However, the real Noah Ark's story is really kind of a nightmare story .... the evilness of society, severe bullyism, building an boat large enough to hold those animals (not the cutesy toddler version where we teach kids that Noah's story was an impossible fairy tale), trusting God blindly over literally years of abuse by society, and watching all your friends and family die in a storm...and all your earthly belongings being destroyed. (Forgive me....but I have always had an issue with turning this very serious story into a toddler friendly watered down Bible story.)
Hi blackribbon. I actually understand your concern. I have relatives who refuse to do Halloween activities in honor of the Lord but will instead do the fall fests at their churches on different days. I've also heard a sermon on your point at a church I visited out of town. And my pastor, who preaches against Halloween and everything its activities imply as dishonoring to the Word, does not promote alternative events because none have been brought to his attention to my knowledge (I took the idea directly to the Chrildren's Church director, to whom I answer as a teacher. And he/his wife want to talk to the pastor as an idea.)
Having said all that, here are the following reasons I see a Noah's Ark Party as fitting on the very day of October 31. It's certainly an option for parents for a number of the following reasons. (Pretty lengthy explanation. But I hope it's informative.)
1) It's about timing and opportunity to reach a ripe harvest within the timeframe of the events occurring (Halloween, in this case).
Using an event I've been more involved in for more years in the past - Mardi Gras Outreach. Because Mardi Gras is a festive event where people party hard, get drunk, participate in ungodly ventures, and other activities of the flesh (even though families also spend time there together), it was an opportunity for hundreds of us in outreach to stand on the outside ready to share the message of the gospel to those who were lost and were willing to listen to us. Had we said, "Well, we'll minister to people a week before Mardi Gras or a week after," then we could have missed opportunity to witness to a mass number of people who would have been elsewhere before/after Mardi Gras events. When the harvest is ripe, we must be willing to be laborers in whatever calling that we have during the opportune time available to us. And many times, the timing on when unbelievers are roaming will be that same timing when we (as light in darkness) will make our way in to plant the seed of the Word and even more importantly, win souls to Christ.
Tracts can be distributed to people who may be more willing to read them from a giveaway bag at such an event than from my hand if I give them out in a grocery store. (BTW, I think it's good to give out tracts ANYWHERE. But an event where giveaways be distributed with tracts inside certainly makes it more likely to be read.)
Of the many thousands we've seen at Mardi Gras, I've only seen a handful get saved - as far as I could see. But one soul is important to the Lord.
In the case of Noah's Ark, the timing is October 31 and the goal is to reach children with their parents while also engaging Christian parents/children (exposing them to the spreading of the gospel, but certainly not holding them back from the delight of the event that is to glory Christ.)
Luke 10:2 says, "Therefore said he (Jesus) unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest." This is in the context of Jesus sending out His disciples and seventy others He had appointed to cities by two's to preach. But bear in mind, that He told His disciples to go out into the world and to teach others to do what He had taught them. And in his letters, Paul listed a number of different positions we all as believers hold within the Body of Christ to spread His message. So, Noah's Ark as an event is a tool, in addition to an event during which believers delight - not just some party.
2) For believing families with children, a Noah's Ark Party is an option for parents who do not want their children doing Halloween events. But it sends a message to believing children that this event is not a Halloween alternative but actually something they already have going on within their faith that is delightful.
Sure, parents can do such activities on other days in order to prove we don't need October 31 to do them. (And by all means, do those on other days.) But again, an October 31 event is also to draw unbelievers (by invitation or by passing by in some other costume) for the sake of them hearing the gospel. And for children, that gospel is read to them in stories and shown to them in videos.
Children in the faith who are told why Halloween activities and celebrations are ungodly (as my 4 have always been told from childhood to adulthood) can definitely just watch a movie or do something else that day. No problem. But there is nothing wrong with showing them a clear difference between these two:
The liberty to delight in the Lord (in festival or in private)
vs
Having fun that glorifies a very subtle unseen realm (involving tricking mankind into mocking death, flirting with unseen spirits that seek a doorway into our lives, inviting fear, etc)
We tell our children to praise the Lord in church but don't show them how to do so outside those 4 walls within our society. There is no reason to restrict them from enjoying their time in Christ with a party to glorify any story in the Bible on any day of the year. In his letter, Paul admonishes in Colossians 2:16: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days..." He said this having pointed out how Jesus showed up the demonic realm openly when He had our sins nailed to the cross and triumphed over them. (And this applies to those of us who believe on Jesus Christ by faith, of course.) We are therefore not bound to any restriction outside the boundaries of His Word. And these are the boundaries that we teach our children:
That freedom in Christ was restored to believers at the cross. 2 Corinthians 3:17b says in Paul's letter, "...where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Our children have the liberty to celebrate, learn, and share the gospel by which they base their faith along with their parents in such a setting.
3) I agree with you. The demise of the wicked is nothing we take lightly. And so we don't. Celebrating what the Lord did for Noah and his family in the flood is a correlation to what He has for us who believe and uses us to still reach the lost.
Trivializing the message in Noah is not the intent. I do agree that we should not stop at the pretty pictures that are painted of Noah's ark and the surface knowledge of there being animals and 8 people aboard. But we tell that story as it relates to salvation through Jesus Christ.
And I agree that the tragedy of the flood should not be trivialized. But to celebrate what God does for His children amid the destruction of the wicked - even His child with 7 other people whom He saved in the flood - is discussed in God's Word as being a time of rejoicing, whether it seems right in our eyes or not. Otherwise, King David and the other psalmists have quite a bit of explaining to do for how they rejoiced over the demise of the wicked. Well, I'm not their judge. Certainly, under the new covenant, we do not rejoice over the demise of the wicked but we do rejoice that, through Jesus Christ, we are saved from destruction by surrendering faith in Him. And that is the message that does not escape our conversations wherever we are - anywhere and at any event. In an event that we give, we lay out the setting for ourselves to be able to minister - just as Jesus sat among sinners and got criticized for it. (Having pointed that out, that would be the purpose of a mature Christian going to an adult Halloween party - to give them the gospel sitting among them not celebrating the darkness of the event.)
4) Those of us who teach the Word to children, we teach them in illustrations - coloring, arts/crafts, re-enactments, videos, and in this case, an event during a very opportune time as I mentioned above. We utilize such visuals and experiences for them to better understand the message. That's why I wouldn't suggest a Noah's Ark party as an adult party. Adults typically wouldn't need that much illustration.
5) Romans 14
"Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Let not then your good be evil spoken of: For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin."
