Harold Keller – Get High on Life

This year, I had decided not to write anything about Mardi Gras until I read the news Thursday morning. “One slain, three shot at New Orleans parade,” read the headline in one newspaper. Later that morning, a radio announcer said that four people were arrested and charged with murder and three counts of attempted murder.

One person arrested was 15, two were 17 and one was 19. The gunmen just shot into the crowd, killing a woman who was an innocent bystander and injuring three others who happened to be in the wrong place at the time. One law enforcement officer said, “They could have killed 20 people. They had no regard for human life.”

The radio announcer stated how sad it was that such a thing could happen when people are supposed to be happy and enjoying the parades with their family and friends. The program ended with this statement: “Well, maybe tonight things will return to normal.”

Return to normal? What is considered normal for Mardi Gras, which is referred to as the biggest outdoor party in the world?

“Mardi Gras madness,” as some people describe it, is now bigger than ever. (As a point of information, “madness” is defined as a condition of being mad. “Mad” is defined as crazy; insane; foolish; senseless.)

With the celebration comes the attitude that creates the atmosphere of “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” The Bible says that people with this mentality are fools. In Louisiana, we are famous for the French saying: Laissez les bons temps rouler,” (Let the good times roll).

Many people make Mardi Gras a family day. On that day, the family will be exposed to drunkenness, drug use without the fear of arrest, people urinating on the streets, people parading half-naked (and some naked), and homosexuals having a public beauty contest, with spectators applauding. Good times? You be the judge.

The real spirit of Mardi Gras is the spirit of revelry and excess. God repeatedly warns us against such behavior, as in Galatians 5:19-21: “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultry, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in times past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Am I writing this article as a self-righteous, condemning Christian? The answer is no. The main question is: “Is God, our Heavenly Father, honored and pleased with such activity?

HAROLD KELLER writes this column as part of his affiliation with the Get High on Life religious motivational organization. Call 652-8477 or write to P.O. Drawer U, Reserve, LA 70084.