I don’t
think you’d have to think too hard to know what’s coming up soon:
Halloween. The decorations have been up
for the whole month – ghosts, witches, Jack-o-lanterns, etc. Halloween can be a touchy subject to some
Christians. I know some who celebrate it
and some who don’t. Personally, I don’t celebrate
Halloween. I’ve never gone Trick-or-Treating,
nor have we decorated our home with the holiday décor. With this in mind, I’m not going to go
spouting off all kinds of Halloween history and stories involving witches to
try to “scare” you away from celebrating Halloween. I think most everyone knows what the holiday
is about. I don’t believe that’s the
point. You can decide whether or not you
will celebrate an occasion or participate in activities even if the holiday isn’t
Christian. What I think is necessary, however, is to know how
celebrating things like this impact our walk with Christ.
First
of all, is participating in Halloween or decorating for it a sin? No, it’s not.
But simply because something isn’t a sin doesn’t mean we should do
it. Celebrating Halloween may not put us
in the wrong place with God, but it can make it very difficult to stay in His
footsteps. Think about this: how easy is
it to separate Halloween from death? If
you were to decorate your house for Halloween, could you do it in such a way to
not make people think of death and darkness?
That’s not as easy. As
Christians, our goal is to proclaim life to those who need it. Christ wants us to not focus on the death -on
the darkness. He wants us to focus on
Him and His glory. We put Christmas
decorations outside in December proclaiming our Christianity and showing the
wonder of Christ’s birth so that others see them and think of our Lord. Would someone look at a house on Halloween and
see the beauty of Christ portrayed? I
doubt it.
So
decorating a house for Halloween might not be Christ-like, but what’s wrong
with Trick-or-Treating? This one is a
little tougher. This yearly event seems
innocent enough, so what could possibly be wrong with it? (Other than the
cavities, of course.) Actually, there
are a few things wrong with Trick-or-Treating.
One of the worst things is that it teaches kids selfishness. Not that they have big signs saying “Selfishness
rocks!” or “Be greedy and you won’t be needy!”
It teaches selfishness subtly. Selfishness
is naturally ingrained in us. We teach
it to others by simply feeding the
desire. Think about it. A Trick-or-Treater goes door to door simply
accepting gifts wherever they go. No
work. Nothing is given. Many times, not even a thank you. It’s important to remember that there is
nothing in the world that does not teach something. And if it doesn’t teach a good virtue, it’s
teaching a bad one. If Trick-or-Treating
involved giving, I would have a lot less of a problem with it. But the point is: it doesn’t.
As I said before, many of my friends celebrate
Halloween. It’s sometimes hard to be one
of the only people to find something wrong with it. Spending a night dressed up as someone
different and getting a whole lot of candy sounds like a lot of fun – but it
just doesn’t sit right with me. I don’t
want to spend a day celebrating death. I’d
rather just wait a month and spend a day in thanksgiving to God for all that he’s
done for me. Celebration was a gift
given to us by our Creator. Let’s not
waste it on death and darkness – the very thing from which Christ saved us.
This can be a very differential topic. What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with a point that I made? Please leave a comment below!