OK, let me say this first as I tackle this…this is A Christian’s perspective (my perspective not all Christians). A lot of people are ready to lump all people together so I feel the need for a disclaimer. Many Christian’s do not share my viewpoint and many do. I only speak for myself.
Halloween does have a very dark side to it. There is a rich heritage of Satan worship, the Occult, Witchcraft, Wicca, and so forth associated to the holiday. Even the Hollywood version of it is overrun with gore, murder, and lust to have control over others. These things are concerning to me and focus on things based on sin and evil.
For this reason, many Christians consider the holiday as worldly and we should have nothing to do with it. If they have spent time in researching and praying about this matter and feel strongly it is wrong for them to partake of the holiday, I celebrate that for you and do not wish to be a stumbling block. According to Romans 14, there are some issues not specifically addressed in the Word that take great care and prayer for people to find if something is wrong for them to partake in (the example Paul uses is certain types of food). I feel (at this point in my search) this is one of those issues.
For some, they even feel that churches offering Halloween alternatives are wrong. They feel these events are trying to do things in a worldly way instead of using Halloween as a way to reach out to the world.
So my perspective, I have no problem with people celebrating Halloween. I have very fond memories of watching a “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and being in costume contests. I got second place once as a carpenter when I was 10. I was so pumped until they listed me in the local paper as “Tammy” Hypes. Grrrrrrrr……This continued with taking my son out on beggar’s night and will continue with our daughter. And tonight, we will be on our front porch handing out candy.
I do have a concern with the evils of this night. those who use it to dabble or dive into practices that are of darkness. Those who even use it as an excuse to vandalize or abuse. There are innocent looking ways for the occult, Wicca, or others to introduce people to their groups during this time so there must be great care and discernment on how we celebrate and how we communicate to our kids.
So how do you draw the lines if you’re like me and open to the positive elements of Halloween?
1 Thessalonians 5:21-22
“Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.”
To some, Halloween is evil and throws it out. To me, elements of Halloween are evil and don’t throw out the baby with the wash water. We have a night together as family, sitting on the front porch interacting with our community. We get to tell kids how great they look and give them a boost that maybe they don’t get in some homes. We talk to parents and teens and get a chance to build rapport. And I get to steal a piece of candy or two out of our own dish.
As far as Halloween alternatives, we get to be where the world is hurting and show them the difference Christ makes. It reminds me of John 1: 3 “And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it.”. I would rather be in the mix showing the light in the darkness than sitting at home hiding from it and missing out on putting out a loving hand to the hurting.
I throw these out as thoughts for people to consider as they look at their own position and welcome differing thoughts back as I explore mine.
Let me throw out a sidebar to my Christian brothers and sisters (those who accepted Jesus as Leader and Forgiver …Romans 10:9
That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.)
We need to be consistent……..if you feel you need to throw out every aspect of Halloween because of it’s origins instead of addressing issue by issue…then how can we justify having Christmas trees that have their origin in the pagan religion? I love out tree and the positive side of Halloween so I’m not trying to save trees here but I do think we have to be careful about consistency. If not, we are setting ourselves up to continue being seen as hypocrites. Just a thought.
Pastor Tom Hypes
theshepherdsfellowship.org
About Tom Hypes
