Halloween: Harmless fun?
I've been contemplating and debating opening a can of worms on my blog (something I seem to be really good at doing around here!) for the past few weeks. I wasn't sure whether it was the right time or the right thing to do and yet, when I received the following email, I decided to broach the topic.
C wrote:
I don't think Christians should celebrate Halloween. Period. Dot. Game over.
I understand some of you (maybe many of you) are not of the same persuasion. However, I would like to ask you to consider why. Does Halloween help you to embrace holiness and purity and Godliness in your life? Does it encourage your children to desire good or evil?
I'm not opening up the floor for a debate on whether or not Christians should celebrate Halloween. If you disagree with me, search the Scriptures and seek the Lord's direction. I also encourage you to read this wonderful post by Catherine. If you take issue with my statements or want to share with me a Biblical rebuttal, feel free to email me. I will not, however, post comments of this nature.
For those of you who do not celebrate this "holiday," (I hate to use that terminology because there is most certainly nothing "holy" about it!) do you provide your children with an alternative, or do you just avoid it altogether? I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'd also love to hear any creative ideas for using Halloween for witnessing. This was something we've done in years past. We would make up bags for the children who would knock on our door with homemade popcorn balls and children's Gospel tracts. I know of another family who hands out tracts specifically which share the Gospel using Halloween as a springboard. They say in the tracts that if the children want to come back at a later date, they have a special treat to give them.
C wrote:
I noticed in your frugal friday post you said not to list frugal Halloween tips. I'm glad you take a stand against that. I am wondering if you have any ideas for how we can avoid this "holiday." Before our daughter was born, we used to just find ways to be away from home that night so that we wouldn't have to deal with trick or treaters, pranks, etc. but now that she's here, I'm not sure what to do. Usually she goes to bed at 7 or 7:30, so being out late might not be the best thing for her. In another wrinkle, Halloween is my mother-in-law's birthday and she LOVES to celebrate Halloween. She doesn't understand why I don't, and has already given me a bib that says "My first Halloween" for our daughter to wear! My husband thinks that although we don't want to celebrate Halloween, we need to be careful to still be honoring to his parents, and I agree, but this is a big challenge this year. What do you think? If you have time, it would be great if you did a post asking how your readers handle Halloween. -C.Are you ready for this? Buckle your seat belts, hold on to your hats, and get the tomatoes ready to fly:
I don't think Christians should celebrate Halloween. Period. Dot. Game over.
I understand some of you (maybe many of you) are not of the same persuasion. However, I would like to ask you to consider why. Does Halloween help you to embrace holiness and purity and Godliness in your life? Does it encourage your children to desire good or evil?
I'm not opening up the floor for a debate on whether or not Christians should celebrate Halloween. If you disagree with me, search the Scriptures and seek the Lord's direction. I also encourage you to read this wonderful post by Catherine. If you take issue with my statements or want to share with me a Biblical rebuttal, feel free to email me. I will not, however, post comments of this nature.
For those of you who do not celebrate this "holiday," (I hate to use that terminology because there is most certainly nothing "holy" about it!) do you provide your children with an alternative, or do you just avoid it altogether? I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'd also love to hear any creative ideas for using Halloween for witnessing. This was something we've done in years past. We would make up bags for the children who would knock on our door with homemade popcorn balls and children's Gospel tracts. I know of another family who hands out tracts specifically which share the Gospel using Halloween as a springboard. They say in the tracts that if the children want to come back at a later date, they have a special treat to give them.
posted by Crystal Paine at 5:08 PM
65 Comments:
I won't be throwing tomatoes your way! I agree with you 100% and we do NOT celebrate Halloween. We tell our 5-year old twins that we do not want to celebrate Satan's Day. We want to bring glory to God. We were in Wal*Mart one day just before Halloween last year and my son (then 4) stepped out in the aisle and asked a lady if she celebrated Halloween. She was excited to tell him yes and ask what kind of costumes they would be wearing. She couldn't get away from us fast enough when he replied that we don't celebrate Satan, we celebrate Jesus' birth, death and resurrection!!!! I would like to recommend the book, "Mommy, Why Don't We Celebrate Halloween?" by Linda Hacon Winwood, available at Christian book stores or web sites. We use to leave the house, but we live so far back in the woods now that no one attempts coming to our door! We usually have a family night - popcorn and a movie. This year we're visiting friends for a Harvest Celebration and Chili Cook Off!
Crystal,
As always, the Church not only offers an "alternative," but indeed the original HOLY-day that the world has perverted. In the Church's calendar, November 1 has marked the celebration of the lives of great heroes of the faith - "All Saints' Day." In the early days the Christians were accustomed to solemnize the anniversary of a martyr's death for Christ at the place of martyrdom. In the persecution of Diocletian the number of martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be assigned to each. But the Church, feeling that every martyr should be venerated, appointed a common day for all; our earliest record of this observance comes from a sermon of St. Ephrem the Syrian in A.D. 373.
Ocotober 31 is the eve of this commemoration- a time of prayer, thanksgiving, and celebration of exemplary lives that have gone before. "Halloween" literally refers to the eve of the holy ones... "all hallowed's eve"...= "halloween." Because the saints and martyrs of old are dead, the world took the idea of creepiness and ran with it. But on Ocotber 31, I will be in church preparing for the celebration of Nov 1.
So: by way of "alternative," Christian families should find a liturgical church that still keeps the celebration of the martyrs on Nov 1, and spend October 31 as a family reflecting with thanksgiving on the lives of a hero of the church. This is a great occasion for growth in character and witness that has been lost in many Protestant denominations.
MM: Isn't it so sad how the world has to seemingly pervert everything?
You reminded me of another thing we've done in years past, and probably something we will do again in the future - celebrate Reformation Day! We would read about Martin Luther and talk abou the Reformation. We've even done skits and other things about Martin Luther commemorating the day. For those of you not familiar with this, you can read more information here:
http://www.stpaulskingsville.org/reformation.htm
We sometimes incorporated some of the research and reading into our homeschooling during the end of October.
