2 Corinthians 6: 16-17 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
Every year when Halloween rolls around there is a debate among Christians and the question is asked - Is it wrong to participate in Halloween festivities? So I will join the debate and share my thoughts on my blog here. I invite anyone to leave your comments as to your thoughts about Halloween.
I want to divide my thoughts into three parts:
1) I want to share about what we have done with Halloween.
2) I want to write a bit about the roots of Halloween and what it represents.
3) I want to share what I believe about Halloween from a Bible perspective.
Halloween - What we've done
Throughout my childhood years, our family never did anything for Halloween. We never went trick or treating and I never dressed up for school Halloween at all. We had Halloween parties at school every year and most of the other kids would dress up. There was a costume parade in the gym and each class had a class party with food and games. I thought it was a lot of fun!
Now that I am a parent ( have been for 20 years ) the question becomes - What do we do with our children for Halloween? In hindsight, I think I can honestly say that we should have done less for Halloween with our kids because it is really about celebrating darkness and evil and that is something that a Christian family should not take part in at all. However, I have always allowed my children to dress up for the school Halloween party. I have never bought an actual costume but we have been creative and used old clothes and just figured out a simple costume. ( Sometimes my kids dressed as hockey players or farmers etc ) The pictures below are my kids and their friends in grade 4 at their school party ( sorry about the quality of the pictures). One of my sons is dressed as a "potatoe chip box" - we made that costume and the other son is a pirate. He made the eye patch and the sword etc.
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From my own childhood experience, I knew that it doesn't feel good for a child to stand on the side while everyone else is in the parade so that is why I decided to allow them to participate with a costume. We never have taken our children trick or treating. It just never seemed right nor is it a healthy choice as the kids get so much candy from trick or treating. I think money can be spent more wisely in many other ways. So the Halloween party at school has always been the extent of it for us.
The Origin of Halloween - What does it represent?
Halloween began as a celebration to mark the end of summer and the beginning of the cold and dead of winter. It was believed that spirits would come back from their dead ancestors to try to enter the bodies of people everywhere. Some were very evil spirits. The evil spirits would roam around and cause much trouble. So in order to confuse the evil spirits, people would dress up in various costumes and hope that no evil spirit would recognize them for who they truly are and thus would not enter in. The history of the Jack O Lantern is also a very frightening one. The story is told that a man by the name of Jack tricked the devil into climbing a tree and as a result of this trick, when Jack died he was not allowed into hell since the devil had no hold on him. But he soon found that he was also not allowed into heaven either. According to the myth, the devil gave Jack an ember from hell that would help him see in the darkness. Jack hollowed out a turnip and placed the ember inside the turnip and from there it went to the pumpkin and the Jack O Lantern.
From all these two or so origins of Halloween that I have mentioned it is plain to see that it is a celebration of spiritual darkness. It is not a day where God is honored but rather one in which Satan and demons are celebrated in some form either in honor or in fear.
Should a Christian participate in Halloween - What does the Bible say?
It is obvious throughout the Bible that God demands our loyalty to Him completely - 100% . We can not be on the fence so to speak about this. We cannot serve God and the devil at the same time. We cannot be doing things for the devil and for Christ at the same time. Matthew 12: 29-30 Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
If we take into consideration the costumes that are popular year after year it is witches, the devil, vampires, things that represent violence and blood. It becomes clear that a Christian can not participate in Halloween. I believe we should stay clear of Halloween. Period.
Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Every year when Halloween rolls around there is a debate among Christians and the question is asked - Is it wrong to participate in Halloween festivities? So I will join the debate and share my thoughts on my blog here. I invite anyone to leave your comments as to your thoughts about Halloween.
I want to divide my thoughts into three parts:
1) I want to share about what we have done with Halloween.
2) I want to write a bit about the roots of Halloween and what it represents.
3) I want to share what I believe about Halloween from a Bible perspective.
Halloween - What we've done
Throughout my childhood years, our family never did anything for Halloween. We never went trick or treating and I never dressed up for school Halloween at all. We had Halloween parties at school every year and most of the other kids would dress up. There was a costume parade in the gym and each class had a class party with food and games. I thought it was a lot of fun!
Now that I am a parent ( have been for 20 years ) the question becomes - What do we do with our children for Halloween? In hindsight, I think I can honestly say that we should have done less for Halloween with our kids because it is really about celebrating darkness and evil and that is something that a Christian family should not take part in at all. However, I have always allowed my children to dress up for the school Halloween party. I have never bought an actual costume but we have been creative and used old clothes and just figured out a simple costume. ( Sometimes my kids dressed as hockey players or farmers etc ) The pictures below are my kids and their friends in grade 4 at their school party ( sorry about the quality of the pictures). One of my sons is dressed as a "potatoe chip box" - we made that costume and the other son is a pirate. He made the eye patch and the sword etc.
.JPG)
.JPG)
The Origin of Halloween - What does it represent?
Halloween began as a celebration to mark the end of summer and the beginning of the cold and dead of winter. It was believed that spirits would come back from their dead ancestors to try to enter the bodies of people everywhere. Some were very evil spirits. The evil spirits would roam around and cause much trouble. So in order to confuse the evil spirits, people would dress up in various costumes and hope that no evil spirit would recognize them for who they truly are and thus would not enter in. The history of the Jack O Lantern is also a very frightening one. The story is told that a man by the name of Jack tricked the devil into climbing a tree and as a result of this trick, when Jack died he was not allowed into hell since the devil had no hold on him. But he soon found that he was also not allowed into heaven either. According to the myth, the devil gave Jack an ember from hell that would help him see in the darkness. Jack hollowed out a turnip and placed the ember inside the turnip and from there it went to the pumpkin and the Jack O Lantern.
From all these two or so origins of Halloween that I have mentioned it is plain to see that it is a celebration of spiritual darkness. It is not a day where God is honored but rather one in which Satan and demons are celebrated in some form either in honor or in fear.
Should a Christian participate in Halloween - What does the Bible say?
It is obvious throughout the Bible that God demands our loyalty to Him completely - 100% . We can not be on the fence so to speak about this. We cannot serve God and the devil at the same time. We cannot be doing things for the devil and for Christ at the same time. Matthew 12: 29-30 Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
If we take into consideration the costumes that are popular year after year it is witches, the devil, vampires, things that represent violence and blood. It becomes clear that a Christian can not participate in Halloween. I believe we should stay clear of Halloween. Period.
Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Halloween has found its way also to Finland. It's really sad.
ReplyDelete(We do not celebrate Halloween.)
@Varpunen - I find it sad too. Halloween is really not for Christians when you look at the orgins of it. You can not get away from it here in Canada as it is celebrated everywhere.
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