Recently I was having dinner with my children and one of their 10 yr old friends showed up to join us. He is from a different cultutre than us, but we all proclaim to be christian and worship the same God. We got on the subject of the upcoming holiday Halloween, when the friend asked me "do you think you are going up or down", I replied "do you mean to heaven or hell", he smiled and said "I dont know, what do you think"? I of course knew what he was referencing as this particular culture is quite shunning of the Halloween holiday; they make it very clear they don't celebrate, they allow their kids to skip school on that day and wont allow them to even eat candy associated with Halloween. I never quite understood those things, as I grew up baptist and they can be quite strict in their ways of thinking also. We still participated in trick or treating, often visiting trunk or treats at churches, we visited Santa and knew the Easter Bunny. I learned the true meaning of Christmas and Easter, but I have never learned the origin of Halloween.
I truly enjoy the company of this child who chooses to come down at random to have dinner and visit with us, so I tried to take no offense to the shunning nature of his question. As a child you only know what you've been taught, and to him celebrating Halloween is a huge sin, because that is what he's been brainwashed to believe. So i smiled and said "well, I want to belive that I will go "up" when it is my time", but I also defended myself by saying "we don't 'celebrate' Halloween". We dont decorate, we dont worship the devil, nor do we ever dress up as anything evil. To me, Halloween is a little piece of childhood innocence that ends way too soon.
We have dressed up as a family since Camden was born and Jerrick was 2 yrs old; its something I've enjoyed doing as a family and am sad knowing it will be coming to an end soon. We gather together with friends and go trick or treating around the neighborhood. We meet up with family for soup and chilli. My neighborhood is mostly retired, and to see the happiness on the 80+ year olds faces when they see the kids dressed up makes me happy. Several of our neighbors have died in recent years, one is 98 and this will probably be his last halloween passing out candy; another one of our favorite elders fell and broke his leg and we learned his wife is in the nursing home with dementia. It breaks my heart to know their house wont have a light on this year. Last year they said "come back" after our kids got their candy, so we circled the neighborhood and went by their house again to give them a laugh. I didn't realize at that moment that it may be the last time we ever see them again.
So what's so bad about this Halloween holiday? I've never participated in or witnessed any sinful nature by participating in it. When I've asked other christians who dont celebrate it, they never give me a direct answer, its always along the lines of it's associated with witch craft, or as a christian you shouldn't participate in it...but I've never got a reason why.
As an adult I've made it a mission of mine to study the history behind the holiday. Not only that, but I've made it a mission of mine to study the bible, to know the word, so that I may know and believe in what was written and not what was chosen to be told to me. Afterall, 2 Timothy 4:3-4 says "A time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths." I want to know what the bible says...so what exactly does it say about Halloween?!?
NOTHING! There is "nothing" in the Bible about Halloween, that is because Halloween (like Santa and the Easter Bunny) is man made. It started about 2,000 years ago in Europe. The Celtic people believed that on this day, the souls of the dead would come back and visit home, so they dressed up and lit bonfires to ward off ghosts. The celebration is called Samhain and is actually celebrated November 1st, but they would kick off the celebration on October 31st. The holiday was originally created to celebrate the end of harvest and the start of a new year. The word Samhain literally means "summers end". So what about this symbolizes witch craft and sin? Well, as years went on, people of the community held balls (dances) called "witches balls", they believed that since the souls were returning to earth that day they could dance with them again. Woman, mostly younger woman, would seek out mediums and turn to the spirits to seek out their futures, mostly to see what their future love life would be like...and THAT is how Halloween became associated with witch craft. So what does the bible say about witch craft?
Leviticus 19:31 says "do not defile yourselves by turning to mediums or to those who consult the spirits of the dead. I am the Lord your God."
The book of Isaiah says in chapter 8:19-20 "should not a people inquire of God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Consult God's instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn."
As a christian you MUST believe that spirits exist, if you don't you are essentially denying that you believe in God because the bible itself says that God is the holy spirit. John 4:24 says "God is spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." So we know that they do exist, but we are told to not call upon anyone but God. Easy enough.
The bible also says in 1 John 4:1-1 "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into this world."
How can you test a spirit? The bible says "the voice of God will never contradict the word of God". The bible warns in 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 "Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light; it is not surprising then, if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness". The only way to know the difference between what is right and wrong (according to God), is to study the bible.
Proverbs 6:16-19 says "there are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community."
What i'm trying to say is that if dressing up with your children, or your children dressing up to get mounds of teeth rotting candy may cause you to be led into temptation, to worship the devil or participate in witch craft or commit other sins...THEN I understand why you should not participate in Halloween, and whether you have a reason or not, i respect whether you do or dont do Halloween. But as for me and my house, we serve the Lord and have a pretty solid foundation in our faith, so we don't need to be told why we should or shouldn't do things. I feel confident that dressing up as football players and meeting up with friends/family and nicely asking for candy is not going to cause us to commit sin. What does the bible consider sin anyway?
God gives 10 commandements in Deuteronomy 10:4 on how you should live life, and breaking these would be considered a sin; they are as follows:
"Thou shall have no other Gods before me; Thou shall not make unto thee any graven images (idols); Thou shall not say the Lord they God's name in vain; Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy; Honor thy mother and thy father; Thou shall not kill; Thou shall not commit adultery (cheat on their spouse); Thou shall not steal; Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor (lie); and Thou shall not covet (envy)."
These are sins. The bible says it is also a sin when you know it's a sin yet do it anyway. Not that i feel like I have to explain my "why" to a 10 year old, but this is why I let my christian children participate in Halloween. There is no sin being committed. No devil worshipping or witch craft activity on our end. Choosing to do those things is a personal choice. On the day of judgment you will not be held accountable for the sins of others, only for your own. So what others may choose to do on this day is not my problem...there is so much evil in the world and in my opinion we can only shelter our kids from it for so long. We must train up our children in the way they should go in hopes that they wont depart from it. Sheltering them from the world does not prepare them for the reality they will one day face.
I think the reason i feel compelled to write this is because there is such a bad stigma behind christians. I've heard from several people that they don't go to church because it's full of a bunch of hypocrites...and that may be the harash truth! But, Mark 2:17 says "healthy people dont need a doctor - sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners."
Therefore, yes, the church is essentially full of sinners. But who are you to judge when we all walk imperfectly? The problem within churches is with the false christians that scriptures have warned about. If the reason you turned away from church was because of people, were you really there for God? I get it, but at the same time, you are judging them too, holding them to a perfect, unpredictable, standard. The bible says all will fall short and no one will be perfect except God, so to say they're hypocrites isn't fair.
Matthew 23:8-10 says "Dont let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single teacher, and you are all classmates. Dont set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of Father, you have only one Father, and he is in heaven. And dont let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one life leader for you and them - Christ."
The moral of this blog is that Halloween is what you make it. If you learn to listen to the "why" we participate verse just responding because you dont agree, you may realize that being a Christian is a lot like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch, brings you in and washes off all the dirt. Then he cuts the top off and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate and greed. Last, he carves you a new smiling face and puts his light inside of you to shine for all the world to see. - author unknown
Go shine your light this Halloween, and focus on being the reason someone elses light shines a little brighter too.
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