 | Your Thoughts on Halloween Wednesday, October 22, 2003
 I believe the truth is somewhere in the middle. While a large number of churchgoers believe that Halloween represents a serious compromise with the powers of evil, it is just as true that modern day Halloween is, for the most part, harmless fun. While each disciple of Christ must follow her/his own conscience on this one, it is noteworthy that a large number of features in every-day life have roots steeped in pagan rituals, practices, and religion. For example, the English words Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday descended from the Germanic names for Tiu (Twia), Woden, Thor, and Freya (Fria)...all gods and goddesses of Germanic descent. Does this mean that when a God-fearing Christian talks about Friday, s/he is celebrating, acknowledging and pandering to the goddess Freya? Of course not!
Similarly, while there are undoubtedly some who do pervert Halloween into a satanic celebration, I have yet to meet a family to takes its offspring to go trick-or-treating to honor Satan; so far, everyone to whom I have opened the door, or to whose door I have taken my child, is doing it solely for the sake of the candy! Additionally, what is wrong with a costume party, provided it maintains the decorum becoming any celebration attended or hosted by disciples?
If you can see Halloween as a few hours of fun and adventure for the kids, without suddenly falling on your knees worshipping false gods, just as you should be able to use the names of the weekdays without suddenly worshipping Thor or Freya, then there should not be anything stopping you. Just remember a few tried but true rules of conduct:
* Children must be accompanied by a responsible adult, or, if old enough to go alone, must be admonished always to stay with groups of other children and never go off alone
* Treats should not be opened and eaten until they have been inspected by an adult
* Children must never, EVER, enter the home or car of a stranger
* Costumes should be fireproof, and masks should be avoided
* For older children, this is a good time to revisit the fact that vandalism is unacceptable, even if someone doesn't want to hand out candy.
In short, have fun, be safe, and don't be so religious as to be un-relatable to those around you.
-- a mom in Long Beach, CA
As a child, I loved Halloween. As an adult, I've attended many a Halloween party dressed as everything from a flapper to a punk rocker to Pocahantas to a *.bat file (back when I thought I was a computer geek). As a parent, I'm still enjoying all the parts of Halloween I've always loved -- candy, parties, candy, dressing up in costume, giving out candy to the trick-or-treaters, candy, decorating the house, and did I say candy?
When we were newlyweds, we lived in the witchcraft capital of the United States, so I am sensitive to the whole witchcraft aspect that can be present in the holiday. My kids know that in our family we don't wear creepy costumes, and we've talked about how real-life witches are different from the ones in books and movies and how God is not happy when people are witches. I really can't see God's having a problem, though, with my girls dressing up as ballerinas, pumpkins, animals, cowgirls, or an order of McDonald's fries as they have.
For me, Halloween is one of those Romans 14 things. If it bothers your conscience to celebrate it, you shouldn't, and if we have different convictions on it, we shouldn't put each other down. With that in mind, I do think we need to remember "Everything is permissible for me -- but not everything is beneficial" (1 Cor. 6:12a). There are plenty of ways we can be worldly without having anything to do with the occult. For example, consider these questions:
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How much candy does my kid really need? Can I allow her to enjoy the fun of trick-or-treating without encouraging greed (not to mention poor nutrition!)?
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Would God be pleased with a preteen boy dressing in some bloody, gory costume or as a murderous character from an R-rated horror movie he's too young to see?
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Would God be pleased with a teen girl dressing as Britney Spears?
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How would God feel if I completely missed midweek service because I was taking my kids trick-or-treating? What does this teach my kids?
With all that said, enjoy your Halloween! I know I will. This year, we're going to the pumpkin patch, attending a parade and five or six parties on different days AND going trick-or-treating. Oh, and the girls and I are all going as princesses.
-- a mom in San Francisco, CA
To send us your two cents' on Halloween, email us at family@ucd.net, and we'd be happy to post your thoughts.
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