A Christian Response to Halloween (my opinion) re-released

Family Time

Psalms 118:24
“This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

I remember as a kid wandering around the neighborhood with other kids, all of us dressed in costumes, and going house to house greeting neighbors I rarely saw at other times… usually parents would come along – mine always did.  I would guess that it was the only time that our neighborhood gathered or united together for anything in a typical year.

I also remember when due to a combination of fearful Christian teachings and the rumors of reports (which turned out to be false, as I understand it*) of people poisoning candy and putting razors in apples, we stopped trick-or-treating for a few years. *http://www.snopes.com/horrors/poison/halloween.asp

Over the years, I consistently heard the Christian teaching on Halloween become more isolationist.  I heard about how Halloween was “The Devil’s Day” (or even the Devil’s Birthday!) when pagan Druids did evil things and that Christians should essentially avoid doing anything on that day that would smack of a Halloween celebration.  What did we have to do with the celebration of witches, ghosts, goblins, and candy corn (especially the ones with the brown layer made especially for Halloween), on the Devil’s Birthday, anyway?

So, the evangelicals generally boycotted Halloween for what seemed like at least a decade. Some still do.no-trick-no-treat.jpg

In the last decade, there have been some changes.  Now, many of our churches are hosting “Fall Festivals” that happen to fall on the same weekend as Halloween and have lots of candy (ironic, since the pagans celebrated what would loosely be a “harvest” or “fall” festival and “Hallowe’en” (“All Hallowed Day’s Evening”) was the Christian name for the celebration).  At least, we seem to see this as our token capitulation – if the kids are going to be doing bad things in Satan’s name, we can at least give them a righteous version of that event… or at best,  perhaps we are just doing what our ancestors did:  throwing a bigger and better party than the pagans.

In my extensive and maybe exhausting (not an accident) discussion of the history of Halloween and other holidays,  I reference how so many of the pagan practices have been absorbed in our celebrations of Easter, Christmas, and Halloween… but that is not actually precisely what I really believe.  It happened for sure, but something else happened first.  The thing that happened first was that the pagans tried to absorb some the good things of God’s creation!

I believe that God created everything… first… and still owns everything.
I believe that God, not druids, created evergreen trees to be green all year long.
I believe that God, not pagans, created bunnies, eggs, and bright colors.
I believe that God, not witches, created pumpkins, cats, harvest, and children having fun.hCDC148C6.jpeg
I think it is error for us to abdicate ANYTHING to Satan.

Just because some of his representatives throughout time have tried to take control of some of the things God, in His artistic brilliance, designed and brought into creation, doesn’t mean they get to own it!

October 31st, this year, and every year, is a day the Lord has made.  I think we should rejoice and be glad in it.  Satan doesn’t get a day.  He didn’t make one, and though he may be the governor of Earth at some level at this time (a discussion for another day), he created none of it.

Of course, as a family, we have some boundaries about what our kids can dress as… but that is not primarily about us thinking that it is inherently evil for them to dress as mythical or even pagan symbols… since they come up with some pretty crazy things in their own imaginations.  Plus, if we really examine it, our standards are pretty cultural, not moral (we would probably say no to an axe murderer costume, but not to a Darth Vader costume… no to a witch, but not to an Egyptian princess (who I assume would have have been a polytheistic pagan too))   I recognize and accept the tough line being drawn there…  Honestly, I prefer them to dress up (and this is in regards my children, who often dress up to some degree almost every single day!  As I mentioned in the Phalanx, my eldest son wore a cape for 2 years!  I want kids to honor honorable things – like the heroic ethic is honorable!depositphotos_116774456-stock-photo-kids-in-superhero-costumes.jpg

Why would it be incorrect to dress as people or ideals that we can find something honorable or admirable in them to appreciate (Phil 4:8)… like heroes, princesses, and race car drivers (ok, so that last one is a stretch 😉

None of this is about denial – I believe that evil spirits and devils exist… as well as axe murders, hippies in too-short skirts or French maids, and we do avoid glamorizing such things with our children.  These are icons that communicate something.  It isn’t fear that causes me to avoid them, but I want my children to think of Holiness and modesty as not flippant topics.  Man, being a parent can be tough, can’t it?

…but primarily these choices end up being about appropriate dress (modesty), not too scary for other kids (compassion), not ‘gilding’ something that has nothing good in it… and of course, we make an attempt at avoiding unnecessarily offending… based on the Romans 14 mindset.

So much about the grace filled life is about motivation and the heart behind something.  The kids design faces and we carve pumpkins pretty much every year, and some years the kids pick scary faces.  We are not trying to scare off evil spirits (we count on our Savior and His hosts for that), or celebrate something evil.  We just enjoy goopy, messy, creative fun with dad.

