“I know kids, let’s celebrate evil! Let’s dress up like rated-R horror movies! We will pretend to be ax wielding murders, who torture innocent people before hacking them to bits. Or we can dress up like Satan-worshiping, spell-casting witches!
No, wait, even better, let’s get some fake teeth and blood, and pretend to be people who have sold our souls to the devil, in exchange for an eternal life of orgy sex and jugular-ripping, blood sucking!
If that’s too PG, we could cake our faces in makeup to resemble living dead people, with rotting flesh falling from our bodies, and a ravenous cannibalistic appetite for living flesh! It will be great! Then we will decorate our lawn with skeletons, blood and dismembered body parts!”
No, I never actually said any of that. And it was a princess dress my little Audrey wore to her first halloween party; but perhaps the pretty dress gave her the wrong idea about what we intended to celebrate. Her petite legs swung happily beneath her lacy dress, as she daydreamed about the “party.” Likely, she was picturing a cake and ice cream, bright colors, happy games – something like a birthday.
It was nearly dark when we arrived, but not dark enough. Immediately, she began to notice, what I could no longer see; halloween was dark and ugly. She’d point disgustingly to other children, with pretend knives sticking out of their heads and blood running down their faces, and ask, “Why? Why are they dressed like that daddy?”
“It’s fun,” I tried to explain.
She did eventually settle in and enjoyed some kid games, but even then I’d see her stare wide-eyed and slightly disgusted at gory costumes. Thankfully I kept her out of the haunted house.
I left her with mom and joined my buddy and his son. He was a few years older, so we thought surely he’d have fun. But he didn’t. It took all of 10 seconds of wicked laughs, terrifying screams, darkness, sudden flashes of light illuminating murderous demons and dead bodies, and my buddy’s kid was screaming in horror and begging to get out. His daddy kept asking, “What is wrong with you? This is supposed to be fun.”
I paid for my foolish mistake over the course of several weeks, buying night lights, cracking doors, leaving hall lights on, and waking to my daughter’s bad dreams. It was the last time our family celebrated halloween.
I am sure that if we could have stuck it out, Audrey would have learned to love halloween like other kids. She too, could become desensitized to the images of horror and the faces of evil. But I preferred her initial reaction.
Evil is repugnant. We should not be thrilled by terror, nor delight in the images of murder and torture, and death. I don’t want her to become confused and think that evil is harmless, or even worse, fun.
I’m not saying that families shouldn’t celebrate halloween; I’m just wondering why they would want to. I mean, if I am going to take all that time to find costumes, plan parties and set decorations, wouldn’t I want it to be for a holiday with at least one redeeming quality. Wouldn’t I want it to teach something positive?
Ask yourself, is this a holiday you would have planned on your own? Does it exemplify the values and beliefs you want to teach your children? And as a Christian I have to ask, “Is it okay to celebrate evil, even in the name of fun?”
You’ve heard my thoughts, what are yours? Is halloween good clean fun? Or is it really a celebration of evil?
I haven’t thought about Halloween being “evil” until a week ago when a neighbor put up this horrible display on their front porch and lawn – a stuffed body hanging from a window by a noose, an undead skeleton, and then bloody body parts hanging from their tree. My kids were horrified. We have to pass by this display every day as we walk to the mailbox. And then their neighbor put up another equal disturbing display.
And I haven’t thought about what a weird holiday this is for kids. I mean, I loved going to haunted houses and dressing up for halloween and going trick-or-treating as a youth and teenager. But, when did it become okay to display such evil things on our front lawns?
It’s hard to tell my kids that it’s not scary, or that it’s supposed to be fun. Because those are both lies.
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I know what you mean. Some the halloween displays look like rated-R horror movies. I don’t like them and I definitely don’t want my kids seeing them!
I agree with everything being posted here. My thing or question is, what if we try and be ‘the light in the darkness’? What if we set up a table with hot chocolate and candy or toothbrushes if you wanted? Put this at the end of your drive way and mingled with the parents. Let them get to know who and what you stand for. Instead of being the us vs them, ‘shine the light’ in God’s glory. The other part I struggle with is legalism in regards to Halloween.
I totally appreciate that you see the evil in this holiday.. we’ve never celebrated it and i want absolutely nothing to do with it..we as Christians need to stand up for what’s right even though others might not appreciate it.. God bless
I am SO glad to see this post!!! I am greatly disturbed by all of the evil that is easily accepted… and and it is escalating as people try to outdo each other and create a bigger sensation…. the hardening of souls also continues…. there is no glorifying God in any of it, though many Christians defend it. Our family doesn’t “celebrate” it either and I am so thankful to hear of those who also reject this celebration of evil. Thank you for the post.
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Would you PLEASE come share this post tomorrow at Theology Thursdays FOR KIDS!! Great thoughts!
