Halloween: Trick, Treat or Retreat?
Many Conservative Christians have demonized Halloween as a holiday venerating satanic worship and pagan superstition. The typical response of Christian fundamentalists (I consider myself one, as long as that means being passionate about the “fundamentals” of the faith) to questionable elements of culture has been to demonize and separate themselves from lost people (because sin is like a virus you can catch if you get near it), to retreat from the city to the suburbs or the country, find a good piece of land, put up barbed wire, load their guns, get some canned goods, and hunker down for Armageddon. Many churches try to find a compromise by repackaging Halloween in ways that are palatable to the people in the church, e.g. Harvest Festivals, Fall Celebrations, Costume parties, etc. In regard to engaging culture, I believe this is the grid we should use:
- Proclaim the gospel of Jesus to the world
- Receive anything that is not counter to the gospel
- Reject anything incompatible with the truth of scripture
- Redeem objects of sinful, idolatrous worship for the glory of God
Here is a great article on Halloween that looks at the holiday through this Gospel lens, asking: Can this be redeemed for Jesus? The Gospel gives us freedom to act out of conscience, not forcing legalism onto others on issues that the bible is silent or unclear on, but not ignorantly engaging aspects of culture that might be harmful. It’s about being thoughtful in our cultural engagement.
Gimme Some Sugar, Baby…
The holy, hellish, hodgepodge history of Halloween
By Pastor James Harleman, Mars Hill Church
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