Few evangelical Christians cause progressives as much angst as Ken Ham. This time the co-founder and CEO of Answers in Genesis has angered HuffPost because he’s encouraging people to use Halloween as a means to help share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
On his blog, Ken Ham published a post titled “Sharing Christ with Trick-or-Treaters.” In his opening, the creationist writes, “In just a few weeks here in America, kids will come knocking on our doors—are you ready? Halloween can present a fantastic opportunity to share the saving gospel with your friends and neighbors. And we have special gospel booklets and tracts to help you.”
In response, HuffPost writer Ed Mazza took an angry shot at Ham with an article titled “Creationist Ken Ham Wants To Make Sure that Kids Have the Crappiest Halloween Ever.”
Before diving into what Ken Ham is actually proposing, allow Mazza’s title to sink in.
Apparently, according to Ed Mazza and his bosses at HuffPost, receiving a gospel track will ruin Halloween for kids in a far more traumatic way than *fill-in-the-blank.* You can fill that blank in with “being too sick to actually trick-or-treat,” or you can go all the way to actual tragedy and pick “death of a parent.” That’s right, if HuffPost is to be taken seriously, children being exposed to Christianity will ruin their Halloween more than will their parents dying. Thankfully, HuffPost should never be taken seriously.
After detailing Ham’s suggestions, Ed Mazza sarcastically interjects, “Kids will love it.”
I’m pretty sure that kids will love pretty much anything that accompanies a candy bar. So, yes, Ed Mazza, kids probably will love it. They will probably also love it because the gospel tract that Ham wants people to pass out is a fake million dollar bill with a picture of a dinosaur on it. Kids love play money and kids love dinosaurs; Ham combined the two. Regardless of what HuffPost thinks of Ken Ham, it’s fairly evident that the man has a good handle on what kids love.
In his post, Ken Ham recognizes that for many Christians, Halloween is a holiday that they find troubling. In his post, Ham doesn’t deny that, nor does he contradict it. He simply says, “Halloween has its obvious downsides, but we can use this day to share the hope of Christ with others by welcoming trick-or-treaters with some candy (or maybe a healthier snack!) and a gospel booklet.”
Ham also encourages Christians to “try ‘reverse-trick-or-treating’ when you bring a basket of goodies to bless your neighbors. Include a gospel booklet with your home-baked or store-bought treats. This is a great way to encourage your kids to give and bless others as well as share the gospel as a family.”
To be clear, part of Ham’s objective is to market Answers in Genesis, the Creation Museum, and the controversial yet popular Noah’s Ark attraction. Which is not only his right, but also his job. That being said, his suggestions are not outside the realm of standard evangelical practices, by any stretch of the imagination. Part of what makes evangelicals, well, evangelicals is that we take seriously Jesus’ command to “make disciples.” That’s HuffPost’s biggest problem — that Ken Ham is an unabashed evangelical Christian who desires to obey Jesus and wants other to obey Jesus, too.
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