Let’s go ahead and take it on, the issue that stirs controversy every year. What should Christians do with Halloween?
Do we avoid any association with it at all costs? It’s origins are rooted in a pagan festival that involved lots of dark and nasty stuff. Some of the imagery still associated with it (ghosts, witches, pumpkins, tricks) does make a connection with that past. That’s the argument in this video.
Or maybe the Christian church should do something good with Halloween. Should we try to be good examples on the date, dress up in fun costumes, have little festivals that celebrate the good of being together, and try to be a light opposite the darkness. That’s some of the argument in this other video. (By the way, you can vote on Godtube on this issue, tis the voting season after all)
This is a tough issue. There is dark stuff associated with Halloween and we can’t be dismissive of it. This is real and you don’t want to play around with occultic things because a mild interest can turn into fascination which can turn into a major fall. At the same time, I don’t like Christians being scared of Halloween either. Too often it seems like the Church continues to be known as being against things rather than for things. Maybe that’s why the church historically has taken some of these pagan events and turned them into something positive. There were pagan events associated with the Easter and Christmas times as well. By placing a Christian festival there, the Church says, “Hey let’s focus on something good, on the blessings of God rather than the emptiness and pain of the occult or idolatry.” With Halloween the Church decided to focus on the Saints who had died and gone to heaven as opposed to hauntings and demons.
Now Easter and Christmas have left most of the pagan baggage in the past (though obviously not alltogether, e.g. Eater eggs, bunnies, even Christmas trees) whereas Halloween still allows much of that negative stuff to be part of it, and even celebrates some of these old elements while adding some new negative ones (what’s up with sexy Halloween now?).
So what do we do with it? Try to ignore it? Turn off our lights and keep the kids inside or lecture kids who come to our door. Hard to do. It’s not going to go away and as I said I think this will be another negative witness to those outside the church. Do we try to replace it with harvest festivals and the such? There’s some good in this. We celebrate good things going on during this time of year. We celebrate fellowship, fun, and even silliness. But what do we do with the witches, ghosts, skeletons, and other stuff that’s still going to be there? I had a good conversation about this with a Bible study last Sunday. No clear decision. We did have a few principles thoughts. One, teach your kids about these things to their level. Two, don’t overreact. Three, if some of the witches and ghosts are going to be around, maybe take the attitude that we’re disparaging these things or almost even mocking them rather than celebrating it. That’s probably the toughest part right there, but it’s worth some conversation.
So tell me, what’s your experience with Halloween? What do you think Christians and churches should do?
Tags: christians, Churches, Halloween
I’ve been talking about some of these same issues with my roommate this week. What IS up with sexy Halloween? I miss the days when you could just grab some old clothes out of your mom or dad’s closet and become a lumberjack, snowman or clown.
As far as the holiday in general is concerned, I think we need to be careful not to take things too seriously. If you try to ignore the holiday and turn your lights off you might end up with egg on your house — rather I think it’s a good opportunity to be a good neighbor and show some hospitality to the trick-or-treaters who come by. If you feel inclined to try and re-direct the festivities to something postitive, hand out testamints instead of ordinary candybars. Be creative.
No matter what – don’t forget to model Christian love to all people.