I grew up in a home that did not celebrate Halloween. My mother was very prayerful about it and felt strongly that the Lord did not want for us to partake in celebrating Halloween.
As an adult, I (along with previous posters) have learned more about All Saints Day, All Hallows Eve, and Reformation Day. I have learned that we, as Christians have a rich heritage and indeed ought to celebrate on October 31st!
I will be gathering with like-minded friends to celebrate All Hallows Eve and particularly focus on the story of Martin Luther and the Reformation. The children will play games like making 'stained glass' with baked Jolly Ranchers. I am looking to it as a joyful time when we celebrate our Christian heritage.
What a brave and well done post Crystal. And MM you stole my thunder, but you said it so much better than I could have anyway-- A return to All Saints Day : )
Seriously, that is generally the answer anyway I find, to look for what is deeper and purer behind something.
And it could be a really fun thing for kids too. A nice feast meal, crafts that celebrate your favorite saints.
This could be sacreligious if done wrong, but could you imagine a costume party where folks came as their favorite saint or faith hero/heroine rather than their favorite superhero etc? If done in a nonsacreligious way this might be a neat thing, an alternative for kids so used to halloween parties/costumes. Well, just a thought anyway...
I am really thankful that you made this post and look forward to reading the comments on it.
As a child, my family celebrated Halloween. We did not do an all out celebration, just costumes and trick-or-treating, plus any activities offered at church or school. The holiday always bothered me for some reason. Especially as I grew up *very* near Detroit, where the night before Halloween is known as "Devil's Night" and people commit arson and all sorts of other nasty deeds. I was always very fearful of Halloween week due to this. :-(
My husband and I are currently expecting our first child and have began discussing how appropriate the celebration of Halloween really is for a Christian family. We both love fall and there is much to celebrate in the fall, but goblins and ghosts simply are not what we want our future children to celebrate.
Crystal, I hope this question is not inappropriate, but we have also been discussing the encouragement of belief in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Neither of us feel this to be appropriate and quite the disrespect to Christ and the celebration of his life and death. We do not know of anybody who does not do the Santa thing, so it would be really interesting to hear other's opinions on this matter too.
Growing up we always had to dress up as a positive figure or something we wanted to be when we grew up. We would then go door to door. Now that things have changed even more my girls do dress up as I did, but we go to a church harvest festival. One we went to had a great game called Bonk Goliath, or something along those lines, and whomever hit Goliath on the head with a bean bag won a prize.
As far as the tract thing goes, I would stay clear. I would be deeply offended even as a Christian to receive one in my kids' bags. I think it is very underhanded and sneaky to push our dearly held beliefs none the less onto other people's kids through a kids' holiday. If you hate Halloween that is fine, but do not try to convert kids while usurpping(sp?) their parents' authority. This only causes people to become mad and even more defensive to the Gospel. Instead, why don't Christians say the month before knock on their neighbors' doors and create a friendship there. Start to form stronger relationships with your neighbors as a part of your witnessing months before so that they are receptive to you. Ask them if they celebrate Halloween. Strike up a conversation, hand out some pamphlets explaining why you don't agree with it, etc. You are not going to end Halloween and bring anyone to Christ by handing out pamphlets by sneaking them into their kids' bags.
Just my thoughts..
In Him,
Johanna
Halloween is not widely celebrated in Australia- thankfully.(Yes,I'm very anti celebrating what is evil too.)More & more shops are using it as a marketing ploy though. We live just up the road from "Australia Zoo" & I think I saw a sign up that they're doing something to mark the day.I think handing out tracts with sweets is the way to go & do lots of praying, as Halloween is when all the witches "pray" & have their rituals.
Claire
We don't celebrate Halloween really, more for convenience than anything. The area I grew up in was very predominately strict Catholic, so those that DID observe Halloween were doing so in keeping with the original "holy-days". My husband and I are going to a Halloween party this year, and I'm curious to see how it goes. We're not going to stay away, we're not going to stick our heads in the sand. We're going to share the Gospel with those who might not have heard it before.
And when we get up the next day, we'll be at church, saying thanks to the saints who died as martyrs, honoring family members who lived lives of faith, and praising Christ for being Who He is!
Wow what a breath of fresh air to hear someone else that does not believe we should celebrate Halloween. I have been especially appaled this year at how many people I know think it is just fine...Growing up we went to harvest parties and then when I married my hubby I would just turn the lights out so I would not have to deal with it. We have children now but they are too young to care. Also we live in Mexico and the Christians really don't celebrate this day because it is very, very pagan here.
I think that if we lived in the United States I would take my children to a church harvest celebration or celebrate Reformation Day!
Again thanks for taking a stand!
I'm glad you posted this. I will tell you what we do. We have always let our children go trick-or-treating. We take them to a certain very well to do neighborhood where we know alot of the people that live there. We do not allow our children to dress up as anything evil (witches, ghosts,etc.) They have been an elephant, Thomas the Train, mickey mouse, butterfly, princess. We look at it as this is a fun part of their childhood that we can all be a part of. I went trick or treating as a child and it was always so much fun. We never dressed up as anything evil then either. I think people have made it be an evil holiday with all the talk of witchcraft, haunted places and such. But I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't think it's evil or wrong for christians to dress up and go trick or treating on halloween.
Wendy
We don't celebrate Halloween OR All Saints' Day. :)
Right now our children are too young to ask too many questions, but when my 2-year old son sees other people's Halloween decorations and asks about them, we tell him what those things really are (e.g. we don't say, "Oh, that's a cute little pretend witch!" but take the opportunity to talk truthfully about those things).
Actually, though, our family is different from the mainstream in so many ways, I imagine that not celebrating Halloween will just be "another one of those things" and not any particular hardship to our children...
