborhood or you don't feel safe at certain things, there's

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Speaker 1: all kinds of alternative things to do. Your community community

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Speaker 1: does other things that are more controlled. That's great, even

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Speaker 1: churches do. But just shying away from it because of

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Speaker 1: its origin doesn't necessarily point to balanced thinking in the church.

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Speaker 1: And it's not that your children should be running around

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Speaker 1: dressed as Mayhem and the devil and all these things.

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Speaker 1: There are middle grounds that you could do where you

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Speaker 1: can partake in certain aspects of it, and it can

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Speaker 1: be enjoyed, not abused anyway, because the truth of the

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Speaker 1: matter is, with healthy parental involvement, Halloween can be fun

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Speaker 1: and creative time for children, I assure you. And if

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Speaker 1: you're worried about their involvement, kids aren't parsing the multifaceted

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Speaker 1: theological underpinnings of the possibility of an antecedent pagan genesis.

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Speaker 1: I assure you. They just want to play dress up

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Speaker 1: and get free suites. That's it. Did you know you

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Speaker 1: were a pagan? And the reason why I wanted you

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Speaker 1: to think this way it always around This time starts

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Speaker 1: stirring up questions about, you know, the origins of Halloween

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Speaker 1: and should Christians participate? Are there things that Christians should

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Speaker 1: not participate in in life? Yeah? Sure there are. Now

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Speaker 1: Christian liberty is far and wide, and the individual Christian

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Speaker 1: has to use. You just have to use your discernment

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Speaker 1: to know what's going to be beneficial, what's good, what's

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Speaker 1: glorifying to God? All of those things should be thought about.

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Speaker 1: But to throw something out or to say that it

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Speaker 1: has no value, when if you dressed it slightly different,

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Speaker 1: it would be fine, that really you're dealing with the

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Speaker 1: origin of something that doesn't even exist anymore. So the

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Speaker 1: roots of Halloween, yes, are found in paganism, but that

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Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily mean because soo in was this, This Celtic

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Speaker 1: festival was celebrated at one point, and it morphed into

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Speaker 1: All Saints' Day, and all Saints Day morphed in h

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Speaker 1: to the day before being all Hollows Eve, and that

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Speaker 1: morphed into Halloween, and that over the centuries and centuries

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Speaker 1: and centuries, this once religious festival just became commercial and secular,

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Speaker 1: and at that point the activities can be fun or entertaining.

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Speaker 1: You as the parents, should control the things that your

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Speaker 1: kids are doing, or what they're they're how they're dressing,

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Speaker 1: or what things they're partaking in. But that's every day,

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Speaker 1: in every way and everything, so the kids aren't thinking

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Speaker 1: of it theologically, there are not Satanists running around everywhere,

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Speaker 1: because kids grew up participating in Halloween, and to understand

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Speaker 1: from a child's point of view that it's just dress up,

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Speaker 1: make believe, being out at night, you know, holding the

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Speaker 1: hand of your parents and walking around the neighborhood at night,

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Speaker 1: and the uniqueness of the experience and not all the

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Speaker 1: previous pagan rituals is important to being a balanced parent

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Speaker 1: and to understand and a balanced Christian and understand how

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Speaker 1: you interact with this world. You are in this world

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Speaker 1: for reason, and that reason really is to glorify God.

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Speaker 1: And you find ways to glorify God when you break

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Speaker 1: the leaves, or do the dishes, or do your job,

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Speaker 1: or when you celebrate. The problem the God of Christianity

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Speaker 1: has with Paganism or any other belief system for that matter,

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Speaker 1: is not with the general practices of the belief necessarily,

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Speaker 1: but the fact that they worship another God altogether. This

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Speaker 1: is the problem. This is where God says, I have

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Speaker 1: a problem. Exodus twenty three twenty verse three. You shall

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Speaker 1: have no other gods before me. This is where God's

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Speaker 1: concern is. There isn't a commandment about you should not

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Speaker 1: dress up in fun and make believe, or you shall

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Speaker 1: not receive sweets from the hand of a neighbor or

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Speaker 1: anything like that. Oh, I'm sure that somebody would like

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Speaker 1: to twist scripture to find something like that, but that's

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Speaker 1: not the case. It's really about having a community and

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Speaker 1: experiencing that community. And I'll get to your calls in

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Speaker 1: just a bit as I talk about the pagan roots

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Speaker 1: of Halloween. Make no mistake, this is not an apologetic

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Speaker 1: for Halloween or pagan activities. It's a defense of reason

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Speaker 1: and discernment and as a Christian using those tools to

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Speaker 1: find a balanced approach to the things that surround you

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Speaker 1: in this life. You are in this world. You are

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Speaker 1: in it by choice of God. And there is a

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Speaker 1: lot of Christians who run from everything because of origins.