I agree with you on this one. I don’t celebrate Halloween in any way, no jack O lanterns, no Halloween candy handed out (that encourages it I believe). No costumes or any other thing. I decorate for fall and use pumpkins, gourds, leaves and such but you will not find ghosts, witches, tomb stones or anything of the like in my home. My family objected at first but I finally just had to make a stand. Either I am God’s or I’m not and every time I celebrated a holiday that celebrates His enemy then I wasn’t being his. Mixture has long been a problem in the church and it is time that we decide who and who’s we are. It saddens me that my own church puts on a trunk or treat night in their large parking lot complete with costumes and such.
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Good for you Debbie! Our church had one Trunk or Treat night a few years ago, and I was asked to help. I looked directly at the minister and told him that our family does not celebrate Halloween or participate in any events related to Halloween. I don’t think we’ve ever had Trunk or Treat since. I doubt it had anything to do with my bold stand, but I made it very clear that I was opposed to our church having such an event, and I believe others made their thoughts known. We must stand up. My family gave me a hard time for a while, but now my MIL is glad we made the choice and agrees with us. Sometimes people need to be challenged to think about what they are doing.
We don’t celebrate it for spiritual reasons. However, each year I see and read things that reemphasize to me that it’s not a good thing. For instance, a few years ago there was a news item about an old man who died sitting in a rocker on his front porch. He was there for DAYS before anyone noticed simply because everyone thought it was a Halloween decoration. How terrible is that?
I’ve also heard some terrible things about a particular theme park and their halloween fun. I’m keeping it to myself for now, trying to determine the level of trouble I could reap if I went public with it. We shall see.
My point is: Matthew 7:17 – A good tree produces good fruit. A bad tree produces bad. I cannot see how that man sitting dead on his porch for days was a good result of this holiday.
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Totally agree that Halloween has become more gruesome, as people have become more desentisized to the bad.
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AMEN!! Honestly, amen!! I just don’t get the urge to celebrate evil. Our neighbor literally brought over a tray of fake bloody body parts and a fake cleaver so our kids WOULDN’T be scared. I understand her heart was in the right place…but my goodness!!
I wish there were more people like you all in this world!!
I’m so glad you made the decision to not celebrate evil. There is nowhere in the bible that call us for such a celebration, it is not biblical.
I think this is one interpretation of Hallowe’en. Maybe because I’m Canadian, we don’t really have too much of the evil scary stuff, at least not where I live or at the child-friendly events we attend.
For us, Hallowe’en is about make believe, dressing up in costume, and the cultural elements of greeting neighbours, etc. Kind of like what your daughter was expecting that Hallowe’en.
If my experience of Hallowe’en was this scary, gory side of things, I would definitely share your perspective and truly, I don’t understand why people watch those types of shows/movies – we must fill our hearts with good.
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Amen! I do not agree with Halloween at all. It doesn’t glorify Jesus in any way, shape or form. It actually glorifies Satan.
There are some big name evangelical Christians out there who would have us believe that it’s ok to take part in it, and actually encourages Christians to have their own Halloween parties, but when you are encouraging people to celebrate death, ghosts, devils and Satan, it goes against the Bible and I don’t see how it can be justified. You cannot wrap evil up in Jesus and make it ok.
(Just one thing though. I was confused by the title because I thought it meant you wanted to celebrate evil kids. A little comma between the evil and the kids would be a bit less confusing to people who have brains like mine. lol Not meaning to nitpick, but I was genuinely confused at first, until I kept reading. 🙂 )
I found this post through an email I was sent and I’m glad I stopped by to have a read.
Thanks for a great post. 🙂
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The way I see Halloween (and anything else in this world) is…if it honours God, glorifies Him and blesses my soul then it’s wonderful and if it doesn’t do any of these, then I don’t acknowledge it. I homeschool my kids and we often talk about Halloween. My 6.5, 5.5 and 4.5 year olds all know that it doesn’t honour our Lord so they know they aren’t missing anything. We don’t eat refined sugars so they aren’t missing out on all the candy collected plus I make my own healthy treats as they have some food sensitivities. Our church does a festive type night but we’ve never attended. I pray over them regularly, especially that the Lord would guard their eyes from things they shouldn’t see. Yes, they will see things in this world that are ungodly but I pray that they will not remember and nothing will be left ingrained in them.
I have to chuckle when my boistrous 4.5 yr old son matter of factly shouts out and points out “That’s evil!!!” when we see Halloween displays in stores while shopping. I’m glad the Lord has given him discernment. Now THAT is God honouring. 🙂
Thank you for a great post! Happened to find you on Pinterest.
I think it can be used as a valuable teaching tool. My kids aren’t allowed to dress in scary costumes, we don’t put up scary decorations or do anything to deliberately scare each other. We talk about it though, why its not a good idea to celebrate those things and the concept of spiritual warfare. Our neighbors across the street were raised without celebrating halloween and now that they are adults they go all out with the scary stuff like they are making up for lost time or something.
We were convicted ten years ago to not participate. I am just tired of being judged and called self-righteous because we make a choice to abstain from participating. I get tired of the same old rhetoric that all days were created by God so I am somehow doing Him a disservice by not participating. We don’t care if others choose to but don’t cast judgement because we don’t……..