One year, the members of our church went t or t-ing together. About a week prior to the big night, we all worked to prepare some nice christmas ornaments. When we knocked on a door, we gave our goody bags filled with information about our church, a tract explaining the gospel, and the ornament. We insisted on not taking candy (our kids took some, of course) but on giving. It was a fantastic outreach! It was fun! And, the folks at home were totally surprised to be given something rather than meeting someone who just wanted some candy.
This is definitely a night Christians need to take away from the enemy!
We do not celebrate Halloween. It was very hard to give up because my husband and I LOVED dressing up and going to parties. We felt convicted one year about a great many things and halloween was one of them. We gave it up when my oldest was 6. We explained why to her and she never complained. Since then we have made it a family night, camped out in the living room with pizza, candy, soda and popcorn and watched a family friendly movie. The porch light is left off but if somebody does ring the bell we give them some of the candy we are munching on (a fresh piece, lol).
I had a wonderful grandma friend who would hand out candy along with a Jesus trinket on halloween. A few years ago when her door bell rang she was very upset to see a number of teenagers at her door. She told them they were a little old for trick or treating but they smiled and told her they didn't want what she was handing out. Then the teens handed her a Christian pamphlet, and explained that they were on a halloween mission to spread God's word. I thought that was awesome! What a way for our youth to combat evil!!!
Thanks Crystal, for your post on Halloween. We do not celebrate Halloween as a family for the reasons you and the other ladies have mentioned.
Our church will hold a special Reformation Day evening, which will be great.
This year Halloween has come up a little more because my oldest children are five and three and the decorations are absolutely everywhere! I heard somewhere that Halloween is the second most lucrative occasion for retailers, and I believe that after walking into any store this time of year.
I pray for God's grace as we teach and train our children, that He will protect and preserve their hearts.
Thanks again for raising an important subject!
My children do trick or treat and we hand out treats, but I do not allow them to dress as anything gross or evil, the may not a costume with a mask, and I keep any decorating I choose to do, *often only changing the wallpaper on the computer* :) light and friendly.
I could give it up but it would cause a lot of contension between myself and my husband (like when I did not want Santa Claus to visit our kids) so it is not worth it to me.
Not really a halloween celebration but, when I lived in the Philippines the filipinos used the last week of Oct to clean up the graves of dead family members, whitewashing the tombs etc... (it is not done by the cemetaries, the way it is done here,) and on Nov. 1st often would spend the day picnicing at the grave site, to remember a loved one who had departed.
Wendy, I think your idea of a costume party organized around saints and heroes of the faith could be fantastic, personally. So many of the saints have such definite iconography associated with them to use for costumes - though parents would have to use discretion, since so many images of the saints' iconography represent symbols of their martyrdom- and I can certainly imagine Protestant kids dressing up as Reformers :)
I'm not going to throw tomatoes, either. Here's something that was brought to my attention just a few days ago. Did you know that Halloween is the second biggest consumer 'holiday' in the US? Americans spend about *three billion* dollars a year on costumes, candy, and who knows what else. The only day of the year we spend more for is Christmas. It just boggles the mind.....
Every year our congregation has a fall party or get-together where we visit, sing, and eat. This year, we are having everyone come in costume - as a Bible character!! We are not doing this on Halloween, but just an evening in October. We will then have games revolving around each person's character - a "Guess Who" games and others. It gives everyone a fun time to get into a costume, and hopefully some of the younger ones will learn about some of the less familiar men & women of Scripture! =) -Tiffany
Like you, I do not believe that Christians should celebrate Halloween. Many churches provide alternative "fall festivals" or "harvest parties" but so often these are merely "Christianized" Halloween parties (dress up as an angel instead of a witch, etc.). For many years now, my family has had a family night on Halloween. Some years we have physically left the house (with no outside lights on, of course) and done something like go bowling. However, my daughter's favorite thing to do on Halloween is to have a family game night. We put a fire in the fireplace, pop popcorn, and play board games by candlelight in the back part of the house so that we can leave the lights off and not attract trick-or-treaters. Susan
As I posted on Catherines site, we Aussies don't 'do' halloween anyway... except say, the nightclubs, because it's a good excuse to go out and dress up and act like an idiot. The department stores have tried to cash in on it a couple of times, but it always fell flat. Whether because most Australians see it as an 'American thing' and so won't have a bar of it, or whether God is protectiong our country from that, I am not sure. I know that I don't agree with it spiritually, it's like a big neon arrow into your soul blinking "demons, come on in!" *shrug* It's just another way satan has weaseled his way in... by making it a fun, 'harmless' kiddie thing.
I agree with you Crystal. Before I got saved Halloween was my holiday, oh I loved getting dressed up as something scary and evil. But then after I got saved, God really dealt with me. There are many good articles online as to why Christians do not celebrate Halloween. I have looked at a couple in the past.
My husband is Catholic so he will be celebrating All Saints Day bur for Halloween we don't do it, but he thinks there is nothing wrong with dressing up and going out, which that will make for interesting conversation when we have children.
Weather you dress your child up as something "not evil", you are still promoting Satan's holiday.
Many churches try to justify that and it's just sad...they need to have a church service on Halloween instead of dressing up. Exalt Jesus, not Satan. I remember reading an article about way back in the days, people used to dress up in costumes on Halloween and go door to door begging for food and if not would be given, a curse or something would be put upon that person. I can't recall the article though.
We need to find out where all these rituals stemmed from, i.e. costumes, going door to door, jack o laterns, etc.
Satan is very decieveing during this time, but it's time for true Christians to take a stand! We need to quit being a doormat to the world and allow their influences on us. We need to be influincing the unsaved and participating in Halloween is not a good testimony.
I think handing out gospel tracts is alright if someone comes to the door, it's actually a good idea. If someone gets offended, oh well, Christians get offended every day when people curse the name of our Lord and Saviour, so it's time for us to make our mark. Besides, Halloween is just another day, another day for us to soul win.