Great evidence of the truth that this day is not somehow owned by Satan, is that almost 500 years ago, on this date in 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church.  Though the Christian reformation had been ongoing for many years, this date marks whenthe Protestant Reformation was finally fanned into a rolling flame.

God’s Day, not Satan’s.

So, my vote is that Christians don’t bunker up or hunker down with their dark porches and hide behind the couches on the “Devil’s Day”  with crucifixes in hand and the guns loaded.

I vote we have fun and celebrate as only people with new life, abundant life, and eternal life, can.

Celebrate this day as others – it is good as a reminder of the lives and deaths of Christian Martyrs, many of whom will likely die on this day again this year, as on every other day of the year (www.persecution.com)!  Thank God for His faithfulness.  Have fun with your neighbors on typically the one day that neighbors join together on something anymore –Kids-in-costumes.jpgmake the most of it!  Meet them, greet them and invite them back for dessert and love them in the name of Jesus Christ… and love their little witches, axe murderers and even Power Rangers who come knocking at your door in the name of Jesus.

But that’s just my opinion.

 

6 thoughts on “A Christian Response to Halloween (my opinion) re-released

  1. We can celebrate anything within God’s kingdom on any day of the week. God simply adjures us to “avoid all appearance of evil” and to not have fellowship with darkness.
    It is true that many churches have Fall Festivals as an alternative to how the secular world celebrates this day. There are reasons for this:
    The secular world celebrates death. Skeletons, ghouls, witches, etc.
    The secular world celebrates the occult (vampires, ghosts, etc). Deut 18 says that we should not do this, ever.
    The secular world does not reserve Halloween to celebrate these things, but there is a stronger celebration of it on Halloween
    Christians should not celebrate this day in the same way as the secular world, as this would require aligning with the occult and death.
    As long as we don’t participate in the celebration of death and the occult, we are not in violation of Scripture. As long we avoid all appearance of evil, and don’t celebrate things that cause a weaker brother to stumble, we certainly have freedom in Christ to have fun.
    The real problem is, why can’t a Christian have fun on the other 364 days of the year? Why the defense of Halloween in particular?
    I for one, was heavily involved in the occult when I was a teenager. I know what occultists believe about Halloween and what many of them do on this evening. And how naive they think Christians are who participate in it on the periphery thinking it’s fun and games.
    there is a game called Dungeons and Dragons that is used as a recruiting tool in colleges for satanist organizations. This is not rumor-mongering, I watched them work. Don’t Christians use Bible games and fun things to increase a child’s interest in the Bible? The use of “fun and games” to desensitize the human soul from evil – essentially inoculates a person’s conscience from being able to discern true evil.
    God never changed his mind about it.

    1. I do not know if you thought this article was a”defense” of Halloween, especially in some way as a competition against the other 364 days of the year, but I think that is a perverse read of it if you did. The reason this article focuses on Halloween is because this was an article about Halloween. It would never be appropriate to practice the occult for a believer (though I do not think I would use Dt 18 as my defense on that fact. I would look to some of Paul’s epistles, like Gal 5, or maybe John’s Rev 21 list)… but I do not think that just because some people use something, like D&D, for evil means that it is inherently evil. Almost anything can be used for evil. The devil quoted the Psalms, after all.

    2. I appreciate your perspective put into your response, and you worded things clearly, but have to disagree with you. It is here that I disagree, you said “Christians should not celebrate this day in the same way as the secular world” in which you describe the secular world as celebrating death and the occult, or participating in other evil activities. However when I celebrate Halloween, I’m not doing these things, I’m simply enjoying candy, games and fellowship with my fellow humans (Christian or nonChristian). I’m not teaching witchcraft, sorcery and evil but I do have an audience to share the gospel with if the opportunity arises. So in this sense I am not celebrating the day in an evil way, but rather the way God would like to see me celebrate it. We shouldn’t be afraid of doing this on the same day that others use for evil, in fact there is probably more of a reason, shine a light in the darkness by bringing Christ to the party. We are not participating in evil, we are turning the day into something good. I feel like Satan would celebrate Christians running and hiding from this day instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to spread love and kindness on a day where it’s ok to talk to strangers. 😉 Just some of my own thoughts to share.

      1. hmmmm maybe some clarification is in order. I mean two distinctions between the way we celebrate things versus how the world does. First, we don’t celebrate anything the same – we see God’s fingerprints on everything… but mores, I literally mean that we should not do some of the same things – exactly like you list here – you actually are making the identical point. I think maybe you missed the entire point of the article. We are free to enjoy candy, games and fellowship – this is the very point of the article. What we do not do are the things the world does – like celebrating death, the occult, teaching witchcraft, sorcery and evil.

  2. Thank you for this again. It’s also my birthday. So double reason to celebrate ! Keith and I boycotted Halloween for many years thinking it was evil. Now my house looks like a blooming pumpkin patch !!! (Partly due to your enlightenment🎃)
    Sent from my iPad
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