A day in the life of . . ., Spiritual thoughts

Halloween – Not for me and my family!

Okay, I’ve never had an open forum where I could rant about Halloween, but I’m going to take the opportunity and run with it. So, if you’re one of those that sees no harm in the holiday, you might want to go ahead and leave the blog. However, if you would like to hear what I have to say and why we won’t be celebrating, feel free to stick around.

First, I think anyone that has read even one post on this blog knows that I am a Christian. I won’t apologize for that, in fact I am very pleased to announce it to the world! As a Christian, I Thessalonians 5:22 tells me to “Abstain from every form of evil.” The KJV renders it, “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” Since Halloween celebrates the dead and encourages people to be mean to one another, we choose not to celebrate and join the festivities.

In fact, I don’t think that Christians should celebrate at all – whether with “Trunks of Treats” held in the church parking lot, or “Harvest Festivals” held on the church grounds on October 31. I understand the desire to give children safe alternatives on that one night of the year when who knows what will happen. I truly do understand, but if we’re to keep away from the appearance of evil, we’re not doing that by giving an alternative.

Another thing that bothers me, and I can not for the life of me figure this out, is the whole concept of trick-or-treating. I mean, come on! What is it about this one day that makes a parent change their minds about one of the simplest, most basic rules to help their children stay safe?

Here’s what I mean: When I was a child, my parents told me over and over and over, “NEVER accept candy from a stranger.” Not only were they teaching me to be careful in regard to the safety of the candy, they were also keeping me safe by teaching me not to get too close to strangers – close enough they may be able to pull me into a vehicle or something like that. I’m sure you’ve told your kids the very same thing, maybe not because you feel there’s a danger to protect them from, but probably because your parents told you the same thing when you were younger.

Ok, so here’s what I don’t understand.  You tell your children 364 days a year that you should not take candy from a stranger. That’s a wise rule to have. So WHY, on earth, do you throw that rule out the door and actually encourage your children to go trick-or-treating where they will be accepting candy from not one, not two, not three, but who knows how many strangers?! The number of strangers they accept candy from is only limited by the number of houses you hit before going home. Where is the logic? I just can’t fathom it!

Finally, what about the history of the holiday. Do we really want our children to participate in and celebrate something that focuses on the dead?  These excerpts were taken from the Wikipedia website (http://www.wikipedia.com) entry for Halloween:

Halloween originated from the Pagan festival Samhain, celebrated among the Celts of Ireland and Great Britain. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century.  .  .  .  .  .   Pope Gregory IV standardized the date of All Saints’ Day, or All Hallows’ Day, on November 1 in the name of the entire Western Church in 835. As the church day began at sunset, the holiday coincided exactly with Samhain. It is claimed that the choice of date seems consistent with the common practice of leaving pagan festivals and buildings intact (e.g., the Pantheon), while overlaying a Christian meaning.

So, from this information, we see that it was common practice to “Chrisitanize” pagan holidays because the Pope (at this time, Pope Gregory IV) knew the people were going to continue to celebrate their holiday. It seems the Pope hoped that by making it something that could be changed, the pagans might become Christians. I don’t believe that was the case then, and I doubt that it is now, either.

We see that “Halloween” has a pagan history, so unless you are a pagan, why would you choose to celebrate it?  If you need an excuse to dress up, have a costume party at some other time of the year. If you need an excuse to get candy in the house, search for sales the day after other holidays – Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day – they all sell out of their candy at greatly reduced prices. Heck, you can even go out the day after Halloween if you must, but don’t use it as an excuse to meet your candy fix.

Another thing that bothers me is that the candy children get isn’t always safe. I remember when I was a kid, hospitals would allow you to bring your candy haul for the night into the hospital and they would xray it to make sure there wasn’t anything harmful like a razor or pins or broken off hypodermic needles poked into the candy. Why take the chance? Aren’t your children more important?

I know, I’ve gone on in my rant long enough. All I ask is that you do some research and learn about the history behind the holiday. Not just this one, but every holiday, that you celebrate. And then decide for yourself and your family if it is something that you believe would be pleasing to God. He’s ultimately the One we have to please, so shouldn’t we at least consider Him in this?

Me and my family will be in church tonight. We won’t be handing out candy at our house, and my kids won’t be dressing up. Of course, what we do isn’t necessarily what you need to do. You need to ask God to direct you on how to deal with this, and any other holiday.