In Germany we do not celebrate Halloween at all. But the big stores have been selling Halloween things the last years. They probably hope that it will sell well and could become another "holiday" in Germany. I hope not! I definately do not want to celebrate witches, vampires etc... You should expect Reformation Day to be big in Germany, but it is not. :(
Here in the region of Germany where I live there is the tradition of St. Martin's Day. He was a rich man who shared his cloak with a beggar in the snow. So there are St. Martin's parades for the children with lights and bonfires. Afterwards the children walk from door to door where they sing songs about St. Martin's Day and collect candy for it.
As this is just one week after Halloween, people here are not very favorable to trick or treating anyways.
Hi Crystal,
My husband and I also do not celebrate Halloween. We prefer to treat it just like any other day and keep our porch lights off. I am rather ashamed to admit that several years ago, even though, I had a conviction in my heart to not celebrate Halloween, I still decorated and passed out candy and even had a party! Thank goodness, God kept dealing with me!!! He finally got through to me how serious it is to not give honor to satan in any way. Praise God.
We have gone to fall festivals before and one year had our own here, with one other family's kids. Last year we never got to one so I was feeling like we needed to do something else but couldn't think of what. Then it occurred to me that feeling like we "need" to do something is, in fact, acknowledging it as a holiday, which we don't. So we turned the porch light off and watched a movie.
I don't agree at all with giving tracts out. Nor do I agree with making your children vocal opponents against Halloween. If you choose not to celebrate, that is your choice but don't give the world more reason to hate Christians.
We don't do Halloween anymore. We live way out in the country and in five years, no one has ever come to our door. Secondly, our youngest has a severe nut allergy. There is almost no candy she can have.
Crystal, we feel the way you do. Up until last year, we've always lived in places where we simply didn't have to have anything to do with Halloween. Last year we moved into a devolpement neighborhood with dozens of kids and a bunch of habaloo. After lots of prayer & discussion we decided to witness for the Gospel. You can read what we did here:
http://janelmessenger.blogspot.com/2006/10/what-we-did-for-halloween-last-year.html
We realize it's not for everyone, but it's what we felt God called us to do.
Oh & maybe C could embroidery a bit extra on the "My First Halloween" bib, like...
"where I can celebrate Grandma's Birthday" or Reformation Day
or something similar to identify with the good in the day.
Halloween is one of the eight sabbats of Wiccan(Imbolg, Eastre-Easter, Beltane-May Day, Summer Solstice, Lammas, Autumn Equinox, Samhain-Halloween, Yule). We do not celebrate it in an exchange for "fun" though as a child it was taught to be harmless. We also don't celebrate Easter or think much of Valentine's Day(don't all the saints of God here think it wise to focus on the feasts of Israel spoken of in the Bible which Jesus celebrated and fulfilled...Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, etc.?). Where my oldest son went to school until we began homeschooling, the principal instead had a book character parade which encouraged the children to read a book(the book had to be brought to school and the child dressed as the main character). Would have been nice to do so "just because" and as a monthly encouragement rather than still mark a pagan festival day as valid to be emulated or exchanged in some way(as if saints are missing out on something when they have everything in Christ). A local Christian school dressed as people of faith from the past, I believe. Each day the Lord made...and we are made by Him and for Him. It is wise to rejoice and be glad as the days are redeemed accordingly and for His glory.
http://www.wiccaweb.org.uk/sabbat.html
Susan I agree about the harvest parties, I've always found it a bit hypocritical to say someone is not celebrating halloween and what it stands for but they'll go to a church function dressed up as something "nice" and get candy anyway, what exactly is the difference?
I smiled when I read your post, Crystal. The holiday seasons are approaching. I remember last year when I was reading blogs that were bashing Christmas and Easter I was getting so upset about them. I don't get that upset now.lol. I'm a big girl now.
I used to be very bothered by Halloween.After I had my first baby I had that desire to dress him up in a silly costume that would accentuate his cuteness like Winnie-the-Pooh. I love to dress babies up. Doesn't any mom? We used to go Trick-or-Treating when I was young. I think the last time I went was when I was 12. We made it a fun day. My husband and I have decided that we will go this year. My kids are not allowed to dress up in anything evil or grotesque ( not like they have a choice right now). We have my in-laws over (they hate to have to get up and down to the door, so they make us do the work) and I make pumpkin pie or some other autumn treats. My FIL used to drop candy and a gospel tract into the kids bag. I will say that trick or treating is a great way to meet neighbors. Our Halloween traffic (we get a lot of them)always bring their parents and I would even stop and chat with a few of them. I don't consider our family as worshiping Satan. I just look at it as a fun day. When the kids get older we will probably stop trick or treating and stay home...I don't know. Our church used to have a Reformation day celebration, but the church we are going to now doesn't have this. I think we will take Halloween year by year. Next year we might feel differently about it.
If people are really bothered by this celebration then just turn the lights off. Put a sign on your door with an explanation why you don't celebrate it. IF your relatives give you a hard time than bummer. Just tell them, "We can't celebrate this day with a good conscience. It is nice to have peace in a family, but you can disagree in a respectable manner. My husband and father do it all the time. I was raised in the country, so we had zero trick or treaters. As for mischief night(does anyone else have mischief night?) and the Halloween tricks, I don't know. We get tricks all year round where I live. My car got egged in the middle of summer. I guess each family should use their imagination to protect their property ie. get a motion light, dog, move your vehicles, etc...The police have come to our house atleast once a year because of pranks. What an interesting town we live in. I was introduced to the "crap bomb" last year. We also had our door kicked so hard it broke. People who live in the country are spoiled!
Anyway, if any pro-Halloween people give Crystal and others a hard time about not celebrating Halloween, than you guys need to get a life. I'm sure their kids will not be irreparably damaged by avoiding this celebration.
