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I'm not going to offer an involved explanation of my argument, because this essay does a good job of explaining the origin of Halloween, and debunks some of the myths. I assume that you will read it and decide for yourself whether you agree with me or not. The article also offers some guidelines for a God-pleasing holiday:
(1) Christians should avoid any custom or practice of Halloween that glorifies that which God calls evil. This means specifically avoiding anything that glorifies the occult (including divination, contacting spirits of the dead, fortune telling, sorcery, witchcraft), the devil or the demonic, death, or violence. This includes costumes, decorations, music, and stories that promote these things as positive and/or fun. (We've had one costume that was inappropriate - Bee's witch costume last year. We won't be allowing anything like that in the future. We don't have many decorations, but I've eliminated the few that I felt were questionable).
(2) In deciding which Halloween events must be avoided, it might be helpful to ask, "Is the event designed to glorify offensive customs of Halloween or not?" In my opinion, a haunted house is an example of an event designed to glorify these things. On the other hand, a school party or an organized party for young children normally is not, even though costumes or decorations may appear which do. Ask questions before attending! (Our church has a "candy carnival," and the kids all wear their costumes. It's both fun and wholesome).
(3) Christians should be prepared to share their faith on Halloween. This could include handing out tracts to children that knock on your door to having children give Sunday School tracts to homes that they visit.
(4) This article has intended to show that Christians have freedom to either observe Halloween or not do so without fear of sinning. However, no one should be forced to participate who still believes that doing so is wrong - this would be sinning against one's conscience: Romans 14:14 -- "I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean." (see Romans 14:22-23; see also Romans 14:3a, 5-6).
(5) On the flip side, the Christian who abstains from Halloween for conscience' sake, should not condemn the Christian who chooses to participate. For the Scripture says, "Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ" (see Romans 14:3b, 5-6).
(6) If a Christian knows that by participating in certain customs of Halloween that he is offending the weaker brother/sister, he should first try to educate and persuade the other of the truth. But if he is not able to convince the weaker brother/sister of the truth, in love he should put aside his freedom and avoid the custom (see Romans 14:15-16 -- "For if because of food [or Halloween] your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food [or a Halloween observance] him for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil;").
May God help each Christian to see Halloween as a grand opportunity for the Gospel, rather than something to be feared. May He also keep Christians from those Halloween customs which clearly go against His Word."
(From Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Lexington, KY: "A Halloween Essay.")
Excellent advice, in my opinion.
My husband says, "Just because you dress up in a costume on Halloween doesn't mean you worship the devil, just like athiests aren't worshipping God when they celebrate Christmas. What matters is what's in your heart, and whether you're right with the Lord."
He always has a unique way of putting things.
Some people will argue that participating in Halloween at all is putting on an "appearance of evil," but I don't see how dressing my kid like a ballerina, and taking her door to door appears "evil." Remember that Halloween is just a day, and like every other day, we as Christians can set ourselves apart by our actions. By refusing to take part in the evil or scary aspects of secular Halloween celebrations, I believe that we are taking a stand and witnessing for Christ. My personal opinion is that I'm not an effective witness if I shut myself up in my house and pretend that Halloween doesn't exist. My husband's Bible study leader once said that we can't be so focused on heaven that we are of no use here on earth, for that is ignoring the great commission given to us by Christ.
I've even heard people say that Halloween is wrong because kids are "begging" from strangers. It's been my experience that "begging" is unnecessary, because people who turn on their porch lights and give out candy do so simply because they really enjoy little kids. I think that some Christians simply go too far in an attempt to justify their choice to not participate, and the result is that Christians who do participate are made to feel that they're doing something wrong. Remember, as the above article states, we have the freedom to either observe Halloween or not, without fear of sinning, and we must not condemn each other.
If you choose to not celebrate Halloween, I absolutely understand and respect your decision. I hope that you will do the same for me.
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20 comments:
Thank you for this post. I've internally debated this topic for a few years. I grew up in a Christian home and we did trick or treat, but we were never allowed to dress in ghost, devil or witch costumes. These are the same guidlines I follow with my daughter and it works for us. However, the internal debate starts when I hear others, with the same beliefs as me, forgo Halloween festivities. But, maybe that's just me and my own insecure parenting hangups.
Anyway, I've taught my daughter to say that we don't celebrate the scary stuff; we celebrate CANDY!
Besides, what good is life if you can't pick through your kid's candy, stealing all the Snickers bars, while she sleeps?
