Choosing Not to Celebrate Halloween: A Pastor’s Perspective, Updated!

Time and Societal Changes have only Reinforced Our Decision

The large billboards towering over the main street of my town reminded of my old post about my family’s decision not to celebrate Halloween. Here is the original post:

Why We Don’t Celebrate Halloween – One Pastor’s Perspective

If you don’t want to click over and read it, the reasoning is really simple:

This embracing of all that is dark and depraved is why we choose not to celebrate Halloween as a family. It is inconsistent with our call as Christians to rejoice in what is good, noble, holy, and righteous.

We certainly don’t judge others who disagree.  This is our decision for our family.  We also understand it may be different where you are, dear reader.  But for us, what once was a fun day to dress up and eat candy seems to have transformed into something new.  It is a season that embraces the twisted and evil in people.  There is too much celebration of all things evil for this Christian family to take part in good conscience.  As our 4 year old expressed it,

“Halloween is about dead people and we are alive in Jesus.”

and, biblically:

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Ephesians 5:8-11

What is Walking By Faith? A Pastor’s Answer

I certainly understand that this is an issue that Christians, in good faith, can disagree on. Many Christians see the day as simply one of harmless dress up and candy or even one that allows you to get out in the neighborhood among your neighbors. I love and respect these fellow disciples and know the specifics of each of situations may be very different.

However, with the benefit of the years since my original post, the 4 year old quoted above is now 11, watching the changes in the world around me, and having raised 3 of my children to adulthood where they love the Lord and are serving in ministry, I have the opportunity to reflect on our decision. In short, I am all the more convinced that not joining in Halloween festivities was the correct choice for us, for largely the same reasons set out in my original post. However, years as a parent and hindsight compel me to off two important additions to my original post:

1 – My children have never felt deprived, that they missed out, or like they wanted to rebel against us or the church as a result of not Trick or Treating. Our decision did not drive them to do drugs or cause them to end up an atheist in prison. I know my language is overly dramatic here, but it is done for affect as these are the sort of fears that creep in when you make a decision that you think will be good for your family in the Lord, but it goes against the pattern of the world in my experience. Doubt and anxiety can lead you down the dark “they are missing out and will hate me in the long run” path and force your decision. This is completely unnecessary.

When my wife and I made our choice, we explained it simply to the kids with as little drama as possible. Their initial responses were shrugs and “ok”, then they went off and played some more. As they got older, they understood more and expressed that it never bothered them and that it seemed consistent with who we are as a family. None of them are anti-fun, afraid of costumes, or on a rebellious path in life.

and:

2 – The world and its celebration of Halloween is markedly darker than it was 7 years ago. I am not a pessimist by nature and I genuinely like most people, but it seems society not only accepts things that were viewed as sick and twisted just a few years ago, but actively celebrates them regardless of the audience. You only need to look at the most popular TV shows and movies of the last decade to see the rise of all the zombies, gruesome murders, and sheer ugliness of man on display in media. This is a statement by society of what people enjoy watching as entertainment…and it is concerning. I wrote about the spectacle of my then neighbor’s gruesome zombie in a cage lawn display in my original post as this stood out back then as excessive dark, even for Halloween. The sad postscript to that observation is that display no longer stands out among the many gross, twisted, and even outright demonic ornaments adorning lawns everywhere we go, from late September onward. A neighbor decided that this was appropriate for his front lawn, for example:

The billboard mentioned above that is set on the heavily traveled main street of my town makes certain that everyone, including small children, is exposed to the corruption.

Here is a picture:

This is what Halloween brings out around me.

I want to be clear that my wife and I understand that demons cannot do anything to us and the nasty creations of fiction like the leering zombie above are just that, not real. They don’t scare or intimidate us. I have encountered the demonic without flinching as well as been involved in some real life circumstances involving medical emergencies and people in really bad shape. It is not squeemishness or fear that drove our decision to not participate in Halloween, in other words. We are also very aware that we serve Jesus in freedom and covered by His abundant grace so it was also not from legalism.

It was simply realizing that we could not, in good conscience, participate in and encourage our kids to enjoy a holiday that is surrounded by such utter darkness.

You may think differently and that is ok. Jesus loves both of us, regardless.

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