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Speaker 1: And I'm going to show you why that might not

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Speaker 1: be as easy as you think. And every year I

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Speaker 1: get calls and tweets and emails about Halloween. And yes,

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Speaker 1: Halloween is rooted in paganism, but that doesn't automatically mean

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Speaker 1: that a Christian can't partake in it in some way

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Speaker 1: or some fashion. So this Celtic Festival of Sowen, later

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Speaker 1: through Pope Gregory the third, designated November first. It's All

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Speaker 1: Saints Day, so it's all around the same time. This

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Speaker 1: is to honor saints and martyrs, but a lot of

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Speaker 1: the traditions and ideas and certain of the practices from

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Speaker 1: the Sowen Festival made its way into that as well.

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Speaker 1: The evening before this became known as All Hallows Eve

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Speaker 1: that became Halloween. Now you've got this very commercial, secular

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Speaker 1: or non pagan religiously anyways event. And it's important to

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Speaker 1: just realize that God's problem with Paganism or other belief

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Speaker 1: systems is not necessarily their practices, but that they do

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Speaker 1: those practices while worshiping another God altogether. Exodus twenty verse three,

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Speaker 1: you shall have no other gods before me, Thus saith

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Speaker 1: the Lord. That is God's words. That's the concern. God

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Speaker 1: wants you to celebrate and glorify Him in everything you do.

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Speaker 1: And as to understand this a little better, just keep

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Speaker 1: in mind two thousand years ago pagan sacrificed animals, but

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Speaker 1: so did our Jewish brothers and sisters under God's command.

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Speaker 1: The same act with different intent was now a pleasing

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Speaker 1: aroma to God, as it says in Genesis eight twenty

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Speaker 1: and twenty one. And I'll read that. Then Noah built

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Speaker 1: an altar to the Lord, and taking some of the

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Speaker 1: clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.

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Speaker 1: The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart,

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Speaker 1: never again will I curse the ground because of humans,

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Speaker 1: Even though every inclination of the human heart is evil

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Speaker 1: from childhood, and never again will I destroy all living

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Speaker 1: creatures as I have done. So it's not just the

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Speaker 1: act itself, it is the intent. It is the purpose

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Speaker 1: of that act that matters to God. Sacrifice to idols

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Speaker 1: or a false God not good, sacrificed to the One, True,

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Speaker 1: Holy and Righteous God good, a pleasing a Roman. So

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Speaker 1: discarding something just because Pagans or any other faith did

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Speaker 1: it at one time or does it now, really isn't balanced,

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Speaker 1: and it isn't thoughtful. It's it's like that, you know,

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Speaker 1: vegetarianism is bad because Hitler adhered to a primarily vegetarian diet.

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Speaker 1: It just seems like a weird way to go about life,

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Speaker 1: rather than seeing things for what they are and using

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Speaker 1: them to glorify God. It's fallacious to think that because

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Speaker 1: something had origins here or origans over here, that it's

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Speaker 1: good or bad. Really, it's the application. You probably don't

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Speaker 1: even know how many things already in your life come

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Speaker 1: from pagan origins. Guess what. You can look down at

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Speaker 1: your left hand there, if you were wearing a wedding ring,

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Speaker 1: you're wearing something with origins in paganism and ancient magic,

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Speaker 1: and the concept of the circle as it's seen as

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Speaker 1: this endless and timeless thing that you can wear, and

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Speaker 1: it suggests a kind of repetitive or unbroken time and space.

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Speaker 1: And you can see it in many pagan uses, such

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Speaker 1: as Stonehenge and others that predate Christianity, and even in

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Speaker 1: Christianity itself, there are symbols and practices that come from

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Speaker 1: or were used by Pagans. The cross itself is a

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Speaker 1: pagan symbol and was even used very very early on

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Speaker 1: in the Christian Church. But you don't think of things

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Speaker 1: that way. You don't think that there is an overlap

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Speaker 1: where there's a mingling at all. But there is, I

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Speaker 1: assure you, in your everyday life and even in your faith.