Wow! That article came from a church in Lexington, KY. That's where I'm moving. If I were Lutheran, I'd definately check it out!
Anyway, my husband's family has a real problem with Halloween (and eating in restaurants that serve alchohol, and saying "deviled eggs" and "devil's food cake.", They say, "stuffed eggs" and "chocolate cake." Yeah...I know.), so they always had a Hallelujah Party at church and dressed up as Bible characters. And he insisted that when we had kids, they were not going Trick or Treating! There are so many churches now a days that do "Trunk or Treats," "Harvest Parties" and the like, that one would never even have to see a ghost or a goblin on the street if one didn't want to. I however LOVE walking around the neighborhood, meeting the neighbors and their kids, and the whole ritual of giving and receiving the candy! I mean, how amazing is that for a child? Walking around in the dark, ringing doorbells and asking for treats!
When I was a kid, the old ladies actually made home made fudge and popcorn balls and caramel apples. No one worried about razor blades and rat poison!
Folks can get a bit "evil" in celebrating it, but I believe it's just a fun, novel thing for kids to do. So, we're doing it! And after careful consideration, my hubby agrees that it's just going to be a fun, wholesome thing for us to do as a family. We too are going to teach our child what is pleasing to God, and what is not. But knocking on your neighbor's door in a Hollie Hobbie costume and asking for candy certainly isn't a sin (well, mommy and daddy will be asking [and eating], she's only 16 months).
Man...I need to start saving all these good comments and use them as blog posts! LOL
Anyway, thanks for sharing the article Heather.
I liked this post. I've always felt that Halloween is THE holiday that should be commercialized to the hilt.
My husband I decided that we would not teach our children that Santa and Easter Bunny were real and our 3-year old can tell you that they are just games that people play. That works for us because then we are focusing on why we really celebrate those two holidays.
Neither my husband nor I ever considered not trick-or-treating with our kids. In fact, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays (which may have to do with the bright orange colors, free candy, and all the fun crafts I do with our girls). We don't get into the scary part of it (especially with a 1 and 3 year old) and we probably never will. I'm not a fan of that part and find it much more fun to keep it clean and wholesome.
If you think about it...it is pretty amazing how one night of the year all the adults agree to buy candy and pass it out for free to kids who come knocking at their door. lol. Same with Santa or the Easter Bunny (or Tooth Fairy)...it is definitely frowned upon to 'ruin' that one for someone's kid and everyone seems to be in on the same secret.
Thanks for giving me more to think on this.
Nice job. Bless you for choosing to light a candle instead of cursing the darkness...
Heather,
I love that you put so much thought into what is best for your family & yourself. Your continuing attempts to be the best mom you can be & raise then in a way that you feel is best for them is so inspiring.
I agree with you Heather...and even if I didn't, this is a great post. We will be going to our church's fall festival this year. I agree about the scary costumes. Last year my son was a scarecrow and this year he is a dinosaur...both costumes bought on consignment.
Thanks so much for all of your research on this subject! I too have struggled with what is right or wrong here. I posted a link to your post on my blog, so hopefully more people can be educated about what the Bible truly says about Halloween adn it's practices. Thanks again!
I appreciated your post.
LOVE love love this post!!! :)
Well said Heather. We will be participating in Halloween this year too because it's fun for the kids. It can be done in a Christian light.
Our school has "Story Book" Character day the week before Halloween. Kids are encouraged to dress up as their favorite story book (as long as it;s not scary and satanic)and bring the book to school that day. My daughter has two Ballerina costumes form her dance recitles and she will be wearing one of those. My son is in a wheel chair and one year I dressed him as an old farmer and converted his wheelchair into a John Deere tractor and let's just say he one first place with that one. I'm thinking of letting him be a construction worker or fireman this year and doing something special with his chair again.
Our church is having a Fall Festival on Halloween so we will be attending that and also the local church's and stores have Trunk-A-Treat where they gather on the courthouse square and give out candy and other goddies, have games, etc.
Very interesting. Not living in the US, not being a Christian (though respecting all faiths), I didn't know this was such an issue. My problem is more with commercialization. Seeing festivities (dress up parties in bars and clubs for example) flying over to my part of the world where the celebration was unknown before, so not rooted in any tradition; just for the sake of worshipping profit and the corporate world in my opinion. I think if I ever ended up in the US I'd hand out home made candy or at least not bought from corporate America.
