To Treat or not to Treat, That is the Question
The beginning of November marks the transition over into a season of holidays. I am anticipating the fun, fellowship, family, and food of Christmas and Thanksgiving, but before we can ever get to those days, we must pass Halloween. The Halloween tradition that my wife and I have developed for this holiday is that we’ll stay at home, turn out the lights in the house, go to our basement and watch a movie. This tradition was built upon the vast majority of my memories of Halloween from when I was living in my parent’s house. I forget if it was just last year or if it was the year before that marked the first time that we watched the movie Luther (2003), but that is something that I look forward to on every Halloween.1
Every Halloween, my coworkers, yes adults, dress up and come to work in various costumes to celebrate this very secular holiday. There are great cubicle-decorating contests and prizes that people get most excited about. For whatever reason, this year I decided to pull an old cloak out that my mom made for me in college, and be a Jedi. In the cause of full-disclosure, my mom made this cloak for me for the opening of Star Wars. So I freely admit to being a complete nerd while still attempting to maintain a significant historical separation from the celebration of Halloween. I didn’t really think a lot about it before hand, other than the fact that it would be fun to pull out my robe and be a geek for a day. When I got to work, I stopped by a Christian co-workers desk (for no reason other than to say hi), and he did a double take and remarked that he was surprised that I was participating.
It was at that moment that I stepped back and thought about the situation again. I can’t think of one solid redeeming thing about Halloween, and here I am participating, albeit in a fairly benign way, in it. It was at that moment that I decided to no longer pose as a Jedi, but I would simply pose as Martin Luther, the (soon to be ex) Roman Catholic Priest. And since this was my character now, I printed off the 95 Theses and taped them to the pillar near my desk. Also, during the day I was able to talk a little bit about the reformation with various co-workers. All in all, I went from a complete disaster and forgetting my Halloween traditions to salvaging a little bit of my day.
There were a couple of factors that have only intensified my resolve not to participate in any Halloween activities. The first is that my friend commented that he wasn’t into Wicken, and also wondered if there would be a similar emphasis on the Christmas holiday with decorating contests and such. I bet there will be, but I also imagine that too much mention of Christ on Christmas in any decorations would be frowned upon. This was the factor that jolted me into the present and prompted my change from Jedi to reformer.
The second thing that assisted in the reaffirming of why I don’t participate in Halloween came from a conversation with another co-worker on the day after. He was walking by and in the passing quick conversation he assumed that I had taken my children out trick-or-treating, “You took your kids out for a bit, right?” My response and the defense that followed shocked him.
Halloween, at least as it is celebrated in modern times in America, is primarily a celebration of death. Ghosts, witches, blood, axe-murderers, haunted houses, horror films and many other things serve both to numb our senses to the evil that these things are as well as to pacify our tolerance of such horrid imagery. I do not love death. I do not want to celebrate death. Death is common to man, but it is one of the most unnatural thing that happens to anyone. I don’t know how much of a direct contributing factor much of these culturally accepted things play a role into further sin and vile activities, but I bet there is not that much that separates them. I am a Christian, and I love life because God has given it to us.
My stunned co-worker couldn’t believe that we don’t trick-or-treat in my family and he was even more shocked when I told him that I might have gone trick-or-treating once as a child. My mom took my brothers and I to a handful of houses (relatives and friends) during the early evening, but that was the extent of my trick-or-treating. Do I feel deprived? Not at all. Perhaps it was easier for me because I have never had too much of a love for candy. Sure I’ll have something sweet every once in a while, but I don’t have to have it on a regular basis.
My family and I choose not to trick-or-treat because I have absolutely no desire to participate in a celebration that is so completely focused on evil, death, and the devil. Most people think that I’m being extreme and that a simple costume party and begging for candy is relatively harmless. It is less harmful than many things, but that does not make it a good idea to participate in. I am sure that I will allow and even condone things for my children to do that will cause them difficulties and struggles in their lives. That is not my goal, but I realize that because I am so fallen that my best decisions will result in contradictions and issues that my children will have to wrestle with later on. But I will not knowingly set them up to have their consciences dulled and defenses lowered by participating in such an openly pagan celebration.
1 It was on October 31st, 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg church which acted as the final catalyst for the great reformation of the Christian faith.
4 comments:
The word Halloween is actually a contraction for All Hallows Eve, which, before the reform of the liturgical calendar, was the vigil of All Saints and All Souls Days. As such, Halloween can be considered a Christian holiday. Like many Christian holidays, the secular world has attached its own traditions to the day (e.g., costumes, trick-or-treating, parties) that are not inherently bad in and of themselves but can be problematic when the religious meaning of the holiday is set aside, forgotten, or ignored. At its best, Halloween is a reminder of our own mortality and our own need to prepare ourselves to one day face God.
"I do not love death. I do not want to celebrate death. Death is common to man, but it is one of the most unnatural things happens. I don’t know how much of a direct contributing factor much of these culturally accepted things play a role into further sin and vile activities, but I bet there is not that much that separates them. I am a Christian, and I love life because God has given it to us."
Death should be celebrated and it is natural we will die and thank God for that how else would we enter heaven.
Mary,
Even if Halloween had started off as a Christian celebration for the commemoration of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, His substitutionary death, and His victorious resurrection but it had devolved into the gross uplifting of death and evil (which is what it is currently in North America), I would still abstain from public celebrations of it. Why? Because the focus of the cultural acknowledgement isn’t even close to what it was meant to be. I could say the same for the modern American celebration of Christmas where you can’t hardly mention Jesus and the teachings that He espoused and the NT writers wrote down without being called bigoted and judgmental.
Furthermore, you said that death is natural and we should thank God for death. Death occurred because man sinned – it is most unnatural for how we were created and intended. Death is common to all men, but that does not mean that it is natural or the way things should be. We should not celebrate death. Jesus didn’t celebrate when Lazarus died – He wept. The disciples didn’t rejoice at Jesus’ death, they were demoralized. We glorify God and thank Him for the fact that Christ died on our behalf, but that is different than celebrating dying and death. We celebrate God’s triumph over sin and death and hell and the grave.
I disagree with you in that just because the secular world has attached its own traditions to the day that the religious meaning of the holiday is set aside, forgotten, or ignored, because we are afraid of what the secular world would think. I wish people a happy Halloween and a Happy all Saints & Souls day. So because the secular world ignores the X in X-mas will you not celebrate it?
"Death occurred because man sinned – it is most unnatural for how we were created and intended."
True; Adam and Eve recognized the sound of God walking they were that close to him, but they did sin and the only way to have that level of closeness with God now (I believe) is after death. We were not intended to die but because we sin and because God is forgiving he gave us a chance in death to live with him. So if Death is the way to achieve that closeness I am going to be thankful that we have this blessing from God. No we are not happy when people die we are sad, sad for ourselves, but the deceased is a new saint in heaven, and I hope very very happy).
We should celebrate and commemorate the things of God, but that does not mean participating in the vile and hideous evil of the american version of halloween.
Death is not a good thing. God has overcome it and we can be joyful in the fact that when a loved one dies who has been saved by grace alone through faith alone (not works) in Jesus Christ - we can be joyful because God has had the victory over death and hell.
Is sin good? Sin is what results in death which results in people being united with God. No, sin is not good, death is not good! We should celebrate the reality of death as we celebrate the reality of Satan and all other enemies of God and perversions of His creation.
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