LYING TO KIDS
I think this will be the year when the bottom drops out of the Halloween market; no more goblins and ghosts
and black cats with their fur standing on end. No more guts and gore. Certainly all the monsters and creatures with puffs of torn hair and green teeth and blood-soaked eyes will be gone from our children's lives this Halloween.
Pilgrims, this is a hot religious moment.
Think about it. What intelligent parent would want to scare the juice out of his or her kids this year. Obviously we
have enough danger to make our heads spin forever. If you want to be horrified out of your britches, just
think back to September 11 and the way those jet planes sliced through massive towers of steel and glass.
I've always said if we're going to lie to our children, let's fabricate something worthwhile. Forget about Santa
and the Easter Bunny and Halloween witches. This is the perfect time to start some major-league lying.
For instance, your child could ask you if airplanes are going to crash into your house or your town. Your first
impulse might be to tell the truth and say, "I don't know" or "It's a possibility."
Most of us, however, would rather tell a lie and reassure our small children that no terror is going to enter their lives.
Of course, that's a lie because you can't say it with any certainty. But this lie seems worthwhile because it can make
your child feel safe during uncertain times.
Lying about witches and goblins and all that man-made Halloween junk is something quite different. This kind of lie amounts to vile manipulation. It is evil trickery, no question about it. Here's what churches should do this Sunday to dispel the myths that have grown up around Halloween. First, someone ought to cook up some pumpkin. We waste way too much food every Halloween, delicious fruit that could be warming some child's stomach. A committee of people could roast the seeds inside pumpkins and hand them out in little bags. Someone could bake pumpkin cookies or breads or cakes or pies. Every child attending your church ought to know that pumpkins are food.
Second, the pastor should stand before the congregation and confess that adults have been lying about
Halloween over the past many years, and the job now is for good people to tell the truth about Allhallows Eve.
Then a parade of Halloween characters might come marching down the aisle. Mrs. Witch will be first. The pastor
says there are no witches in our world. He explains that in a time far away witches were believed to be lost
souls who roamed the earth flying on broomsticks.
The witch standing next to the pastor removes his hat and wig, then the mask and the filmy black dress. Finally
everyone sees the witch is really Mr. Goodfellow, a Sunday school teacher, dressed like everyone else in church.
The pastor may want to bring up other Halloween characters such as a goblin or a person with an evil pumpkin
on her head. Each character is unmasked and it is soon revealed that wonderful people live under those faces
of evil.
Of course, the real message for this Sunday is the celebration of Allhallows Eve, a festival honoring all those who have died before us. Allhallows Eve is also a chance to rejoice in the assurance that Jesus won salvation for all His
children. This is an absolutely wonderful opportunity to tell people about the good news.
I can think of no logical reason to fib about goulish creatures that may frighten our children. If we lie to our
children only to scare them, ultimately we become the hoax. Be real with your kids and they will love you all the
more.
Clark D. Morphew
Posted 10-24-01