As I joked in this earlier post, I am not a fan of Halloween. Although I was joking when I said it then, it actually is the truth.
When I was about 10 years old, my parents, based on research on the topic, decided that our family would no longer participate in Halloween. I was old enough to understand their reasoning, and obedient enough to accept it. And to be honest...I never really felt like I was missing out on anything.
At some point between the time we got married and the time Dale was born, Greg and I agreed that not participating in Halloween was the best choice for us as a family, too.
There is a lot of compelling research on the subject of Halloween, it's origins, and some of the alarming practices that are carried out even today in 'celebration' of the day.
This article includes a little about some of the Halloween practices of modern-day witches and Satanists.
This one is another good resource, that also gives the reasoning behind not choosing a Halloween substitute, such as a "Harvest Party". It also makes a very good point about Halloween exposing children to a lot of things that adults might be able to sort out as fiction or as something unacceptable, but children are so easily influenced by what they see.
These articles and some 4 million others (that oughta hold ya) can be found with a simple Google search with the words "halloween" & "Christian".
All that said, I think I can explain pretty simply why our family chooses not to participate in Halloween. Look around at people's yard decorations. Really see what fills the Halloween aisles at Walmart and other stores.
The focus is on
death,
fear,
darkness,
evil,
and decay.
What is wrong with this picture?!?
As Christians, we are representatives of Jesus. We are part of Him and He is part of us. And who is Jesus?
John wrote about Jesus that in the beginning "In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." John 1:4&5
Jesus said about himself:
"I am the bread of life..." John 6:35
"I have come that they may have life..." John 10:10
"I am the resurrection and the life..." John 11:25
"I am the way and the truth and the life..." John 14:6
(*All italics are mine*)
If Jesus represents & gives LIFE, why should we celebrate, glamorize, & glorify a day that is all about DEATH?
Many parents are okay with participating in Halloween as long as their kids dress as something innocent and cute. This doesn't work for us. Have you ever heard the saying that a woman can't be a "little bit pregnant"? We belive that any participation at all shows approval.
Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil." We don't want to even appear to endorse a Day of Death. We will not honor it with our participation. (again, italics mine)
Paul also said, "...Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." Romans 12:9
To us, witches, ghosts, demons, goblins and all the gruesomeness you see at Halloween are evil.
Isaiah 5:20 tells us, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" That, to us, is one answer for any efforts we might make to justify being a part of Halloween or its substitutes. It can't be both evil and good. It has to be one or the other.
Do we think friends & family & fellow Christians that dress up, trick-or-treat, or attend a "Harvest Festival" are 'bad', or that we are somehow 'better' than them? Of course not! This is simply what we believe is right for our family. So when the end of October rolls around and there are no decorations on our door, our porch light is off, and our children aren't dressed as anyone but themselves, now you know why.
4 comments:
So do you do anything in particular instead? Try to ignore all the people who ring the doorbell even though the light is off? Sounds like a good night to go out. You could have the movie theater to yourselves.
Hi Amy,
Thanks for stopping by my blog and giving me a link to your article! What a breath of fresh air!! For some reason, my blog post on Halloween brought the nay sayers out of the woodwork! Yours is the first postivie comment and/or email I received on the subject! Apparently we're a rare breed!
THANK YOU!! I needed that! ~wink~
We don't do Halloween either. For the same reasons as the focus is on death and such.
But I do allow my kids to go to harvest things. Not every year. It just depends on what is happening that year. Last year I was going to a Bible study committment, and so DH and the kids stayed home.
Thankfully we live on a secluded street, so we don't get trick or treaters.
But due to alot of legalism in my past, it is something that I am trying to learn to be graceful in with other Christians.
I still believe it is wrong to celebrate the death aspect of it.
But kids also have a hard time accepting the meaning behind it, when they see the "fun" in it. Like the candy, and the dressing up.
Like you, I was old enough to realize the evil in it when my parents decided to stop the celebrating of it.
But my kids are in the "inbetween" stage. Of seeing the "fun" as well as the evil.
It's kind of a hard place for me. We celebrate "fall". When God gives us a bountiful harvest. But not the death part of halloween.
Maybe I'll write a thing about it on my blog.
But basically I agree with you. :)
Great explanation, Amy! Same here!
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