Horror Movies and Halloween

In a conversation with a friend yesterday we were talking about the damage that is done to our spirit, souls and psyche from the observation of Halloween and the viewing of horror movies.

I am not a crackpot that doesn't believe that we should celebrate Christmas because it's not a Christian holiday. That's another issue all together.

I do believe that most horror movies and much of the current celebration of Halloween is causing damage to people that will take a long time to heal. I think for those who are pursue following Jesus this is a particularly devastating practice.

I no longer watch any horror movies. I like science fiction which can get edgy. I watch movies like the 300 which I liked very much. That's not horror. It's the saw movies involving casual torture and death inflicted by evil people that is part of the new genre.

I no longer celebrate Halloween. Yes I will buy a pumpkin (to eat). I am not a grinch. If kiddies come to the door we give away candy. I just don't believe in severed heads, caskets, skeletons and all other forms of represented death and demonism.

Reasons I believe people should reconsider watching horror movies
and reconsider the celebration of Halloween:

* Desensitizes us to real horror. If we watch people killed, real horror of terrorism, death on the streets or child abuse affects us less.
* Creates images that will come back to haunt us. I think parents who compel or allow little kids to watch horror flicks are abusing their little spirits. Where to nightmares come from. We are the sum total of every experience we have ever had, every movie we have watched, every book we have read. Why inject death and pain into that composite of your life?
* Opens our hearts and spirits to accept irrational fear. We all know these movies and Halloween are not real. Or do we. How much of the fear society is driven by opening our spirits up to real fear. Where did innocence go. Lambs who did not fear the lions lay down with them. People who watch a lot of horror flicks seem to be more laden with fear than most.
* Becomes a barrier to accepting the love of God. Hinders us from loving God the way we should. Creates an obstacle for hearing from God. Anything that raises itself up against the knowledge of God scripturally is a stronghold. The question I have is does the Horror and Halloween practice create any strongholds? If not, then what does pornography do in damage? Is there any difference?
* Other voices are opened to us by the images. If a person wants to hear the voice of goodness and yet continues to infect themselves by Halloween and Horror movies will it quiet or even silence the voice of God? Or worse, will other voices be allowed in to speak and cause the Christian to drift off. I believe that these practices open a way for demonic entrance and influence in our lives. If it's true of other forms why not this?
* It's a horrible waste of time and money. I won't give you the old hackneyed idea that you would be better spent in time praying or studying the Bible but I believe that quiet time would be better spent pondering HIM than Horror and Halloween.
* It's all make believe but your spirit doesn't know it's make believe. This truth is one that we all know but don't understand. If we keep telling ourselves we are a loser, we have nothing good to offer, we are no good our spirit soon believes it. You know it's true of parental influence. So, if your spirit takes messages you received all your life and translates them into who you are today, how much more will messages you intentionally integrate today cause you to stumble in life.
* Your spirit is instructed by these movies on how to react when crisis comes. We don't act godly, we act in fear. The Devil is the author of confusion and fear.
* Yelling and screaming is part of both genres. People who watch much of this are influenced in behavior the same as those who watch too many soap operas. You know that peoples days are made or destroyed by what happens on the soap operas. How we react to situations when we yell and scream at others is a result of the conditioning we get in Horror movies and Halloween.
* Horror Movies and Halloween violate the Biblical principle of whatever is good, pure and holy think on these things.
* It's false instruction on how to deal with core evil. There are methods and modes in how to deal with real life evil. The name of Jesus is never used by believers to deflect evil. Those who have confronted real evil demonic and otherwise and who understand it don't fear evil. They deal with it. Horror movies give a wrong impression of how to deal with it all.
* False strategies in dealing with difficult situations. People in Horror Movies and victims in Halloween Scenarios deal with circumstances that are not realistically dealt with.
* There's no consequence for those who commit evil in these movies or in Halloween.

After my time with this man he said to me, "My ex wife had just asked me what was going on in my life, why I seemed like I had drifted. I have been in an environment where these kinds of influences have been around me. I realized my demeanor spiritually and otherwise had been so affected that others could see it on me".

I saw it and that's why we had this conversation.