This next week puts us face to face with Halloween again. The celebration of free candy, evil spirits, and the occult.
What seems innocent enough in the eyes of our children has a very different meaning in the eyes of others. And in our family’s opinion, the eyes of Christ.
Christ, portrayed to be the light of the world in biblical reference, is a contrast to the darkness. And, of course, darkness is the realm of the cunning serpent, Satan. So, if we look at Halloween through a spiritual aspect, it’s hard not to see that dressing up in guts and gore is darkness and of the devil.
Those that worship Satan take great pleasure in this evening. We have even known people who used to participate in the occult, who used to spend Halloween cursing people and encouraging negative spirits to enter the world. Thankfully our friend has come to see the power in Christ and turned away from the evil practices.
Yet when we dress up our kids and send them out to be scared, trading mischief for candy, we in a way are encouraging the same practices. Maybe instead of dressing them up in gore, we should turn to another tradition seen in times past: The Harvest Party.
Instead of celebrating the evil, lets come together as families and communities and celebrate the bounty the God has provided us during the harvest before winter sets in. Good company, fresh apple pie, and maybe even some healthy candy (sorry, gorging on dye and artificial flavor is not helping our kids).
If the end goal is to become closer to Christ and return to Him, shouldn’t we spend more time in worship to Him? I think it’s time we stepped back and saw Halloween for what It truly is.
It’s been years since our family did Halloween activities. Our kids don’t miss the dress-up. Every time we make the choice to turn our family towards Him, the end result is amazing.
We still participate in Harvest related events. Just not Halloween itself. We don’t even watch the Halloween classics we used to watch. Sorry Garfield, we’ll catch up for Thanksgiving.
We want to encourage you to strengthen your family in Christ this year. Be thankful for the bounty the Lord has provided. And teach your children that the most important thing is our faith in Christ even when it’s not the popular choice.