We shouldn’t be celebrating halloween, which is Samhain, a witch’s holiday.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain
Let’s celebrate God’s love and mercy and how He has abundantly provided this harvest time instead, and let’s celebrate reformation day instead.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformation_Day
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“Abstain from all appearance of evil.”
1st Thessalonians 5: 22
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”
Ephesians 5: 11
KJV
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Thank you for writing this! People need to understand evil is the opposite of Jesus. Even if it’s disguised as “fun”.
I have three children ages 16, `14, and 12. They have never celebrated Halloween. My husband and I were married for 10 years before children, and never gave out candy or celebrated Halloween in any way. We believe that it glorifies evil.
A few weeks ago my six year old ask why we don’t do Halloween. Instead of telling her why I gave her a brief history on the festival. She looked at me disgusted and asked “why would you want to celebrate that?! We celebrate Jesus.” If a six year old can so clearly see how have we become so blind?
If christians are not going to celebrate Halloween, then we need to be consistent and stop celebrating Valentine’s Day (Cupid was a Roman god), Easter and Christmas (both originated as evil, pagan holidays). I don’t think Jesus (who dined with thieves, prostitutes and tax collectors) would want us to be so legalistic. I imagine that He would be handing out candy with love and truth. If we leave our porch lights off and refuse to participate, we give a cold shoulder and judgmental vibe to the very people we should be trying to make connections with so we can win them to Christ. We have an opportunity to BE the church and shine light in the darkness. If we don’t, who will?
Victoria,
Thank you for your comment. I know that you mean well, and as a Christian you want to honor God, so I want to address all your points and hopefully clear up some confusion.
Your first point is that Christians celebrate other pagan holidays, so why not this halloween. Easter and Christmas are both great examples. Both holidays were rejected by the early Church because they were pagan! But instead of having no celebration, the pagan holidays were replaced with Christian holidays, one to celebrate the Resurrection and the other to celebrate Christ’s birth. As far as Valentine’s day goes, I don’t celebrate it – our love day is our wedding anniversary – but still I don’t see that holiday as inherently evil because it is a celebration of love.
Halloween, on the other hand has not been replaced with a Christian holiday. There have been historical attempts, but obviously they didn’t stick. It is a celebration of evil. Look at the costumes, look at the decorations, look at the movies, and look at the haunted houses – and you will see nothing Christian or redeeming in them.
It is our job to witness to the world, not go along with the crowd in an effort to make them like us. Jesus is the best example of this. He may have associated with thieves, prostitutes and tax collectors, but he did not join them in their sins, nor was He accepting of them. In each case, He condemned the sin and called them out of it. His followers were ex-prostitutes, ex-thieves, ex-tax collectors because Jesus did not tolerate sin.
Finally, many people excuse their participation in unGodly activities by saying that they are going to “be the light.” I think in this case the, the best way to “be the light” is to leave your light off. Or, perhaps replace this evil holiday with a Christian one, as the early Churches did with Easter and Christmas.
However, if you plan to open your door and share the Gospel, then I see nothing wrong with that. That isn’t celebrating halloween, it is evangelizing. The problem is, most Christian claim that is their goal, but then they dress up, hand out candy, and don’t make the slightest effort to share their Faith.
Why would anyone want to celebrate evil and try to make it fun, especially a Christian? At about age 19, I figured out on my own that Halloween is a celebration of evil in which I should have no part promoting or participating. There is no way a Christian can justify taking part in this. I really don’t even agree with doing something without the evil costumes or Halloween name and trappings on that night. It can be confusing to children or others. Why not make a real statement by not giving any recognition to evil or Satan on that night?
this is why i celebrate the harvest in october and not halloween..there is nothing wrong with harvest blessing signs and fall flowers and we even let the kids and adults dress as characters that are not from the dark..and evil like vampires witches demons or anything scary especially zombies and dead people with blood and guts…this will just desensitize our kids …nothing good in it at all…and we do not have our celebration on halloween night..its another time in oct…there is nothing positive about the roots of halloween and they are getting way too carried away with the costumes they have that are not positive characters……like fireman or policeman or princesses…
I think you really need to look up the defintion to Halloween, it is not to celabrate evil, you also might want to pick up the bilbe and actually read it from beginning to end no skipping parts you might actually learn a few things about the christianity beliefs. and as a kid I loved Halloween as a kid and now because of people like you who have to turn everything fun into something bad, because you didn’t know how to explain it properly to your child is just bad parenting. Halloween for me was a day that I could dress up how I wanted to and show off my imagination. Halloween not only allows children to use their imagintaion anyway they want to with out fear of being laughed at but it is to celebrate the dead, because on All Hallows night the vail between the living and the dead is thin so your loved ones that have passed can visit, kind of like the Day of the dead in mexico. instead of ruining a kids imagination try actually doing research before bashing a good and fun holiday, and learn to be a parent.
I understand your view of Halloween and you can do whatever you want with your family and your kids. I just disagree. Whatever it used to be is not what I think it stands for anymore. I see it in the movies and in the costumes and in the way kids act on that day. Not celebrating Halloween doesn’t make me a bad parent and it doesn’t mean that I don’t allow my children to use their imaginations. Wishing you the best!