The reason I enjoy Jacks’s work so much is that I am a Christian but not of the same fundie ilk as Jack. To me Jack is the anti-Christian and no doubt he drives more people into the bosom of satan than he ever hopes to bring to Jesus. (JI bet Jack pronounes it “je-ya-sus-ah”) I’m ELCA Lutheran and our church is one of the more liberal ones in the synod. Nearly half our congregation is gay and lesbian. I’m not saying we’re a “gay” church (not that there’s anything wrong with that) but if someone is unsure of our location we just say “across from the gay Denny’s” and everyone in Phoenix immediately knows where we are.
Once in a while a member, who is the chaplain at a local hostpital, fills in for the regular pastor. One of the elements of the service is the children’s sermon where all the wee tykes gather around the pastor at the steps in front of the altar for a short object lesson. One Sunday the lesson was on friendship and loyalty and pastor K used a popular children’s book to illustrate. Okay. A lesbian minister talking to little children about student wizard Harry Potter. Bonus points if you can guess how many things Jack would find wrong with that picture.
I’ve tried that. It never works. You get them as far as the door then they start whining about needing to be home by 4AM so they can watch Buffy reruns and how cheap your car is and how you live in a dump and how no self-respecting fegelah would be seen dead in such a lousy neighborhood. It’s not worth the trouble…
To clarify, there are several costume competitions. The winners are given gift certificates to five star restaurants and jewelry stores. More importantly, they get huge trophies.
I went to a Halloween party at a seminary once, and the theme was “come as your favorite saint.” So I had a doggy face painted on, blig floppy ears, and a little wooden keg at my neck. You know who I was!
The English guy came dressed in formal evening clothes, tophat, tails and all. He explained he was Yves St. Laurant. And the guy in the bunny suit was St. Peter of the Cottontail. And so on.
The Episcopal cathedral I belong to has Santa Claus in a stained glass window! He’s pretty teeny, about 4 inches high, but he’s down in the lower left had corner of the St. Nicholas window. Santa is gesturing up at the saint, dressed as bishop of Myra, and there are other symbols for Nicholas in the window. But I think it’s a hoot.
Pretty evil I guess. The congregation is so evil that Fred Phelps regularly pickets our 10:30AM Sunday service. About three weeks ago I was scheduled to serve as a chalist. I peeked out the front door, and sure enough, they were there. I turned to the Dean and told him we had greeters, and he said he’d been wondering if we hurt their feelings, as their last picket of us had been three weeks before, and he figures anyone who is graced by a WBC picketing must be doing something right.
Yes, it is a bit complex, but the point that the Wikipedia article is trying to make is actually that what little evidence there is suggests that the Christians in Ireland did not move their All Saints celebrations from 20 April to 1 November until after their counterparts elsewhere, including Gregory III, had already selected 1 November for that purpose. Hence the doubt about a connection with Samhain.
Never heard about “him”, either. I’m not an expert in pagan deities in any form and shape, but I nevertheless read quite a lot of stuff about them, and I tend to assume I would have come across this name at least once. Barring any informations to the contrary by another poster, I’m going to assume Chick made up the whole stuff (including the peculiarities of the festival, possessed animals, food offering, child sacrifices and pumpkins left besides the houses).
I guess maybe Jesus healed his eye, and then George had a second “accident”. Yeah, that’s it. Or maybe Li’l Suzie is talking to him through a really big mirror.
We have a Westboro Baptist Church here in Ottawa. It’s a pretty well known, long-established church, with a number of influential members, and is heavily into charitable works. I gotta say, they were some cheesed off with Phelps and crew when they visited a while ago.
That’s awful. Makes you wonder if any potential visitors turned away, thinking the Phelps clan represented the Ottawa church.
Nah, I didn’t stick my nose out far enough to be recognized!
Although on those Sundays when they are there, and I’m not assisting, I make sure to go in the front door so they can see me! Pretending you don’t notice them drives them nuts!
Apparently back in the day my uncle had a full head of hair and a beard so decided to go to a hallowe’en party as Jesus, with a robe and a giant styrofoam cross, apparenly he was the… [insert jesus pun here].
I don’t think Chick condemns ALL trick or treating-there was a rather mild one (well, for him) where there’s a little girl who has terminal cancer, and all she wants is to dress up like a princess for Halloween. So she’s taken around trick or treating, someone gives them a Chick tract, and she’s saved. And then she goes to Heaven.
So, I think it’s just if you dress up like the devil, or go to a Haunted House or whatever that you’ll end up in Hell.
