Halloween: A Night of 'Spiritual Naturalism' (10-31-06)

For most of us, tonight will be a seemingly endless series of little knocks on our front doors, which, upon opening, will reveal a myriad of strangely dressed little (and not-so-little) children. Each will chant the customary "trick-or-treat" and thrust forth a paper bag, a hollow pumpkin, or, for the child-of-great-expectations, a large pillow case.

Our customary part, of course, is to drop into their treasury a pound of sugar in its various forms. The little children will then return to their homes with their spoils and for the next several days or weeks, their parents will attempt, with varying degrees of success and failure, to monitor and moderate the ensuing sugar fest and the consequential hyper-activity that a diet of that sort will produce.

All in good fun, I suppose--and, with the exception of the dental bills, mostly harmless.

Or is it?

Driving in this morning, a radio station was broadcasting all of the songs that deal with monsters or the strange and weird. Tonight's television schedule is filled with a plethora of "dark" movies. Life-size Elvira cut-outs have appeared again in the stores. Humane societies are, for this day, restricting the "adoption" of black cats. Haunted or "horror" houses are available at various locations (even churches) around town. It used to be that all of this was a once-a-year event and we could simply endure it for a day and then get on with November 1st.

But not so anymore.

The night of fun has become a mainstream part of our culture. The messages of popular songs, movies and television are increasingly "dark." New Age and Eastern mysticism thought are pervasive, found even in our kindergartens. The spiritual animation of the material world is a growing phenomenon. Wicca attracts more and more young women into its covens. Whether it is "the Force" of Star Wars or the message of "Charmed," we are seeing a rapid rise in what I call "spiritual naturalism." This is not a movement toward the transcendent God of the universe, but simply adding "spirit" to the matter and energy of the natural realm. I would argue that it is not a movement toward the "supernatural," but more toward the "sub-natural" for it draws people ever deeper into the darkness of the spiritual forces of hell, not heaven.

These are messages that are a sinister attempt to fill the natural void that man experiences when he is without God. Romans 1:20 points us to the fact that God has plainly revealed Himself through His creation to all men. The natural realm is therefore a signpost to the spiritual reality of who God is--the "SuperNatural" using the "natural" to reveal Himself. When man rejects that reality, Scripture says that he turns to unnatural acts, the "sub-natural."

Parents, beware. The messages we allow our children to hear often carry a virus.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Del