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Why not celebrate Halloween?
What God has to say about darkness:
"Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them." Ephesians 5:8-11
- It's about taking an opportunity to live for God in an evil environment.
"God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth." 1 John 1:5-6
- There is nothing light in the celebration of evil, however harmless it may look.
"Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." Romans 12:9
-Strong verbiage!
"...be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil." Romans 16:19
"Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil." 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22
"Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." Hebrews 5:13-14
- Discernment between good and evil is a mark of spiritual maturity. [I would add now that the Holy Spirit works to convict each person in different areas as they learn to walk more in step with Him.]
What God has to say about witchcraft and demons:
"When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God. The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. " - Deuteronomy 18:9-14
- This is the most complete listing of magical or spiritistic arts in the Old Testament. Under the old covenant they were to be avoided.
In the New Testament we also see witchcraft listed consistently as a vice:
"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious...idolatry and witchcraft..." Galatians 5:19-20 (listed with sexual immorality, hatred, selfishness, orgies, etc.)
- To celebrate any of these would be celebrating the sinful nature, which verse 24 says has been crucified with Christ. Also these listed acts of sinful nature are in opposition to the fruit of the Spirit in verses 22-23, against which there is no law.
With the sixth trumpet in Revelation 9:20-21, plagues kill a significant portion of mankind, but "the rest...still did not repent of the works of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons...Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality, or their theft."
Later in Revelation 22:15, Jesus Himself says "Outside [the city, heaven] are...those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood."
- These practices having to do with witchcraft/magic/sorcery are consistently grouped with immorality.
In Acts 19:19 we see the spreading of the Gospel bringing open confession of evil deeds, and "a number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly." This town, Ephesus, was a center for magical incantations, with the scrolls bearing alleged magic formulas and secret information.
As far as demons go, Jesus' ministry focus on healing the demon-possessed, driving out demons, even speaking to demons, makes clear that demons are REAL, Satanic/evil spirits. If all the creatures and costumes of Halloween were simply made up, there would hardly be a question of whether or not to celebrate; it would be imaginary and harmless. But the danger is that demons, witches, and other faces of evil are VERY real and VERY present in the world. To make light of them seems to give Satan an easy foothold into our hearts and minds, especially young and impressionable ones that could be either terrified or fascinated by the themes of darkness and spiritism.
Halloween is also a prime day for violence of different kinds, from crimes to actual pagan rituals celebrating false gods or Satan himself. There is simply no sound reason for our family to observe October 31 in this way, as children of God seeking to be in the light. We choose not to hand out candy or participate in trick-or-treating (the history of which is a red flag in itself) because to do so would be equivalent to giving this holiday the time of day. [I would add now that, as the video below humorously illustrates, the trick-or-treat tradition could indeed present great opportunities for God-following families to share the message of hope in Christ with those who knock on their door.]
I don't want to be a party pooper, looking for ways to take fun out of life. But there are things that appear fun that are wisely avoided for our spiritual health and safety rather than because of some cruel-hearted desire of God's to make our lives as boring as possible. To go against the world's flow and with Jesus is the most exciting and rewarding path possible!
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That was 2009, this is 2013, and our children are not deprived or depressed having never celebrated Halloween. They are, in fact, the happiest and most secure children I know! We enjoy the fall festival that our church puts on each year, but I don't consider it a substitute for Halloween because 1) we would attend and enjoy such a family-friendly event regardless of the month or season and 2) I can't call it a substitute when there is no existing event in our family for it to replace.
When I was in kindergarten - the one year I attended institutional school before being homeschooled for grades 1-6 - my parents can attest to the fact that I could not handle the classroom Halloween indoctrination. Oh my word, was my little 5-year-old self terrified of the costumes, the songs, and the games! Interestingly, when we were in Orlando last October during Mason's short deployment, Ezekiel at age 3 had a significant issue with jack-o-lanterns. He was unable to enjoy a meal at Friendly's with paper ones hanging down over our table, and we purposely avoided a street in my parents' neighborhood that had one jack-o-lantern sitting in a third-story window. He was visibly bothered by it, and in his tense little face I saw myself (as I often do in his personality) and felt very grateful that my parents in their compassion hadn't forced me to observe a holiday that I wanted to run away from. This is one season of the year when I'm extra grateful that we don't watch any television in our home (only kids Netflix and movies)! Ezekiel also struggles with fear of the dark. We refuse to indoctrinate him and our other children into celebrating a holiday centered around darkness and fright when life in this world is already such a real and serious spiritual battle!
Finally, I have had several good laughs over this video from Living Waters, a ministry we follow. The guy wearing the fro, Ray Comfort, purposes to inspire and equip people to evangelize. I don't think we will get the tracts this year, but if you are one who enjoys handing out candy and you want to slip the gospel in, you can find several helpful resources on his site. It could be that I am just very sleep deprived, but this is really funny to me...:)
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