Given some of the costumes and
a lot of "it's pagan and darkness" articles about it, it's not surprising some Christians choose not to
celebrate Halloween. Originally Christian parents had their kids dress up as saints who, of course, had been tortured
and slain for loyalty to the Christian faith, so that, of course, the costumes often were and still are sometimes quite scary-looking.
The idea was to encourage the kids to be faithful as the saints were, which sounds positive and pro-Christian.
The
word Halloween comes from Hallow which means Holy) and e'ven, which means evening or eve. Although most Christians
let their kids have fun on the day, some who otherwise don't care for Halloween now substitute some other party with
or without costumes etc. Such parties are sometimes called Fun Night, Hallelujah Night, Costume Party Evening or
go by some other name. In any event Christian parents have arranged them as a safe, fun substitute
for the kids, the chief rationale being that Joy is also a fruitage of God's Spirit, second mentioned in the list
at Galatians 5:22 only after Love, and the two fruits are closely linked.
Going back to the costumes, those
opposed to Halloween over the wearing of costumes point out they are no longer tied to saintly living but sometimes
include masks etc mimicking the devil, demons etc. They are also naturally concerned that kids may get hurt
from needles etc put into trick-or-treat candies, or even tempted to do un-Christian pranks that hurt other people such as
put boards with nails on them on roads. Those for Halloween accompany or watch over and see that their kids
do not engage in such misdoings or get harmed, for example, by checking candies and fruits to see that there are
no needles in those.
Although Paul said to let none be judging
us over holidays or Sabbaths one way or another, (Colossians 2:16), others in good conscience note that light
has no fellowship with the dark. (2 Cor 6:14) The majority who do favor Halloween counter that they understand
this but that the day replaced the pagan holiday called Samhain, so that this is actually a matter of light having replaced
darkness, even as where many other holidays have attacked and replaced paganisms.
For example, those not celebrating Halloween may otherwise have
no problem with things of non-Christian origin that Christians commonly use such as wedding rings, names of days and months,
and even some personal Christian names such as Diana, April, May/Mae and June which also all came from pagans.
Romans chapter 14 says allow freedom of conscience, and many scriptures say to not be highly judgmental.
So all in all, it's important to keep good
balance and to remember that overall the Bible says that the strongest bond for Christians is not by absolute sameness
of beliefs on every imaginable thing or doctrine but rather it is by the "greatest" bond, which is LOVE.
(1 Cor 13:13)
Although knowing this information will
not change the view of all readers, it can definitely help each of us to better understand the other's position
about Halloween, to help us continue with greater respect of one another and therefore enjoy more Christian love and unity.