As a child (in a Christian home) we were allowed to dress up as innocent things and trick or treat in our neighborhood (we lived in the country and there were about 20 houses that we knew our neighbors well.)
As adults, my sister and I both struggled with the decision. If mom and dad let us (and they are Christians)how wrong can it be. Their logic was that they were innocent costumes and it was just candy. My sister and I have both agreed that(she has 4 children and I am expecting) our children will not be dressing up and trick or treating. The children are young enough that they don't really understand yet but as they get older we will explain that we don't celebrate it because of the demonic associations.
I have recently joined a church that has a harvest party for the whole church family on the 31st in celebration of the season, and the bounty God has given us. There is apple-bobbing and treat bags and fun for the whole family. I think that this is a great idea as long as you are explaining to your children why you aren't participating in Halloween and that this is something seperate. I wouldn't want our children to have the idea that the reason they didn't go trick or treating is because the church has it's own halloween celebration.
Thanks for posting this. I'm acutally going to do some research on the All Saints Day. I'd never heard of it. Isn't that strange?
Jennifer
We are right in the middle of this! My husband and I both grew up trick or treating and waiting for santa at Christmas, etc. We do not agree with this now (our kids are 16,12,4,2) but we have learned to be very careful in this area with our families. We have always used Romans chapt. 14 as our guide regarding Christmas. We don't do Santa, but do exchange gifts, have a tree etc. Our moms are very unhappy we are not doing Santa, they almost seem to take it as a rejection of the way they raised us. It has been a much better witness to compromise a little with this. For example, we will not compromise on "no Santa", however, we do not give a religious speech every time our family mentions santa either. Our kids know he is a fictional character and talk about him as such, and have learned to entertain our moms in this area a little bit, and the importance of maintaining relationsips with our family in order to be a witness to them. This has been very successful with our moms and they both seem to be becoming more and more respectful of our faith, as well as curious ;).
Now as far as Halloween, we've always trick or treated, no evil costumes, participate in harvest parties at church etc. but lately, we've been feeling more uncomfortable with this (gotta love the Holy Spirit :) We had been going back and forth, unclear as to where to draw the line etc., when we came across the verse in 1Thess 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
That's pretty clear, so we are ditching the trick or treating and harvest parties, letting the kids dress up as super heros, princesses etc. and going to our moms' homes so they can give the kids candy. We will be praying for continued leading from the Spirit so that we keep glorifying God as our priority and maintaining our witness to our families. I think it's a very delicate walk sometimes.
BTW Steve and Teri Maxwell talk about it in this month's MOM's and Dad's Corner at www.Titus2.com
I am confused by those who say they are offended by those who hand out tracts with candy on halloween. Excuse me, but if people are coming to MY HOUSE to get stuff from me, I can certainly chose what to give them. Beggars can't be choosers, after all. Besides, they have every right to throw them away if they are offended. :)
For those of you who are upset by my saying that for a few years we gave tracts and candy out, I thought I should mention that we didn't just share the Gospel on Halloween - we were always seeking ways to reach out to our neighbors. My parents tried to use every opportunity we had to share God's love. For Christmas, we would bake goodies, write up a letter sharing Christ and take it to all our neighbors. Throughout the year, we would invite them over for dinner, for Bible studies, and so on. It was about building a relationship and opening up our home and hearts and lives to share God's love with those who didn't know Him. The exciting thing is that there were at least a few of our neighbors who came to Christ, through my parents'/our family's outreach.
Crystal, thank you for bringing this topic up.
I should warn anyone reading my response that I absolutely HATE Halloween. I think it is evil and of the devil. How is that for a strong statement?! :) I don't want to offend anyone, so I just wanted to put that out there before I continue.
So, here goes. There is nothing remotely Godly about this day. It is steeped in Paganism and people should be aware of what they are celebrating and allowing their children to participate in.
The Encyclopedia of Religion says about Halloween:
"On this occasion, it was believed that a gathering of supernatural forces occurred as during no other period of the year. The eve and day of Samhain were characterized as a time when the barriers between the human and supernatural worlds were broken. Otherworldly entities, such as the souls of the dead, were able to visit earthly inhabitants, and humans could take the opportunity to penetrate the domains of the gods and supernatural creatures.
"Fiery tributes and sacrifices of animals, crops, and possibly human beings were made to appease supernatural powers who controlled the fertility of the land . . . Samhain acknowledged the entire spectrum of nonhuman forces that roamed the earth during the period" (pp. 176-177).
On this holiday "huge bon-fires were set on hilltops to frighten away evil spirits ... The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on this day, and the autumnal festival acquired sinister significance, with ghosts, witches, hobgoblins, black cats, fairies, and demons of all kinds said to be roaming about. It was the time to placate the supernatural powers controlling the processes of nature. In addition, Halloween was thought to be the most favorable time for divinations concerning marriage, luck, health, and death. It was the only day on which the help of the devil was invoked for such purposes" (Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th edition, Micropaedia, Vol. IV, p. 862, "Halloween").
Modern Halloween may appear to be quite harmless, but the spiritual implications of dabbling with the spirit world are extremely serious. Fortune-telling, Ouija boards, telepathy, astrology, voodoo, clairvoyance, black magic and such can all be related to occult, satanic forces or the worship of natural phenomena and are forbidden in Scripture.
Jesus Christ tells us that "the first and greatest commandment" is to love our Creator "with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37-38). God alone is the giver of life and all good things. To give recognition to false gods, and to imitate practices that honored them, is unacceptable and idolatrous.
I wrote about my feelings on Halloween on my blog last year and some of this is quoted from that. You can tell from my blog that I do not partake in any “holiday” that is not commanded by God.
I have never celebrate Halloween and it didn’t hurt me. Children will not be scarred for life from not participating, and I think it would make more of a good impact on a child to teach them why they are not keeping such a day. Paganism is paganism, no matter how you dress it up. (pun intended). :)
Can you tell I feel strongly about this? I hope I didn't offend anyone. I hope everyone has a blessed day.
