Picking up on the old definition “An evangelical is a fundamentalist who likes Billy Graham,” Russell D. Moore, the Dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, used a tongue-in-cheek approach to classify evangelicals based on their position with respect to Halloween. This is in an article published today in The Christian Post. But on a deeper level, this comical analysis reveals a lot of truth about how evangelicals are divided on the issue. My comments are in parenthesis. I welcome your comments to each class listed below! Enjoy!
1. An evangelical is a fundamentalist whose kids dress up for Halloween. (This is unfortunately a majority of so-called american “evangelicals”)
2. A conservative evangelical is a fundamentalist whose kids dress up for the church’s “Fall Festival.” (With the stipulation that… it’s no longer dressing up for “Halloween”)
3. A confessional evangelical is a fundamentalist whose kids dress up as [Calvin] and [Luther] for “Reformation Day.” (Reformation Day celebration begins on Halloween… Now, we’re getting closer to real Calvinistic fundamentalism 🙂 )
4. A revivalist evangelical is a fundamentalist whose kids dress up as demons and angels for the church’s Judgment House community evangelism outreach. (Heaven vs Hell theater drama…?)
5. An Emerging Church evangelical is a fundamentalist who has no kids, but who dresses up for Halloween anyway. (Isn’t an Emerging fundamentalist an oxymoron? 🙂 )
6. A [real evangelical] fundamentalist is a fundamentalist whose kids hand out gospel tracts to all those mentioned above.