I’ve never understood how a parent can dress their child up as a devil, and then act surprised when they behave like one. As a Christian parent, Halloween has always been a challenging holiday for us raising our only daughter. With her growing up in Scotland, we never wanted her to feel left out or excluded from the fun of dressing up, the Halloween school parties, or the trick-or-treating around the neighbourhood.
Halloween’s original roots may surprise you. All Saint’s Day on the 1st of November is also called All Hallows Day. It’s a day when many believers around the world thank God for His faithfulness to their loved ones who have died. It’s a celebration that they died in the faith and are resting in the presence of God.
The day before, the 31st of October use to be called ‘All Hallow’s Eve’, which was later shortened to Halloween. Unfortunately, the day’s original reason to celebrate has since been twisted by Satan, where the focus has been moved from celebrating the life of the deceased to death itself. Satanic worshippers have even chosen this night to do their most evil work, which is why many Christians choose to reject participating in Halloween altogether.
However, when you consider the story in 1 Corinthians 8, we see that the Church in Corinth faced a similar dilemma - to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols in the pagan temples. Although not totally the same thing, we can learn from Paul’s advice that it’s a matter of our conscience. If we have doubts that celebrating it will condemn us, then we shouldn’t eat the meat/candy.
Doing anything that does not proceed out of our faith is a sin. Our righteousness is not determined whether we participate in Halloween or not. We are saved by the work of Christ alone (Acts 4:12), not by observing or abstaining from holidays (Colossians 2:16). Christians that take their kids trick-or-treating are still Christians. And Christians that stay home and ignore the doorbell are also Christians. We shouldn’t judge others by the choices they make.
For me, rejecting Halloween altogether is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I believe that with the right discernment and wisdom, this holiday can offer us opportunities to share our faith in a practical way. As long as we can steer our children away from dressing up as zombies, devils, witches, and other evil personas, this part of the holiday can still be fun. I have purposely not included a ghost, because we all grew up with Casper the friendly ghost. One year, a lady from my church added a halo to her daughter’s ghost costume and proudly announced to everyone that she was the Holy Ghost! I am not sure if God would have approved, but it sure did make us laugh!
This photo is of my daughter’s first Halloween outfit as a pumpkin, which makes me so grateful for the inspired Christian pumpkin message. If you’ve never heard it before, it goes like this: - God picks us up from the pumpkin patch, washes off all our dirt, scoops out all our yucky seeds of sin, carves out for us a new smiling face, and puts His light inside of us, to shine out for all the world to see. This story started a fond family Halloween tradition when we use to live in Scotland, where we would carve out a pumpkin with a smiley face and leave it by our front door.
Living back in South Africa, it seems we are fast following the trends of America, the UK, and the rest of the world, by welcoming the hype and consumerism around this spooky holiday. It would therefore be foolish to try to avoid or shield our children from taking part in it altogether. However, we can change our perspective on how we choose to engage with it and thus use every opportunity to our advantage.
For example, we can share the Gospel of faith over fear and try to educate unbelievers about the schemes of the devil and the path it leads to when you choose to focus on death and all things evil. It may seem like just a bit of fun to many, but if they knew the gates they were opening into their soul, they just might think again.
Trick or treating also offers us the opportunity to get to know our neighbours and is a good platform to be friendly. Your selection of treats doesn’t always have to be sweets either but can include fruits or healthier, less sugary sweets, which I’m sure every parent will thank you for.
I am grateful that many Churches choose to offer an alternative party to Halloween, such as using a Superhero theme, where kids can still participate in the full fun of the holiday, but without the reasons that cause many young children to be plagued by nightmares.
So, however, you choose to observe Halloween this year, do it with a clear conscience, knowing that God sees your heart and your motives. Rejecting the evil part, whilst keeping the good can be achieved when we do it from faith. And as we carve out our pumpkins and take photos of our children in their cute costumes, let us also spend time in prayer for the protection of our loved ones, our Churches, our nation, and for every unbeliever’s eyes to be opened to the spiritual realm that they are innocently dabbling in.
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