Crystal,
I totally agree with you. However, I have 3 of my 6 children's birthdays in October and 2 more in November... so to get rid of the "dress-up" bug I do a dress-up tea party for the girls and a seperate theme dress-up for the boys for their birthdays. I confine it to a proper theme because I do not want children showing up dressed scantily or scary.
The challenge is that our neighborhood has a tradition in which they "BOO!" people. They go around and put a "You've been BOO'ed!" poster on 2 peoples doors with a halloween poem and bags of candy and then you are supposed to "BOO!" 2 more neighbors and so on. We live in a neighborhood of about 35 homes. I couldn't bring myself to pass on that poem and "BOO!" a neighbor... so I re-wrote the poem and decided to "BLESS!" my neighbors instead of "BOO!" them. This was at the risk of offending... but then, so is proclaiming the Gospel.
We moved into this neighborhood a year ago and my neighbors told me to make sure I bought ALOT of candy because our neighborhood gets anywhere from 200 to 400 trick or treaters. I thought they were exaggerating. They weren't. My husband and I gave out Biblically sound tracs along with a bit of candy, but we ran out of tracs within an hour so we shut off our lights and stopped answering the door. We couldn't bring ourselves to give out just candy.
We are expecting the same thing this year and are determined to be prepared not to just ignore these people but find a way to minister to them by at least being prepared with more tracs.
You wrote: For those of you who are upset by my saying that for a few years we gave tracts and candy out, I thought I should mention that we didn't just share the Gospel on Halloween - we were always seeking ways to reach out to our neighbors. My parents tried to use every opportunity we had to share God's love.
Amen Crystal and to God be ALL the glory.
We must remember from whence we came and know that Christ sat among and ministered to sinners ... as we all are.
"It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."--Jesus Christ
We also do not celebrate Halloween. When my sister and I were younger we would dress up and our parents would take us to visit grandparents and other close family friends. However, my younger brother and sister have never dressed up for Halloween.
A few years ago we had a harvest celebration as an alternative to trick or treating. A large group of us got together and played games outside. We enjoyed a meal together of pumpkin stew (cooked inside the pumpkin!) as well as pumpkin pie and other tasty fall favorites. We made decorations of oranges and cloves as well. It was a very fun evening of food and fellowship with good friends!
Thanks for taking a stand against celebrating Halloween! I agree with you whole-heartedly.
jaclyn
Great post, Crystal! We grew up celebrating Halloween and when my older children were small we did the 'fall festivals' at church which were nothing more than 'Christianized' Halloween parties.
For many years now we have not acknowledged Halloween in any way. My younger children have never celebrated it so they don't think they are missing anything. In fact, when any of them see the many Halloween decorations that are put out by our neighbors (we have one neighbor with a whole graveyard in his front yard with sayings on the full size tombstones like "Will B. Back" and "Barry M. Deep") they all give a collective, "EEEEeeewwww!" They don't like them for which I am so very thankful!
We either leave the house or just keep the outside lights off and go about our business. There is a general unspoken rule that if your lights are off, you're not participating in trick or treating. So, we don't usually get bothered on that night.
Our church does have Reformation Sunday that falls at the end of October but does not coincide with Halloween too closely. On that night we have the church service as usual, then after church we have pizza and a movie or a lesson on a reformer. This year we are learning about John Wycliffe. My children really enjoy this and don't at all associate it with a "Halloween substitute" which is great since that's not what it's intended to be anyway.
This is a very courageous post! Thank you for blogging on this topic!!
We do not celebrate Halloween and I did not celebrate it as a child. It is of no importance in my life or the lives of my children. We don't celebrate holiday X or Holiday Y because we are not that religion. Halloween is no different. We are not pagans and therefore, we don't celebrate Halloweeen.
I don't look for ways to substitute a fun day for Halooween or find "an alternative" because I think that gives my kids the message that they are missing something by not celebrating Halloween.
I tell my kids that we are missing NOTHING and that is the end of that.
I have strong opinions on Halloween and I'm not giving them an "alternative" for the day. They will not die from not trick or treating. I also don't give my kids fake cigarettes so they can fit in with the other kids who smoke either. I teach them (or at least I hope I do!) to turn from evil and stand strong.
I am located in a metropolitan area and there are many who practice witchcraft etc. on October 31. I'm not going to be a part of that!
Like I said, I have strong opinions on Halloween. (smile)
Many Blessings,
Alice
I also wanted to add that it really annoys me that the public schools celebrate Halloween and put up witches etc. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't witchcraft or WICCA or paganism a recognized religion in the US? How come they can celebrate their holy sabbath in the public schools and in the public arena but Christians and Jews must be silent on our Holy days???? Stores are afraid to use the word Christmas for fear of offending someone but a WICCA Sabbath is OK? Something is very wrong with that.
Blessings,
Alice
Schools around here in the south are not allowed to put up Halloween decorations or have Halloween parties. I guess it varies by state. I still send a snack on that day.
I am glad you brought this up, Crystal. We never celebrated Halloween when I was growing up. In fact, we actually left one church because they put up Halloween decorations in the Sunday School classrooms! We often had fall festivals, which usually occurred around the end of October although they weren't necessarily in conjuction with October 31st. My mom would make costumes for us, which was a lot of fun.
I attended a Christian college, and they let the children from the town trick-or-treat in the dorms. I remember having a hard time with that, but not sure why. Now I wish I had said something!
