Thursday, October 04, 2007

Treats On A Slippery Slope


1Thess 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.

Slippery slopes are all around us. I find I step dangerously close to many...and the Lord loving guides me away and shows me where I could be guiding my child toward a slippery slope. Would I allow my child to get a piece of candy if it meant she must work her way down a slippery slope in which she could suddenly, without warning, tumble all the way down and be dashed to bits on the rocks below? No, of course not, well what if the risk didn't look too great...so I let her step on the slope that *one time* to get a piece of candy, or a prize, or recognition...what message does that send to my child? It conveys a message that it is ok to take a risk of Biblical compromise if there is a "treat" that may be obtained by it. It also leaves to her the treacherous task of discerning which slope is safe and which is not-whether the risk is worth the prize. You see where I am going with this, I am sure. With every slope the child, then teen, young adult etc tests and challenges...the closer, in their confidence in themselves, they step to the slope that will ultimately send them to their destruction. When did the danger begin? When did they begin to drown in pornography, alcohol, drugs, the occult...etc? On that first step my friend..the one that looked so harmless. The Lord has shown us that allowing our children to take part in Trick or Treating is one of those slippery slopes.
When our 2 oldest were toddlers, we did what the rest of the neighborhood did...dressed them up and took them to some friend's houses for candy. Do you see how "harmless" it all seemed? Our justification? They were dressed as harmless princess like characters...they were going to get candy for looking cute. Again, even one step on a muddy slope is a step headed for disaster in which your feet could suddenly lose control and give way to the slickness of the mud and the next thing you know, you find yourself in over your head in the murky mire of consequence wondering how you got there. We were convicted about this seemingly harmless compromise very shortly after that Halloween night and have abstained from participating in the appearance of evil ever since. We should all be on the look out for those slippery slopes of compromise, I find them all around us. The Lord does not bless the appearance of evil so why allow a child to participate in something that not only appears evil but IS evil? The treat a child gets for Trick or Treating is not worth the destructive message of compromise they get from a Christian parent.
Theresa thoroughly covers the dangers of Halloween in her post here.
picture courtesy of allposters.com

2 comments:

Praise and Coffee said...

It's not easy taking this stand these days.
But, I don't believe you will ever regret it.

People told us our kids were missing so much because we didn't do the whole Santa thing (personal conviction- not condemning anyone who does) and we have since asked them now that they are older.
They are thankful that we didn't. I am sure they won't with their kids either.
We taught them the truth, you are teaching truth, you will never reget it, I don't.

Blessings,
Sue

Pam--in America said...

Great post, Heather! These are the same reasons we got rid of our movies with all that "harmless" magic in it. Once they start thinking it's okay for a beautiful princess to be rewarded by a magical fairy --- what else are they going to think they can gain by magical means. NO THANK YOU! I pray that we can always see where these slippery slopes are.