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Speaker 1: In his eighteen seventy eight essay on the Development of

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Speaker 1: the Christian Doctrine, John Henry Newman, who was originally a

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Speaker 1: priest in the Church of England and later a cardinal

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Speaker 1: in the Roman Catholic Church, wrote these words the use

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Speaker 1: of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints and ornamented

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Speaker 1: on occasion with branches of trees, incense, lamps, candles. Holy

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Speaker 1: days and seasons use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields,

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Speaker 1: the ring, and marriage all of are all of pagan

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Speaker 1: origin and sanctified by their adoption into the Church. So

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Speaker 1: even the cross that adorns many churches has pagan origins. Also,

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Speaker 1: the beloved fish symbol used by many to identify themselves

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Speaker 1: as Christians, whether it's on your clothing or on your car.

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Speaker 1: It was used by pagan's generations before Christianity. The New

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Speaker 1: Age Movement, Hindus, Taoists, Buddhists, and others use this symbol

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Speaker 1: of the fish to express their own beliefs different beliefs

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Speaker 1: as well. The symbol for Virgo, the sixth astrological sign

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Speaker 1: in the zodiac, if you look, has a pagan fish

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Speaker 1: in it. Because of its the direction of the fish,

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Speaker 1: people don't always notice that. In the Dictionary of Symbols,

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Speaker 1: it states that Virgo is based on the hebreak letter

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Speaker 1: mem and the Phoenician symbol meaning fish. So as you

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Speaker 1: can see, you'll have to run very far to try

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Speaker 1: and distance yourself from anything that has pagan roots or

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Speaker 1: is associated with religions other than Christianity. And it's not

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Speaker 1: that it's not a noble cause to run away that

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Speaker 1: says resist the devil, and he shelfly. You don't need

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Speaker 1: to be running everywhere in fear. You have Christ in you,

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Speaker 1: and if I am for you, then we are the majority.

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Speaker 2: No ma'am.

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Speaker 1: Can be against you. So running away from these things

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Speaker 1: and not understanding them doesn't help anyone, and sometimes makes

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Speaker 1: them sexier to younger kids and more intriguing than it

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Speaker 1: would if you allowed them to be the simple, secular

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Speaker 1: thing that they are and put your own spin on

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Speaker 1: it however you might want to. But how much more

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Speaker 1: important is it that the things and customs in your

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Speaker 1: life are all dedicated to God rather than looking for

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Speaker 1: the devil under every stone. Celebrations like Halloween can seem

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Speaker 1: on the surface like a contradiction to Christianity. I get that,

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Speaker 1: but really it is more about how it's celebrated than

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Speaker 1: where it came from. That matters. And you see this

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Speaker 1: throughout the Church. There were many things that even our

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Speaker 1: Jewish brothers and sisters did, even the early Church did

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Speaker 1: that Pagans did, but they did it to the right God.

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Speaker 1: When churches shy away from Halloween and opt for you know,

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Speaker 1: instead of celebration of a harvest festival or something like

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Speaker 1: that it gives children more of a reason to be

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Speaker 1: curious about why everyone else is celebrating something they are not,

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Speaker 1: and maybe even seek out more about paganism than they

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Speaker 1: would otherwise, and not to mention celebrating the harvest in

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Speaker 1: any way, shape or form has pagan origins as well,

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Speaker 1: so you're sort of changing it.

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Speaker 2: But not.

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Speaker 1: Everything. Everything in life can be used for good or evil.

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Speaker 1: A knife can either kill in the hands of a

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Speaker 1: mugger or heal in the hands of a surgeon, and

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Speaker 1: you must remember that how you use it or partake

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Speaker 1: in something, and your intent is important. And I know

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Speaker 1: that you know it's easier to cut things out, and

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Speaker 1: if that's where you feel led to, then God bless you.

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Speaker 1: The important thing is to serve God and to serve

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Speaker 1: your family in a way that is healthy and glorifying

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Speaker 1: to God. And if you feel something in your life

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Speaker 1: is not healthy or good or glorifying to God, then

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Speaker 1: of course cut it out. But sometimes in removing these

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Speaker 1: things haphazardly without understanding where they truly come from, or

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Speaker 1: or the other things around you in your life that

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Speaker 1: comes similarly, you'll miss the bigger picture. And in doing so,

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Speaker 1: it's like those surgeries there where a doctor will tell

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Speaker 1: you there it's not a necessary surgery. I wouldn't do

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Speaker 1: this because you can go in and mess something else. More,

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Speaker 1: Why not put restrictions on it in a healthy way,

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Speaker 1: or it be interactive with your children in a way

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Speaker 1: that Halloween can be something dealing with fun and creativity

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Speaker 1: and those types of things and not death and dismemberment.