Today I spent some time watching part one and two of a five-part DVD series I was given free a few years back, "Does the Truth Matter Anyway?". Those parts focused on pragmatism and worldliness in the presentation of absolute Truth of the Bible. It prompted searching around a bit online for thoughts on Christians and witnessing with treats and tracts since part of the topic of Halloween here. From what I read, here are tidbits gleaned to consider(the desire is to let the Holy Spirit teach each of us what God desires):
If a Christian wants to witness, they have how many other days of the year to do so with their extended family, neighbors, and others? Handing out candy(the treat part of the Halloween festivities for children to avoid the trick) isn't nourishing. Why do so, then(it isn't the same as turning away someone hungry or thirsty and needing food or water to be given in the name of Jesus), in an attempt to share Life in Christ? Would Jesus or the apostles be pragmatic in their outreach with enemies of the gospel and God? Did they "go into the world" or did they invite the pagans and their Satan worship customs to their door encouragingly to participate partially to make the gospel attractive and then bid them fond ado? Does adding a tract sanctify an activity rooted in the worship of the adversary of God and His children which is for the children of the night(Christians are children of the day). Why not keep off the lights, which in most communities signifies that the household is NOT participating in Halloween(whether the community has the time set for the afternoon or night hours)? Why not remain separate from the pagan worship day totally and pick another day prior as a time of outreach and pass out the tracts then? Believers can deem that a witnessing behavior gets a positive response yet God just may have had to override our sin in His drawing an individual.
Of course there are views for doing whatever it takes to buy up opportunities to witness but these spoke to my heart concerning denying self, loving others while remaining separated unto holiness, and suffering for the sake of righteousness.
We do not celebrate halloween. But I would like to share what we have done before. We decortate the house for christmas(with all the lights out front) We beg the grocery store to let us buy candy canes. Then we posted the sign on the door " We just can't wait to celebrate so join us as we enjoy Jesus's birth" We put a piture of the nativity on the sign. We turn on the Christmas music and celebrated Jesus. We get a few weird looks from "trick or treaters"(several thought getting candy canes was cool) But we felt very blessed by God. My neighbors have even said what a good idea it is and how much better it is than hanging ghosts. My kids love that they get to celebrate jesus's birth early and share it with others.
Wow, what a lot of comments! =)
We don't celebrate Halloween either. I can't believe how much money people pour into such ugly decorations at this time of year! Of course, it's just my husband and I, and we usually go away for the evening.
A respectful comment to Johanna and the others who disagree with handing out tracts: the parents are giving their ok for you to give their children anything when they let their children go door to door asking for treats. Why not give them the Gospel? I do believe though, that if you are going to hand out tracts, it should be accompanied with a treat!
I *totally* agree with both of your comments Tammy!
Did you know October 31st is Reformation Day? We'll be celebrating with our own "Diet of Worms" (gummy worms) and watching the movie Martin Luther.
Here's a great review, and some more ideas:
http://spurgeon.wordpress.com/2006/10/17/reformation-day-idea-martin-luther-dvd-1953/
We previewed it a little this afternoon, and even our 5-year-old son loved it! Praise God for the faithful men whom He used to reform the church.
We also do not celebrate Halloween. My views are very similar to Joyce's and Leigh's, so I won't repeat everything they wrote.
Crystal, when I come to your blog I feel like I am coming to a like-minded friend's house. It's so...comforting.
It has been a blessing reading everyones comments. We do not celebrate Halloween but have in the past gone to "harvest parties". Still don't know how I feel about all of them. I love the idea of a Reformation party, singing old hyms and learning about Saints from the past. I want to talk to our church about this one. We use to go to a church that had the youth go and collect food for the local foodbank that night. I thought this is a good time since people are already expecting people at their door. I think they would hand out a flyer the week before letting people know what they where doing. Rod and Staff ministries has a small tract called "The Truth about Halloween". It's pretty honest in its information and I took the chance to read it to my 6 and 5 year old and they understood it. I don't just want to gloss over why we don't celebrate it whith them now that they are getting older. You can get them from Milestone Ministries.
I just wanted to tell everyone who has commented here how great this discussion has been - it excites me to see how many families are truly seeking after a better way - God's way - not just blindly following the world. How so many are striving to glorify the Lord in the decisions and choices you are making for your family. What an encouragement this is! Keep on!
I grew up celebrating Halloween. Even the church I grew up in had Halloween decor and parties as well as trick or treat outings. I know! bad huh?? I didn't know the whole thing behind it. Not sure if my parents did either. Now they do not celebrate Halloween even though their grandchildren do (*except mine of course).
My dh on the otherhand grew up staying away from Halloween altogether. *they didn't even celebrate Christmas until he was about 9 or 10 years old. * So very different childhoods in the marriage.
My dh showed me why Halloween shouldn't be considered in our "Holiday" (yes I agree Crystal that it shouldn't even be labeled as such !!)
Also I read the Maxwell's article around that time about Halloween. I also got a book about it too. We decided to not celebrate it as a family. As our children got older we just remind them we do not celebrate it. They understand it and agree. Yes, we show them why in the scripture. It is very important to do that. Telling them is not going to do it.
Now what do we do? Before I started working at nights, we just have movie night with popcorn starting early in the evening. Front porch and all lights in the house is off. The kids still go to be bed at 8:00 unless it is Friday night which means 9:00 or 10:00. We do not even hand out tracts. We just feel that we need to avoid it all together. We do not see anything wrong with it. We just prefer to avoid the temptation of Halloween alltogether.
That is what we do. I am from a Restoration movement so I really do not know anything about Reformation day. We do not have a Restoration day.
Holly
Hmph. Halloween is a "Hallmark Holiday" and therefore I refuse to celebrate it. It's just another excuse for the costume and candy companies to make more money off people for something they do NOT need - spiritually and practically. Let's stuff our children's faces with even more junk! And have them dress up as their favorite cartoon character - free advertising!
It seriously sickens me to walk into the stores at this time of year and see all the unnecessary junk being forced on people. Bags and bags of corn-syrup and sugar, wigs and witch costumes, cheap plastic doodads and decorations being sold for a small fortune. These companies are making a killing - literally AND figuratively. I can't think of a more bankrupting "holiday", spiritually and physically.
