This post certainly isn’t a slam on Christians who do the
Halloween thing—I’m all for you dressing up, eating candy and having fun! Personally, I’m just not really into
holidays. They sort of come and go
around here—with exception of Thanksgiving and Christmas. I hold more of the “to each their own” when
it comes to celebrating holidays.
Halloween was nothing more than dressing up for some candy
when I was growing up. Not much has
changed since then—other than the fact that I am a Christian now. I’ve heard a lot of people claim that the
celebration of Halloween has become far darker than it was 10+ years ago. I’m not sure if that is true, or if I’m
simply running with Christians these days that are more sensitive than my old
SEAL buddies. Maybe a little of both?
I’m preaching on Romans 14:1-12 this Sunday. This passage deals with how Christians should
relate with one another concerning issues of opinion and conviction that the
Bible doesn’t explicating touch on. I find
that Halloween is one of these issues of opinion and conviction. I can’t tell you the origin of Halloween, nor
I am interested in you telling me either.
It is what you make of it.
That being said, I’ll never forget a Halloween when I was in
Bible College. I had class that day and
the church where the seminary is located was having a Harvest Festival—you know
the Christian alternative to Halloween.
I wasn’t upset that I was missing the holiday for class, but I was
pretty annoyed that all the parking was taken up walking to class. When I arrived in the classroom, I was met
with an uncomfortable situation. There
was a middle-aged lady in the room weeping.
Man, I wanted to leave the room as quick as I could, but she saw me—I
was stuck.
I asked what was wrong to discover she was heartbroken that
the church was doing a Harvest Festival for Halloween. Inside I thought she was making a big deal
over nothing and should just grow up. Of
course I didn’t say that, but I was thinking it. As the conversation unfolded, it turns out that
this lady was raised a Pagan (literally) and Halloween was a day where they did
a bunch of evil stuff. I was shocked to
hear her tell her story. I learned the
holiday was far more than pillaging candy to her as it surfaced very dark
memories and the present reality for many in her family. This conversation changed my feelings on
Halloween dramatically.
Fast-forward about 11 years to today. I still don’t make a big deal about this
day. I’m not vocal about it…just sort of
slips by without commentary on my part.
I have an almost 8-year-old daughter who just hates this holiday. Where does it come from? I don’t know other than I believe she has a
deeply sensitive conscience to spiritual things. Yesterday she came home from an event where
the teacher said the kids could wear their costumes to class next week—which
falls on Halloween.
I was sitting in my office when she approached me in
anguish. She explained that she had a
real problem and wasn’t sure how to handle it.
The issue was that she didn’t want to get dressed up, she didn’t want to
lie about why she won’t dress up, and she doesn’t want to condemn her
friends. What should she do? I must pause to say that as a dad I am so
proud of this little girl and her genuine walk with God. Seriously, these moments are super special
for me to help her navigate life in this world.
Nothing greater than being pastor-dad!
After she explained the problem, I shared with her the
passage I was studying—Romans 14:1-12. I
found it very relevant to the problem at hand as it gives some insight to how
we as Christians should handle things like Halloween. Here are some points that I told her and I
believe these apply to all Christians, regardless of your stance on Halloween.
Pray. First and foremost, I explained that she
should pray and ask God for wisdom on how to handle this.
Heed your conscience. One’s conscience is a super special gift that
God has given us. It’s not always right,
but we shouldn’t make a habit of violating it because we can damage it. We laid out a bunch of options from going
dressed up, not dressed up, not going at all, or making other plans. My main concern is that I want my daughter to
recognize her conscience and to develop a plan on how to listen to it.
You answer ultimately
to God. We so desperately want to
fit in and be accepted by friends, but ultimately we must recognize that we
cannot make others happy. So the best
option is live your life in a way that you think pleases God the most. As this relates to Halloween, I can see a
case for both sides. Whatever you do, it
should be for God’s glory.
Be sensitive to
others. You want to get dressed
up? No problem, just be sensitive to
others. This holiday may not be to them
what it is to you. You want nothing to
do with this holiday? Fine, don’t get
dressed up, but be careful not to condemn others as it probably isn’t to them
what it is to you.
There is some debate whether or not Augustine actually said
these words, but I think they are an appropriate way to end this post, “In essentials unity, in
non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.”
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