The Cultural Shift
Throughout my lifetime, I have seen the culture shift more dramatically towards worshiping death. A blatant example of this is what happens worldwide every October 31st. Since becoming a husband and father, my conscience has grown increasingly troubled. Every October, I find it difficult to know what to do on Halloween as a Christian.
As a kid, I would participate in trunk-or-treats and dress up for Halloween events. But the Halloween I remember was very different from what it is today. In today’s day and age, I find it hard to walk down certain streets in my small midwestern town. My family and I do not have to walk far to find a front yard that is full of severed heads on stakes, and fake bodies in body bags.
In the past, when discussing Halloween, I found it hard to make the generalization that Christians should not participate. It felt too legalistic to say such a thing. Now that my perspective has switched from being an individual to being a husband, and particularly a father, I don’t want my kids anywhere near Halloween. Thus, I have set out to answer for myself the question, “Should I, as a Christian, participate in Halloween?”
Do Not Be Conformed
The first passage that comes to mind when I think about reasons not to participate is Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
I have a hard time making the connection in my mind of how it can be helpful for Christians to be involved in something that, in essence, conforms their life to the world. Whether you accept it or not, Halloween has become a pagan holiday to celebrate Satan. Satan is for death. He loves death so much that he led the Son of God, Jesus, to the cross to die. But Jesus, raised again on the third day, defeated death once and for all. That being said, why would we want to celebrate a holiday that idolizes what Christ Jesus died to end? He died that death may be no more, so we may have life abundantly with him.
First Corinthians states what Christ Jesus accomplished through his sacrifice on the cross. 1 Corinthians 15:55 “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
Hold Fast to What is Good
Later in Romans 12:9-10, it says this: “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”
To “abhor what is evil” means to be disgusted at something. To not even be seen near the thing that is detestable. How then, as Christians, can we “abhor evil” while conforming to the culture of death? We are called in Romans 12 to “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” We must hold fast to life. The life that we now have available to us through the finished work of Christ Jesus on the cross.
These two extremes cannot co-exist. We can not hold fast to good without hating evil. We must realize that there is no “third way.” There is no middle ground. Jesus himself talks about the Christian who is “lukewarm.” He says that he will “spew him out of his mouth” in Revelation 3:16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
To choose life means hating death and Evil. There is no middle ground. It is truly “Christ or chaos” as Pastor Doug Wilson would put it.
Loving Your Neighbor
In Matthew 22, we read this: “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
This Halloween season I would encourage you to ask yourself these two questions:
1. Does it love my neighbor’s or neighbors’ kids by having a death worshiping yard display?
2. Am I “loving the Lord with all my heart, soul, and mind through partaking in a celebration of death?
If Christ has defeated death, then the last enemy has been defeated. We should not waver in the muck and mire of the world. To be clear, your kids dressing up like a box of crayons is not satanic. I am speaking of the over-the-top yard displays and grotesque costumes. This is a heart issue. We should not make light of death, especially when those most likely to celebrate Halloween do not have an eternity with Christ in their future.
Conclusion
This holiday is an opportunity. How can you show Christ’s light and life to your community and family this Halloween? If those who are in Christ are Holy and set apart, which they are, then let us not participate in the evil of the world. Let us not be in the world, but set apart, renewing our minds through the Gospel of Christ.