We usually celebrate Reformation Day as well. When we attended one church, my husband organized this party and each family would represent one of the Reformers. We searched out recipes from that time period and prepared them for a 16th century "potluck" meal!
Crystal~
I know that you already have some wonderful responses to your post and many of them I agree with whole heartedly!
I grew up not celebrating Halloween..and I never missed it. My hubby grew up celebrating it and his mom and sister still do. We chose to continue in my family's tradition and do not celebrate it. We truly believe that it conflicts with the Word of God and all that is celebrated is of a dark nature. Yes, some folks try to make it cute and sweet, but I feel that it is just promoting the darkness of that day. Our church recognizes Reformation day, but I'm not quite sure what they are doing this year.
We generally just go about our everyday business. If someone comes to our door, I just tell them we have nothing for them. In our neighborhood, amazingly we don't get alot of traffic...which is just fine with me.
Our kids know that we do not celebrate and they do not have a problem with it. They understand that it displeases God. The hardest thing is my hubby's family, because they don't see it as a problem. But we are firm and don't encourage them to give anything at all to the kids. If my kids want to dress up, they can do this any time of the year...we have play clothes :-)
As for someones question about Santa and the Easter bunny...well, for Easter my kids do easter egg hunt, but that is just for the fun...we do not tell them there is an Easter bunny and we focus on Christ and His resurrection.
For Christmas, it is Christ's birth. I have explained to my children the story of Saint Nicholas and that he was a real man. However, I make it clear that Santa is not real, nor is he a correct representation of Saint Nicholas. My children don't miss anything by this. They know why we celebrate each of these holidays and why we don't believe in Santa or the Easter bunny. We do have some decor that has Santa on it...but they still understand he is not real nor to be worshipped.
Well, that was rather long of me;-)
Sorry, I hope it made sense.
Thanks for posting this topic...it is nice to know that we aren't the only ones that believe this way.
Blessings,
Sommer
Like I said earlier, thank you all for the great comments and discussion. It has been a blessing to read of the creative things you all are doing to share Christ with your neighbors, to teach your children to walk in holiness and purity, to have differing viewpoints shared. This has been great!
However, I deleted about 15 or so comments in the last day which were turning into debates which were off-topic. I know that most of those posted were not meaning to be argumentative, I've just known from previous experience that things can go downhill quickly when broaching certain subjects from certain angles. I really want to keep this focused on the original questions posed. There are a thousand rabbit trails we could go down (to pass out tracts or not to pass out tracts, All Saints Day vs. Reformation Day and so on and so forth). I'd like to stay away from those cursory debates and discussions as I don't feel it is very profitable. Thanks for your understanding in this.
That is understandable, Crystal; it's been enlightening reading as things stand! :-)
I grew up not celebrating Halloween. In fact our family was well educated on the stories behind Halloween so that we were horrified to find people that are Christians even saw it as a holiday. This is only my second year of having to deal with children and I am still at a loss as to know what to do! My parents the last 17 years have lived out of the way where no one ever came. But before that I remember giving out story tapes one year and everyone was sending their friends over to get them. We got them from Hosanna (I don't know if they even sell them anymore) It was the story of the three little pigs told with a moral and the gospel in it.
Last year we gave out candy and a tract. I am not sure what I will do this year. Usually the whole month of Oct we avoid stores as much as possible, just because all the horrible stuff all over.
Just some food for thought, but all "Holidays" are man made. There is no mention of Christmas or Easter in the Bible. We are told to remember Christ's life, burial, and ressurrection when we partake of communion, but no where does it mention we should have a holiday to celebrate such things. In fact, most so-called "Christian" holidays came into existence to coincide with existing pagan holidays.
Just a thought.
Another reason for not Trick or Treating is it is plain not safe. I know that many people only go to people they know, but alot of people die every year from foreign objects in the candy!
I wholeheartedly agree with you Crystal. As a child we never celebrated Halloween. I remember one Halloween my older sister felt the urge to pray on that night, she said she felt the forces of evil so strong.
This year my children will NOT be going t or t. I came to this conclusion: sure it is not horrible to go t or t. But it is horrible in the sense that Halloween is a night of terrible, evil, celebrations by satanists and witches. Though some choose not to believe it, there are tons of animal and human sacrifices done on this day. Should we as christians be frolicking among the wickedness going on?? I think not. We should be on our knees praying to counteract the evil that is flowing about on this day. I have always wondered why christians want to a "fun" alternative. Churches should hold pray meetings on Halloween instead.
Many say that they dress their children up as "cute" things. What about the gruesome characters that they are exposed to walking around? What about the terrifying decorations outside the houses? To me it is NOT o.k.
Crystal, I'm Eastern Orthodox, and my parish (which is called All Saints, by the way), has an "All Saints Eve" party for the kids. In fact, many in our parish of 150 show up for it - even those (like myself) without children. The children dress up as saints from Christian history or people from the Bible. They have a riddle about who they are dressed as, and sometimes it's quite a challenge to guess correctly.
The church basement is decorated in an autumn theme. There is also a "gourd carving contest" with the gourds (pumpkins, squash, etc.) being carved with Christian symbols. I've even seen one with a very complicated picture of Christ carved into it!
My church has been doing this for more than 25 years, going back to when they were a Protestant congregation, before they became Orthodox 13 years ago.
We have not celebrated Halloween in years after being convicted on the subject.
We usually hand out tracts with a piece of candy. This year we decided to go out door to door and collect canned food for the need and put together food baskets to give away. The kids will dress in their church Pathfinder (similiar to the scouts) uniforms. We will carry literature to hand out as well. :)
Way to go Crystal. I admire your stand, perhaps because we stand the same way against Halloween. Period.
I can't help but think as that day fast approaches how evil things are the different weird and wicked things people do on Halloween. Things of the devil...and it makes me shudder. And go to my knees petitioning in prayer for their souls.
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