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Speaker 1: And glorify God because remember one Corinthians ten thirty one

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Speaker 1: above all of this, So whatever you eat or drink

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Speaker 1: or whatever you do, do it all for the glory

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Speaker 1: of God. Luke, welcome to the Jesus Christ Show.

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Speaker 2: How you doing?

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Speaker 1: I am well, Luke? What's your thoughts?

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Speaker 2: Oh? I understand your point of view about Halloween and

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Speaker 2: what do you have been saying. But I think if

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Speaker 2: we're gonna be serious about this, I don't think at

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Speaker 2: any level as Christians which.

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Speaker 1: Had celebrated okay, why so.

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Speaker 2: Well, just knowing the the roots of it and the

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Speaker 2: practices that went together with those pagan rituals, it's really

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Speaker 2: really anti Christian.

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Speaker 1: Do you know, do you refrain from celebrating anything, Do

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Speaker 1: you celebrate any festivals at all? Do you celebrate your

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Speaker 1: birthday or anything like that.

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Speaker 2: Uh, yeah, okay, a lot of.

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Speaker 1: Those have pagan roots as well. The celebration of life

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Speaker 1: and fertility all goes back. Are you married, yes? Do

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Speaker 1: you wear a redding wedding ring?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Are you going to get rid of that?

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Speaker 2: No?

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Speaker 1: Okay, But that that has its background in both paganism

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Speaker 1: pre dating Christianity and also witchcraft. So are you going

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Speaker 1: to get rid of those symbols because of where they

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Speaker 1: came or are you going to bring them into your

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Speaker 1: faith h and sanctify them, set them apart from where

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Speaker 1: they started, just like you were sanctified by the blood

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Speaker 1: in the crust. Amen.

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Speaker 2: I mean the the son who came back to his

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Speaker 2: father the first thing father did put a ring on instant.

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Speaker 1: Yes, but these but but predating that very story. Yes,

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Speaker 1: And that's that's my point. That you have feasts that

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Speaker 1: our Jewish and brother brothers and sisters partook in around

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Speaker 1: the same times as they were pagan feasts, and the

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Speaker 1: Jews did not want to appear to be pagan. The

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Speaker 1: levitical laws, as a matter of fact, the majority of

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Speaker 1: them are to uh uh separate themselves from the even

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Speaker 1: the appearance of being pagan. Yet they did things that

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Speaker 1: Pagans did as well, So it wasn't about the thing

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Speaker 1: that they did, It was about how they applied them.

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Speaker 2: And I understand, I understand. But between what I'm talking

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Speaker 2: about and the ring or that situation is that Jesus

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Speaker 2: sanctified the latter. He hasn't sanctified Halloween.

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Speaker 1: Oh no, there are things that are being sanctified every

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Speaker 1: day by the use of Christianity. Do you celebrate Christmas? Okay, yeah,

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Speaker 1: but that's not sanctified by God in any stretch, any way,

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Speaker 1: shape or form. In scripture, there's never a celebration about that,

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Speaker 1: nor is there a celebration of Easter. Those were those were.

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Speaker 2: Luke Luke.

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Speaker 1: No, that's not the day of his birth. That's about

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Speaker 1: two years later. The purpose of all of this is

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Speaker 1: that those things that you're talking about have become comfortable

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Speaker 1: to you because they've been passed down to you, not

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Speaker 1: because of their origins. There is none. Matter of fact,

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Speaker 1: the early Church didn't celebrate it in that sense, and

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Speaker 1: those are and those land on pagan holidays and were

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Speaker 1: usurped it both Easter and Christmas, and a lot that

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Speaker 1: ties into those things, and the things that you celebrate

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Speaker 1: really tie into peg and beliefs, the tree in the house,

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Speaker 1: the eggs and the bunny, all of those things. But

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Speaker 1: it's what you do with them that matters, not from

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Speaker 1: where they came from. You came from a dark place,

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Speaker 1: and God sanctified you, and through the blood on the cross,

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Speaker 1: he can sanctify the things you do as long as

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Speaker 1: they're done to the glory of God. Kfi Am six

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Speaker 1: forty on demand