You have one week left till Halloween. Did you get the candy? Did you get the costumes? Or maybe you think you want nothing to do with Halloween. And I understand it. There's things about Halloween that are not good. There's things that are also good. So that's what I want to talk about today here on Free For All Friday. Welcome. Mondays and Wednesdays we talk about apologetics and Theology. Friday we talk about whatever I want to talk about Halloween. It's coming up in a week, and I want to talk about the good parts of it and the not so good parts of it. Full disclaimer, I like Halloween a lot. It's actually one of my favorite non-holy holidays. I mean, technically it is a holy day in the sense. It's the vigil. It's the all hollows Eve, right? It's a vigil before all saints day. I think your like my favorite holiday, it's got to be a holy day. Holiday means holy day, right? So I think my favorite holiday is probably Christmas, honestly, because it's so, you know, it's just so so magical. And I mean real Christmas being magic, not, not, um, a very hefty red man in the sky flying around kind of stuff.

But my thoughts on Santa, I'll say that for a few months from now.

No, I like Halloween because I am a, I don't know, I like dark, macabre, spooky, creepy.

I don't like, you know, really ghoulish or demonic things. I don't like that. But I like stuff that's just a little spooky. I don't know. There's something about that aesthetic, the abandoned castle, Gothic art and architecture. I like things that are a little bit spooky. And so I like Halloween in that respect. And Halloween is also a time where, you know, you can, there's a long tradition of mocking evil, the devil, monsters by, you know, dressing up as them to mock them. I think they actually have festivals in Europe where they, you, you dress up as the devil to mock the devil, essentially, to say, oh, he's not, you know, we're not afraid of you. We have Christ on our side. So I want to talk about Halloween, the best. So I like it, but I understand

people who don't like it. And there's a little bit of... You know, we're not afraid of you. We have Christ on our side. So I want to talk about Halloween, the best.

So I like it, but I understand people who don't like it. And there's legitimate parts of Halloween that are annoying. So I've got here, I think I've got eight things on each side of the ledger, best and worst. And let's go through them. And each one kind of has a bit of a mirror image to it. starting off, what's the best part of Halloween?

When you're a kid, trick-or-treating.

It's like you could you know you could

amass a year's worth of candy inventory if you were really good at it it was it was your

night even if you were six years old you went to work you put in the hours you put in the literal

legwork to go and get something even better than

money, candy. And it just felt like you were a little entrepreneur. My son, by the way,

you know what he does is extra Halloween candy? Two months later, he goes around the neighborhood

and he resells it for people for like 10 cents apiece. He takes out the ones you are most likely

to buy. Genius thing there. He's out the ones you are most likely to buy.

Genius thing there. He's got a, he's got a sharp business acumen there. I think he could go, he could go very far. We'll see. So trick or treating as a kid. That's the best part,

because you get to get candy and you get to show off your costume to people and you get to be

something else. You're not just a little kid anymore. You can be something scary. You can be something fun. You can be something else. And as you get a little bit older, maybe your parents give you a longer leash and you get to go out ahead of them a little bit more. It's dark out. You're with your friends. And you get to have that feeling of like the night is alive, it's like a party. And then when you get to that special age, maybe like 11 or 12, there's a wonderful age where you are still young enough to trick or treat, but you're old enough to do it without your parents. Now, when it's like 16-year-olds coming to your house, I'm not okay with that. Not all right with that. That's a, you're too old for trick or treating at that point.

But around like,

mm, it's like 16 year olds come into your house. I'm not, I'm not okay with that. Not all right with that.

That's a, you're too old for trick or treating at that point. But around like 11, 12, I would say, it's a sweet spot there. Because you don't, I mean, you don't want to send a six year old out by themselves, especially, I mean, the biggest danger, obviously, I would say the biggest danger is getting hit by a car, right? You're in a dark costume, going across the streets and stuff.

That's the biggest danger on Halloween. So I wouldn't send

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