I know that Halloween was a few days ago, but a few videos that I came across got me to thinking about this day. In the home I grew up in Halloween was not an issue. My parents had from an early age taught my sister and I that Halloween was not a day that we as Christians could safely participate in. Well they did not full comprehend the reasons for and against, my parents gave us the best explanation that they could to provide us with an understanding that the main elements of Halloween such as dressing up as devils, and decorating the yard with skeletons and witches, was contrary to the word of God.
It was not until my late teens, when we came across several programs discussing the occult connections of Halloween, that my family began to get a fuller understanding of Halloween and how deeply it stood in contrast to the plain word of God. And I at last began to formulate an answer to the question why my family and I did not participate in this increasingly popular holiday. Watching those videos I began to understand that the reasons for abstaining from this day had less to do with inappropriate costumes, and more to do with its ties to elements the Bible banned such as contacting the dead and spirits as well as spells and divining fortunes.
But this year I came across something that gave me a new thought about Halloween and why the Christian should avoid this day. And that was a simple video that talked about how God originally created us to never know fear, yet Halloween is built upon fear.
In some ways this idea seemed so simple as to be almost silly. Sure the Bible teaches that the Garden of Eden was perfect, but what does that have to do with Halloween? Yet the more I thought about, the more sense it made.
The Bible teaches us that as hard is it is to imagine now, there was a time when earth was perfect and unblemished. Weeds, death, pain, fear, were unimaginable things because our first parents had never tasted these miseries that are so prominent now. It was not until they broke the command of God not to eat the forbidden fruit that these horrors entered the world and have to day become a daily and unescapable part of our lives.
If the story had ended here, it would not matter if man kept Halloween because death with its horrors would be our hopeless end. All we would be doing is seeking a way to make light of the misery and death that we were unfortunate to have to endure. Without the hope of eternal life what would it matter if we immersed ourselves in the celebration of death, demons, spells, blood sucking vampires, and the like.
But the Bible declares that 70 or so years upon this earth and an eternity in the tomb is not our bleak end. For those who give their hearts to Christ, death is only a sleep, a momentary pause until the wondrous return of Christ when He will call his faithful servants out of the grave. At that time He will take us to live with Him, and from that point on the miseries of this world will fade into a distant memory. As once again we are welcomed into a world free of sickness, pain, want, fear, and death.
The gates of Heaven will swing open and our eyes will be greeted by a sight that not even the most powerful imagination can contrive. As we behold a land where the lion and lamb freely frolic together. Our eyes, so use to weeds, flowers that quickly rot and fade, and trees that drop their leaves will be amazed by flawless green expanses, proud trees that never drop a leaf, and the crisp colorful bouquets that never fade.
I have heard it said that our imagination cannot begin to comprehend the wonders waiting for God’s faithful servant. That if we were blessed with a view of that wonderful abode we would find human language to be to feeble to describe to others what we had seen.
With this thought in my mind I could not help but wonder, why, with this hope before us, do we Christians cry and mope if someone says that Halloween is not for us? Why, with the promise of rising up on eagles wings and never having to experience another lost day due to sickness and health, do we find it so important to celebrate a day where people feel the need to march the streets dressed up as mindless zombies?
When we are called to look forward to an endless lifetime of peace and happiness, to dwell upon the breath taking reality that one day soon poverty, inequality, and all the harsh realities of this world will be no more, why are we so ready to take our mind off this image so that we can decorate our homes and yards with skulls, severed heads, hopeless ghost, and evil devils? How, if our hearts are being firmly planted on that heavenly soil, can we find delight in yards filled with decorations of haunted tombs, black cauldrons for casting spells, draped in spiders webs, and the like? Knowing that robbery, murder, torture, rape, and death are soon to be done away with how can we sit down to watch a marathon of Halloween thrillers like Freddy Cougar, Chucky, Friday the 13th, and its long list of companions that glorify these elements?
Should not our first, last, and as many thoughts in between be crowded with reflections about our hopes and dreams of that fair land of promise? Should we not be anxiously looking forward to that day when we will be forever reunited with our friends and family tasting once more the sweet fruit of life? Should not our most precious hopes and dreams be centered around our future homeland where we will talk with Jesus and the angels and not the candy we will get and the costume we will wear to that spook-tacular party? Should not our hearts find satisfaction in feeding upon the promise of peace and prosperity that God has promised us?
Why, when the very things that make the foundation of Halloween are one day soon to pass away, do we insist that it is okay to welcome these things into our homes? When God’s original plan was devoid of pain, death, and evil, and when the whole purpose of the plan of salvation is to bring us back to that state, why is it that we think that God will find pleasure in death and suffering?
At first it might seem like too simple and silly an idea for not celebrating Halloween, but give it some thought and prayerful study and you might find that it holds a great deal of truth. For as Christians we are called to dwell upon things that are pure and lovely instead of celebrating a day that makes light of the wondrous truth that earth with all of its pains will soon pass away. And in its place will be a new heaven and a new earth where nothing that harms, nothing that causes pain, and nothing that causes fear will have a place.
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