Should Christians take part in Halloween celebrations?
"When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do."
Verses such as this make my husband and me feel that is probably not a good idea to celebrate Halloween. We believe that if we are in any doubt as to whether something is right or not, it is best to err on the side of caution and not do it than to take part in something we feel might be sinful.
(I am not condemning those who do choose to celebrate Halloween - after all, let he who is without sin cast the first stone - but it is good to discuss why we do things as it helps us to consider whether our actions are right regardless of which "side" of the issue we are on.)
Fortunately for us, our church does not try to do anything for Halloween and our daughter is not in school so there is no pressure (other than trick or treaters calling) for us to take part in it however it is still important to consider such issues and be clear about them in our minds even if it is not a pressing practical concern.
Milehimama wrote a very good post about why her family do not celebrate Halloween and Jennifer did a post about alternatives to the usual Halloween activities.
3 comments:
I pretty much feel the same way about it as you.
i grew up not celebrating halloween or christmas or easter...but now with my own family, i struggle with what to do...we do celebrate christmas, even with a tree...i still feel uneasy about it honestly..but I would never judge anyone for celebrating or not celebrating a holiday..it just isn't that important to get upset about...our church has actually made it easy for us with the whole halloween issue..we have a missions conference for four or five days...it just started wednesday and ends on sunday...I feel like the Lord made the decision for me. Missions conference is really a huge blessing..getting to meet missionaries, especially the younger families..getting to talk to other moms..its great. Also, it makes you so appreciative of all that we have, and makes you realize how little some of us sacrifice for the Lord, and how much others are willing to give up.
God Bless!
Although I don't necessarily think it is wrong to celebrate Hallowe'en I think that first article you linked to underlined some of the negative aspects that have been allowed to flourish under the banner of "good fun". For example, trick and treating is very dubious.
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