Christians & Halloween

We love to camp. We are an adventurous family. At 20 months my oldest son has pretty much covered the Southern East Cost and we have a lot more planned. Typically, we plan our camping trips around long weekends or holidays so we can maximize my husband’s PTO time. However, all holidays are BIG deals at campgrounds, so we’ve traveled the past two weekends to get in all the extra fun fall and Halloween stuff.

& now that we are home, unpacking and preparing costumes for actual Halloween, God is sparking some fire in me. So, I’m going to share with you my most recent journey of Faith.

God places things on our heart when its relevant to His plan, but not necessarily convenient to our plans.

Two weekends ago, Andrew, Cecil and I traveled to Poquoson, Va for their fall Seafood festival and an ODU homecoming game with some friends. The Poquoson Seafood Festival is always a favorite of ours with lots of yummy seafood, a craft show, and a fun kid zone. Cecil pretty much ate his weight in all things crab on Friday and then got to show off his dance moves on the ODU Jumbotron on Saturday! It was an amazing weekend away with great friends and fellowship. But one thing that was everywhere this year was Halloween!

I’m sure there have been tons of Halloween decorations every year - but I guess as four young parents with 3 little kids and one on the way, we were just more aware of its presence.

Cecil’s favorite new phrase is “what’s that?” So it was on repeat for all these spooky decorations on houses as we walked to the festival on Friday and the game on Saturday. I have to say - it was an “easy” question this year because he doesn’t require a ton of details, and at first the curiosity sparked our excitement for our next weekend adventure.

Fast forward to this weekend, we went camping in Madison, Virginia at Madison Vines Family Campground. It is a family favorite. They have so many fun activities, spacious sites, and even do community meals! Once again, Cecil asked, “What’s that?” at about every decoration and wanted to touch every Halloween inflatable he saw. The question was still “easy” and we just called everything ‘spooky,’ but it really got Andrew and I deep in thought about how we want to proceed with this holiday in the future.

We don’t live in a neighborhood, so holiday decorations are things that Cecil is usually not exposed to. & Until this year, he was too little for costume contests at daycare or trick or treating with play mates. This is a new experience for us as parents, and boy is it easy to get swept up in. The candy we mostly get to eat, the cute costumes he can play dress up in, the social excuse to do fun things with our friends - I mean why not participate?

But as I came home and was washing a second hand wolf costume for Cecil to go trick or treat in this week with his Gammy and PaPa, I really did think - why not participate? Why was this something I felt uneasy about after two weekends of non-stop fun?

& ultimately (love or hate this interpretation) it comes down to God telling us this isn’t the holiday for Christians to enjoy.

The more I prayed and spent time trying to justify little exceptions for me to have my toddler participate in, the more God’s word told me no. & believe me I know this is a strong opinion in the world and even some churches today, but it’s where my family is feeling lead to make adjustments and set ourselves apart.

Ephesians 5:11 says, “Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them.”

I hope my journey and growth in Faith can be a resource for your journey as well. It’s not my goal to cast judgements or change your minds, but it’s my prayer to share a message that is God centered and optimistic for a fun, biblically sound future. I’ve given myself all the excuses for this argument, and our extended families have added to it, but ultimately, there is only a short time where I can control the presence of what is in Cecil’s life and I’m feeling called to pull the reins on this one.

To dive right in - The three big reasons we have decided not to continue to celebrate Halloween in our family are…

Halloween promotes fear, darkness and death.

Personally, when I really think about it, these three reasons just scream evil to me, and 1 Thessalonians 5:22 tells us to “stay away from every kind of evil.” But I can be hardheaded and the world can be tempting, so I just had to dive a little further to really make sure that was the message God wanted me to hear. Surely, he’s not saying even the cute little wolf costume is evil?

As Christians we are not supposed to be afraid.

2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgement.”

Our fears are to be cast to God and we are to let them go in his name by trusting in Him, His will and His perfect plan for us. So where does a holiday intended to create fear align with this Christian narrative? And why make things ‘scary’ for our littles when our world can be scary enough on your average Monday?

As Christians we are not supposed to entertain darkness or evil. We are to set ourselves apart and live in the light.

2 Corinthians 6:14 says, “…For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?”

Now this was a tough one for me, because I had told myself ‘well if he’s dressed as a fluffy little wolf getting candy - what is really satanic about that? How is that causing harm?’ & truthfully, it’s not. Kids play dress up all the time. What it is doing is opening a door. Our actions give permissions. Are we consenting to the ‘holiday’ if we participate to it in any extent?

3 John 1:11 says, “Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.”

I don’t think this scripture is telling me if Cecil’s a wolf for Halloween, you’re making him evil. But I do think this is a warning to what we invite into our home with tiny compromises. Tiny compromises can lead to big shifts. So where do we draw the line?

1 John 1:5 says, “… God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.” … and honestly if it’s not of God, I don’t want it to be part of me, much less my baby boy. I need to set Biblical standards and examples for him. We don’t get to take anything with us to heaven when we go, but we do have the power to help get our children there, and that process starts from conception. It’s my job to help him define light and darkness, and if I create a shadow space, it will be easier for him to allow that to grow as he grows and makes his own choices.

& lastly, as Christians we are not supposed to glorify or celebrate death.

With Christ we have eternal life. Our flesh may pass but our spirits live eternally in paradise with our Lord and Savior, so we aren’t supposed to entertain the things associated with death.

In revelations 1:18 in John’s vision of the Lord he says, “I was dead, but look - I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and hades.” I want to stay with him in the “alive forever” … honestly, as an adult I’m still afraid of the dark at night, so I don’t want to imagine or consider a life that leads me to death and hades.

Now, all of this said - I’m not returning the wolf costume. Cecil LOVES to howl and for pretend play. It’s adorable to have a fluffy little wolf run around the house howling. What I am doing is challenging our family and yours to find your calling in this holiday. The devil is powerless against a spirit filled saint. Are there ways you can teach your family (no matter their life stage) boundaries around this holiday, but compromise with a fun new tradition that doesn’t promote dark values? What is God laying on your heart?

I’m thinking through this and leaning on 1 Corinthians 10:31 that says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” We have decided to use this day as an excuse to do something fun but still Biblically appropriate. We want to give glory to God by celebrating the wonderful life and family he’s blessed us with. For us, things will look a lot different moving forward.

No more Halloween parties, costume contests, or spooky celebrations.

Instead, we’ll be starting a fun new family tradition playing dress up with Grammy and PaPa and spending time with our family. We’ll let him play and pretend like any other day - and maybe even enjoy a little extra icecream with Papa after dinner as we prepare for a special sleepover at the lake, but we will be controlling this narrative in our home. We’re aiming to support our Christian values by celebrating our family and joining in fellowship, and I hope you use this day to feed your faith as well.

As for the bobbing for apples, carving pumpkins, and cute fall crafts - we can still do all of those things. We are a farming family from the south. We can celebrate harvest and enjoy fellowship without ghosts and ghouls and goblins.

[Remember, you are the defender of the Kingdom of God in your home.]

& if you do need a little fear to start your fire for the Lord and willingness to call out what is biblical and what is not … remember we serve a jealous God. I personally think celebrating His ‘enemy’s’ holiday could spark that jealousy. 1 Corinthians 10:22 says, “Are we provoking the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?” I know I’m not, and I know that jealousy is something I don’t want to provoke. I don’t want to make exceptions for evil or invite darkness into my home, so I’ll be working on new alternatives for this day as Cecil grows.

And as the 31st approaches, I’ll be praying over you and your family to find biblical joy and calling at the end of this month to give praise back to the Father.

God’s Love and Mine,

Christina