Halloween is one of those days that is a little troublesome for followers of Christ. Having a relationship with Christ is of course the most important aspect of life and should be our focus and effort 24/7. Some who are zealous for the Lord want to condemn this day as a holiday to be satanic. Others see no harm in letting kids have some fun and for one day eat a boat load of sweets. Along comes Oct 31 once a year with its pumpkin carving (no harm in that) Trick or Treating (no harm in giving ONE piece of candy to a kid) and dressing up as some type of character (no harm in this depending on the character.) The problem with Halloween is one of perspective. What is important to you? What feelings do you have about this day of celebration of pumpkins, candy, and costumes. The one sure thing about Halloween for Christians is that it is almost impossible to ignore.
There are thousands of stories that spin around Halloween. Horror movies have been made to scare and bring mystic to the day. One thing for sure Halloween is big business and retailers do promote the celebration of this day. Churches have gotten in the act with "Fall Festivals" or "Pumpkin Celebrations" as they cannot quite bring themselves to say we are celebrating Halloween. That is my argument that it is troublesome as we as followers of Christ just are not sure what to do with this day.
To celebrate or not? To give candy or not? To let your kid dress up or not? And then what can they dress up as? There are lots of questions and no direct biblical answers. Halloween is not mentioned in the scripture. However, there are I think a few things we should be looking at though as Christians when we celebrate Halloween.
First - Thanksgiving in our hearts for all things. Halloween has lots of weird stuff like zombies, witches, ghost, and skeletons all symbols of death or near dead things. This gives us a chance to teach children that these things are not fearful (many are not real) for those who have Christ in our life. Jesus is the way the truth and the life every day of the year. We must be thankful for life, for Christ, and for things that are real. Halloween gives us opportunity to "be in the world but not of the world." You choose your costume if you wear one. You choose what treats you serve if you give them to children. You will have thankfulness in your heart for Christ love and salvation as you do what ever you do so as you celebrate, involve yourself or allow your children to be a part of something. Keep Christ first in your life. In other words be thankful in all things. I think some Christians are going along with celebrations of Halloween with a grudge and and a judgmental heart.
Second - Do not dishonor the name of Jesus. If you do something on Halloween that dishonors the Lord it is not OK just because it is Halloween. Tricks that hurt people are not acceptable. Costumes that are vulgar or coarse should be avoided. As you do whatever it is you do to celebrate you should keep in mind who you represent and what your purpose in life is.
31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Cor 10:31 (KJV)
Third - Keep the proper perspective. It is very easy to become legalistic about this day. But it is also easy to get carried away with this celebration. The same can be said about Easter, Christmas and certainly Thanksgiving. The day is just another day. One that will be celebrated for sure that is not connected with the church. But then neither is the 4th of July and Christians have no problem with this day.
Keep the proper view of who Jesus is in your own life and do not judge your neighbor or friend for their behavior. Keep scriptural principles in mind as you celebrate Halloween and you can change the trouble into a treat.
10:31 - That's a little ironic.
Posted by: Michael | December 03, 2007 at 11:18 PM