My kids - 2009
Get together a group of Christian moms and ask them about Halloween and you'll get as many different answers as there are women. Some adamantly are against it as the devil's day. Others don't trick or treat, but do alternate "Fall Festivals" complete with costumes and candy. Finally, there are some that say "it's all in fun" and anything goes.
I don't know where I fall. On one hand, I trick or treated as a kid. I loved it! I love Jesus a lot and don't see how I was scarred by trick or treating. At the same time, the bible says to avoid every kind of evil, and that witch craft is evil.
This is one of those gray areas. Another is shows like "Wizards of Waverly Place" and books like "Harry Potter." They are about witchcraft, so I don't let my kids watch them. But I watched Bewitched as a kid, loved it, and played wiggling my nose to create magic spells. It was fun and pretend. Of course, we also pretended to smoke, complete with candy cigarettes! But today I am a non-smoker (and have never smoked). So where do you draw the line?
Some churches recommend using Halloween as an evangelism tool, giving outChristian tracts along with candy. Remember what is meant for evil, God can turn for good. My friend Sharon shares what her family does here. While Susan participates in a reverse trick or treat. You can read about that here.
Finally, I encourage all of you to read Romans 14. It is an excellent example of folks believing different things in Christ (some eat meat, some don't). I believe you could insert "celebrate Halloween" in these verses to get the same result. Verse 13 sums up the chapter when it says "Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way."
This is a controversial subject. I'd love to hear what your family does in conjunction with Halloween. What I encourage everyone to do, it not to judge their neighbors decisions to participate or not. Listen to God's prompting for your family life, and make your decisions accordingly.
1 Thessalonians 5:22 -- Avoid every kind of evil.
This post originally ran Halloween 2008.
3 comments:
We tricked and treated as kids, and let our kids do it, but I don't celebrate it now. I've heard too many awful things happen, so I don't want to support that. But my husband buys candy in case some kids come by, so he sees no harm in that aspect of it. I think he really does it so he can have candy to eat on Nov. 1st!
awww.....love you friend! I am turning on all our lights right now and starting up the Kids Worship music for our porch!
Hugs,
Sharon
I did a similar blog post today. It really is a touchy subject. http://mining4diamonds.blogspot.com/2011/10/halloween-reflections-part-2.html
I don't much care for the holiday myself. It's everywhere, hard to avoid. I allow my daughter to only do so much. Even in spite of the fact that there is a very dark thread of deep occult involvement in my dh's family tree and I know how seriously evil this holiday can be, I still fail to see the connection between that aspect of it and the dress up/candy part of it. Especially if the dress up/candy is done with no witchery/wizardry/ghostie/ghoulie connections to it. So...I don't know. The main thing is to stay connected to the Lord and allow Him to lead and guide our steps and trust Him to convict us where we need it.
Thanks for sharing your insights!
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