Should Christians celebrate Halloween?
I know this is a very controversial subject (even among our own family members.)
For personal reasons, this has never been my favorite day of the year. I have always dreaded this specific day to the point of hiding in the house and not coming out. (Sounds so crazy to me now.)
I love history and studying the meanings of things. The holiday, Halloween, in itself, has pretty evil beginnings. I do not celebrate the origins of this holiday. Let me say that LOUD and CLEAR. Nor do I let my children dress up as anything evil or wicked. (Nor have they asked.)
Did you know it is also the day that Martin Luther put up the 95 Thesis on the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, which is so ironic to me?
Okay, with all that being said let me share with you some reasons why we have decided to let my children go out and get free candy from our neighbors
First of all, we are basically Christian missionaries. This has become our home but we moved here to do mission work initially. The mission field is all around us (Christians) even if you are not employed by some mission board.
The first few years we moved here, we stayed inside, turned off all the lights, and basically, hid ourselves from the “world” that was coming and knocking on our door: the “world” that we came here to be a minister to (makes perfect sense, right?)
Then one year, we decided to give out candy and put scripture on all of it. I will say that this was the beginning of slowly breaking out of our self-induced shell. But, we still did not go out.
The year after that, we decided 10 minutes before sunset that we were going to do it. We found 4 quick costumes (a President, a soccer player, and 2 princesses). That year we “found” our neighbors. We found out that we were the ones missing the big picture. This is the only time of year that ALL our neighbors come out and talk with one another. Our neighbors have become some of our dearest friends. We live in a great neighborhood with some of the greatest people in our city. That night I went to bed with knowing that we had truly been in God’s will
Last year our church put on a Noah’s Ark (everyone goes dressed up as a animal). To tell you the truth, I was so disappointed that my family wanted to go. I really wanted to go and see all of our neighbors. Well, we got there and it was jammed packed. We stayed for an hour and came home. Then we were off to see our neighbors. Again, so much fun and we built more relationships.
The next day, one of our sweet neighbors knocked on my front door. She had said that she was at their church’s festival, so she had missed our kids when they had knocked on her door the previous night. She had brought each of them a packet of goodies that my kids had for lunch. She said she didn’t want to disappoint my children. I was amazed. She was reaching out to us.
Now if we go out of town, our entire street watches our home. We now have relationships so this can happen.
Do I dare say that Halloween is supposed to be celebrated by all?
Not on my life. If you feel the Lord has told you not to celebrate it, then you better listen. The Lord is still the Lord of our home and He has given us the freedom to celebrate this day. This is still the day the Lord has made and we will rejoice in it.
Again, I say this not to stir up more controversy. I am writing my blog for the keepsake of my children and hopefully encourage people in the process. When my children are old enough to ask certain questions, I want them to know why their parents decided to side one way or the other and be able to do as the Lord directs them.
Just a side note:
Liz Curtis Higgs, who is one of my favorite authors, wrote a book called The Pumpkin Patch Parable. It is a simple book that talks about making a pumpkin into a glorious sight. A great way to interact with your children and being a “light” unto the world.
We handle Halloween the same way at my house. I learned a lot by reading Redeeming Halloween by Kim Wier and Pam McCune .
Though we have friends who decided on something different for their families, we always figured that dressing up in non-creepy costumes and enjoying neighborhood candy was a fun part of childhood, so we did “do” Halloween with our kids. I think as long as each family prayerfully brings it before the Lord and follows His leading, they will be in the right place for them. It sounds like your family has definitely found the right place for you, and that’s interacting with the neighbors 🙂
Either way works for me — especially if it’s just little neighborhood kids visiting other’s amoungst the neighborhood. I loved dressing up as a kid. As an adult I’ve passed out candy for several years. It’s pretty deplorable the way some people get so bent out of shape your a family chooses to do Halloween.
My husband and I live out in the country and we don’t really do Halloween, not necessarirly for the reasons that many Christians don’t , we are just not really interested in it because we don’t have children, nor trick-er-treaters.
This probably seems weird to many Christians that don’t do Halloween, but we go to a fairly conservative church and we are under lots of pressure to celebrate it and participate in our churchs Halloween festivites!
This is exactly what we went through. For many years, we hid at home on Halloween or went to our church party. One year, at the last minute, we decided to go out. We met so many people from our neighborhood! We realized that we had been missing out. I don’t like the origins of Halloween, but I do like the sense of community that happens on Halloween.
Thanks for sharing this post! And I absolutely agree with you – this is something that each family needs to seek guidance and decide for themselves. It’s not a matter of doctrine or dogma, but rather of practice.
It sounds like you live in a great neighborhood!
Our church has a festival every year on Halloween to celebrate fall. We love it!
I am interested in this parable of the pumpkin though. I am wondering if it is appropriate for my preschool class?
🙂
My parents were super cautious about who we visited on Halloween because they didn’t wanna have to worry about us being poisoned. So they spent all night driving from family or friends house. We did that too when the kids were little so the family could see them dressed up, plus my son needed special treats that were sugar free. Now we go to church for Trunk or Treat & it’s SO much fun! At 15 & 12, they can dress up if they want & we decorate the back of our van & pass out candy. There are hayrides, smores, & bonfires to help with too!
Excellent post and very well said. I enjoyed reading your perspective.
Great article. I love your honesty and reasons behind it. It’s definitely something to consider when decide do, or not do :). Thanks!
Cute family picture and I love your honesty! Yes, I have an easy recipe for Tortilla soup. I make mine in my crock pot. Here is my link: http://kristi-kikiscorner.blogspot.com/2008/09/menu-plan-monday-92208.html
Blessings to you and your family!
This has been an interesting dilema for us lately too – thanks for writing about it. I didn’t know that Oct 31 was when Luther posted…interesting.
I’m going to have to do a post now too 🙂
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