The theoretical existence of God: Why should I say happy holiday instead of Halloween?

Approved image of God in the Vatican City—a concept that is in stark contrast to the Born Again Christian belief as stated in, for example, Jeremiah 10.
TO TAKE A WALK in the mall on the 31st of October certainly leads me to seeing kids and young adults wearing their witches' hat, their lips covered with cosmetics from bloody red to black lipsticks, or their faces powdered-white with extremely pale foundation. Perhaps, other modern-day Halloween party-goers who have the guts would probably wear hazel brown contact lenses, simulating as if they were Edward Cullen of Twilight, or some might strip off their shirt and portray to be someone from the clan of Jacob. I just hope I won't see anybody mummified by white cloth all over his body, accompanied with somebody else who's carrying a sarcophagus, and have plenty of scarabs following them. Well, what can I say?


Happy Halloween!

Speaking of Halloween, I recall when I was still attending our cell group, a basic study of the Bible with fellow Christians, my pastor once told us that Christians should never participate in Halloween parties.

"The 31st of October is the very feast of the witches," said my pastor. Seeing us slightly bemused, she continued, "It's their most powerful day to cast spell against us Christians."

Her voice was unyielding.

This is paradoxical with what others, even Christians from other sects, believe in. For most people, Halloween is just a plain feast when kids wear their horror costumes, so they would look appealing enough to ask for sweet candies. For others, Halloween is just too commercialized, a time when costume designers abuse the peak season when selling their designs would help them become a dollar richer. The debate, however, does not revolve around the feast of Halloween alone. The question goes, "Who would care with what Christians believe in? After all, the Christian Bible is not the only doctrine!"

That, I suppose, would be most heard from agnostics and atheists. The agnostics are the people who believe in a supreme being but belong to no sect at all, while the atheists are the people who believe that no God actually exists.

The existence of God has been so theoretical for the latter. An atheist I know told me that his questions about the existence of God have started when he was young. He posed, "Why should I believe?" Then he points out that the existence of God as an absolute fallacy, something with no logical basis. Also, he explained that he has an aunt who is a pastor, but his aunt's actions are contrary to her teachings, especially when it comes to material things.

Another atheist, whose story I've read on a newspaper, confessed that he should have never been an atheist if all Christians in the world live a life like that of his aunt: a blameless life. (I'm speaking of two different aunts here.) This also reminded me of a fellow member in a cell group who does not like attending to the Roman Catholic Church because doing so, he explained, would only cause him to sin because the attendees of mass are not there to praise God but to gossip.

Hitherto, I confess I have been a dupe of this kind of thinking too. Back then, I used to dislike attending the Roman Catholic Church because I dislike hearing gossip. That's why it was easy to have me accept a different religion or sect other than the one where I grew. After I accepted a different belief, again it was very difficult for me to continue because I have been hurt by my fellow Christians, which became one of the rationales why I impetuously turned back to Roman Catholic recently. But then more recently, I have already confessed that I'm "half-Roman Catholic and half-Born Again Christian." Don't you think I'm wracking my brain with all the controversies of my spiritual life?

Well, perhaps I'm doing this, confessing that I'm still a Christian, because to believe in God is one thing. To establish a relationship with Him, however, is an absolutely different matter; feeling that there's a vast emptiness within the heart of humanity, which can never be comprehended by the human knowledge. This blog post, however, is not something I've written to persuade nonbelievers. Rather, it's something I've written to testify.

I know it's diminutively flabbergasting to hear this from a radical writer and a previously hypercritical person like me. Especially recently that I have been involved with diverse quarrels, which I've started myself. My spiritual life received most of the damage. However, I have also caused too much damage on others' reputation, even to those I valued—and I still value—most. I have recklessly decided during those times that I based my words on my emotions, affecting my writing brain-farts to write against those I clashed with. I have suffered pain, I admit. Amid my experience, I oddly shouted at God, nagged Him, and told Him to wake up and stop playing deaf while I'm praying. And I tell you, I suppose He has heard me.

Just like what should be comprehended by the atheist I know, the second atheist I'm talking about, and the fellow convert who expressed his reason for not attending mass—whether it may be the worship service of the Born Again Christians or the Sunday mass of the Roman Catholic or whatever—I should never base my faith, as well as my judgment on the existence of God, on the people who embrace Him. God should never be judged by the lives of His people.

Let God be judged on His own merit... Therefore, happy holiday!