In the stripped-off-evil versions described in this post and the comments I read between the lines: stripped off from the exciting attraction for the masses and thus somehow turning away from businesses making profit on the celebrations. Am I right?
Otherwise it's great to see so many people really thinking about it and trying to give meaning to the mass celebration. Good work Heather and all who commented.
PS: I grew up on homemade toys. Santa and his helpers made them especially for me in their workshop I was told. If other kids got more shiny toys from shops? Those poor unlucky ones! They weren't as special as I was and Santa had no time left for them. Of course by age 7-8 I knew the truth and the efforts of mom and dad. But it couldn't take away the pride about Santa's special attention for me. It set my future. I now sell handmade on Etsy using only recycled crafting resources.
Heather, this is a good post.
After having my baby in April, my husband I have decided we won't celebrate Halloween because of the change we've seen in the holiday since we were kids- costumes are much gorier and violent and often sexualized. That's a far cry from the cute costumes and innocent trick or treating we experienced.
Our church does hold a fall festival with candy but no costumes and lots of games and activities (bounce houses, etc.)
I personally prefer to celebrate another observance on October 31st: The beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
Looks like you have done thorough research on this topic - I think your decision is wise - we don't have halloween over here so it's not an issue.
Hi Heather, I notice you've added a bit about begging into your post and wondered whether it is in response to what I wrote in my post?
I already added some clarification to my post in response to the comments anyway but in case it is me you are referring to, I would like to point out that I said we were "unsure whether it is a good idea to encourage" a particular aspect of Halloween - not that Halloween was wrong because of that aspect. (And I had already said that trick or treating was not morally objectionable.)
The main misunderstanding seems to be about the nature of trick or treating which in my experience is completely different to what you describe. The trick or treating I referred to is unaccompanied children wandering around knocking uninvited on strangers' doors. This is completely different to the trick or treating you describe where people can choose whether to have trick or treaters calling or not. Trick or treating is a relatively new thing here (even my parent's generation didn't do it) and many elderly people feel very intimidated by trick or treaters and are afraid to answer the door during Halloween week as there is no way of opting in or out of having callers.
I guess you could call your trick or treating "trick or treating by invitation" and our kind "nuisance trick or treating". I was talking about "nuisance trick or treating" but because I didn't know about "trick or treating by invitation" I did not make a distinction and therefore it sounded like I was talking about "trick or treating by invitation". Trick or treating here would also always involve costumes associated with witches/devils/deaths etc. - you would never get anybody in a "nice" costume.
I am sorry that I have offended you and I added clarification to my post right after you had commented but since you have added to your post, I wonder if either you haven't seen it or I didn't explain myself clearly enough before.
I hope this clears things up and I am very sorry that I offended you.
Susan.
Susan, I had that part in my post before you even wrote yours. It was actually in response to something that Candy said in her comments.
Please don't worry - you haven't offended me in the least.
Phew. I guess I mustn't have read it properly as I don't remember reading that bit before.
Thank you for a well balanced and intelligent view of this. I like the way my husband put it when we spoke about this. He called in our son and said "When we go to the party who are you worshiping in your heart?" The reply was "Jesus." That was the end of that. We do a whole family fun gathering and all of us walk together (a huge family) and the kids have a great time!!!
Thank you for this post. I hope you don't mind but I shared it in the comments section of my blog, I linked to your site. I recently did a post on Halloween and yours sums up my feelings much better than what I said!
I appreciate this post! The whole "Christians should eschew anything even remotely related to Halloween because it's pagan" argument has never made much sense to me, as it implies that our intent and the meaning we assign to what we do make no difference at all. I know what I am and am not celebrating when I eat snack-size candy bars and dress my kids up in costumes on or near October 31.
This will be the third year that we have had a marshmellow roast on halloween. A small group fom our church comes and we all pass out little baggies with candy and tracts in them. We hope to engage some of the teenagers (who really are "begging"!) in conversation and if we are lucky some parents too.
We were on the fence but decided on a whim to go trick-or-treating that first year and that is how we met all the neighbors that the rest of the year think your weird for engaging them in conversation. Now we realize what a gold-mine halloween is!
We don't talk about it weeks ahead of time, nor do we go all out for dress up. We just use something we have on hand and pick it out that afternoon. Much as if we were playing dress up.
I think alot of this is the attitude of our own hearts and, as another commenter said, choosing to be a light. It is shocking how many porch lights are off and children are turned away on a night where so many seeds could be planted!
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