Courtney from Women Living Well
A Christian View on Halloween"
Pastor Jim Murphy - First Baptist Church in Johnson City
Halloween - Ancient Practices - A Christian's Response
Anderson M. Rearick III - Assistant Professor at Mount Vernon Nazarene College
Trick-or-Treat?
Caroline from Candid Carol
Cider, Foliage,.......and Ghouls
Honestly, I am not sure where I stand on Halloween, thus the desire to be Switzerland and not take a side. Growing up, my parents always took my sister and I trick-or-treating around our little neighborhood (unless it was a Sunday night, of course! :) ) and they let us dress up as princesses, brides, clowns, and cheerleaders. Nothing demonic, and absolutely nothing satanic. We looked forward to getting to know our neighbors and
free candy was definitely the highlight of the night.
Looking at Halloween, in that sense, convinces me that nothing is wrong with dressing up your kids and going door-to-door to show off their cute little costumes and teaching them to say their please and thank-you's as they receive candy. But in digging deeper towards the actual meaning behind Halloween and the representation behind the masks, costumes, and jack-o-lanterns causes me to question whether or not I should truly partake in this "ritual".
I would love to hear your opinions on this, even if you are still as unsure as I am. Do you believe Halloween is innocent fun? Or should Christians stay away from any participation in this holiday at all?
Also, let me know if you know of any other good resources on this topic!
3 comments:
As a child we went trick or treating-free candy :-) My parent talked about the evil part of Halloween in teachable moments. Personally I love to hand out candy on Halloween. I put tracts with the candy and I love seeing all the children in their costumes. I heard an interview one year with Kirk Cameron and he said something that's kinda stuck with me. He and his family didn't always pass out candy, but then he saw what a witnessing opportunity it was-you have hundreds of people coming to YOUR door-you should take advantage of it!
So I think that with our children we'll do something similar-use teachable moments, have fun getting some free candy and witness to people who come to our door :-)
Martin Luther also posted his 95 theses on October 31st, so that should always be a good thing to remember.
My wife and I stopped giving out candy and decorating after our first year in our house. We don't celebrate xmas either but certainly remember Christ's birth everyday. I grew up involved in all the goings on with Halloween and had fun but it got old to me after about age 13 then I just kind of stopped getting involved.
On another note...posted a reply to yours on the recent How Sweet blog about "failure" check it out.
@MrsFrenchTeachersHusband - thank you for your comment on How Sweet's blog! I really appreciate it!
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