Before reading this, I just want you all to know these are my own personal feelings and convictions toward Halloween. My intentions behind this post were never to offend someone or even change their mind. If you don't celebrate Halloween, please don't be offended by this post.
Every year of my life I have participated in Halloween. It's definitely highly ranked on my Top 10 Favorite Days of the Year. When I was 15 and finally decide to turn in the towel for trick-or-treating, but I began taking my sister or cousins out. There's just an unexplainable joy about watching children run door to door for candy. In fact, I think I enjoy it more now that I'm older and can watch my family enjoy it. I look forward to the day I can bring my children trick-or-treating. Last night when I got home after taking my cousins out, I got home to see an instagram post from my favorite new Youtube video maker/author/future pastor, Jefferson Bethke. He and his wife dressed up as the characters from Back to the Future. Under his picture, I saw hundreds of negative comments judging him for "celebrating" Halloween. It actually made me quite mad that these people had such strong opinions against Christians who participated in Halloween. Aren't we called as Christians to not judge others?
One mistake Christians tend to make is with understanding the difference between secular and unbiblical. Secular doesn't always mean unbiblical. Taylor Swift is secular music, yet I know thousands of Christian girls (and some men) who like to listen to her. Is it wrong? Am I honoring God when I listen to her? I believe that we can still enjoy secular things without going overboard on turning them into idols. The day I find my hope and joy coming from Taylor Swift is the day when my secular music choice becomes unbiblical. But, until that day comes (which I pray never does), I don't believe it's wrong to enjoy her. The same goes for Halloween. Just because it's not a Christian holiday like Christmas or Easter doesn't mean it's wrong for us to allow our children to dress up as harmless characters like princesses and superheros and allow them to collect candy.
I understand that there is a lot of history with Halloween in regards to praying to the dead and worshipping Satan. If you ask me, If Halloween truly is "Satan's Holiday" like some Christians call it, his intentions were never to have thousands of children going door to door receiving joyful hellos and fist-fulls of candy. I think it actually would pain him that "his" holiday is overshadowed by love and joy, which are traits of Christ, not Satan. Martin Luther once said "The best way to drive out the Devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." Maybe instead of fearing Halloween and Satan, we should view Halloween as an opportunity to mock the enemy whose power over us has been broken. (I wish I could take credit for the last line, but it's actually a Holcomb quote.) I believe that as Christians if we participate in Halloween with a clear conscience and allow it to be more of a fun community event than a day to observe Satan, we can honor the Lord in our decision to dress up. "Having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame." 1 Peter 3:16
My biggest point of all is that I believe Halloween provides such a unique opportunity for community. We live in the era of coming home from work and pulling our cars into the garage and not leaving the house until the next morning. We have become a generation of introverted attitudes toward greeting our neighbors. What other holiday provides the opportunity for community involvement quite like Halloween? We ignore our neighbors every day thinking a simple "hello" is welcoming enough. If all of our neighbors know that we are Christians, I personally think it is a terrible witness to turn off our lights and hide in our basement pretending to not know what night it is. Maybe the act of turning on our porch light and welcoming the community into our household is not a form of celebrating a secular holiday, but the act of being a light in the darkness Christ calls us to be in John 1:5.
I think this is well thought out, Jackie. Especially your point about how hiding in the basement is not a good witness - definitely not engaging the culture with the gospel. We need to grow in this.
ReplyDeleteSaw this video the other day that is helping me think through these things - http://vimeo.com/75045602. The thing i love about it is the truth that Light is coming and so we can make fun of the darkness. Light *has* come. Thank God.
My concern is that we tend to go in extremes - either "WE WILL NOT CELEBRATE THIS PAGAN HOLIDAY" or "GOSH CHRISTIANS NEED TO CHILL OUT". Think there is a balance here but YMMV when it comes to conscience. "One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." - Romans 14:5
Thanks for this!