Halloween humbug

I hate to be a Halloween humbug. I really do. I know it makes most of my friends uncomfortable. So I don't say anything about Halloween unless someone asks. But my blog post is a whole different matter! That's when I get to climb up onto my soapbox and pontificate to my heart's content.

Let me say also that I understand the fun behind Halloween. I understand the cultural enjoyment. I know that it's supposed to be nice clean fun for the kids and an opportunity even for adults to let loose. I've also heard the many voices speaking about how church "Fall Festival" events bring in the unchurched. That it is the biggest outreach of the entire year. And besides all of that, what is the harm? Isn't it better to take something that may or may not be evil and turn it around for good? We can wear nice costumes, even funny ones. We can hand out Bible verses and tracts to the trick-or-treaters along with the candy. We can share the gospel during the church events. What a great opportunity!

But to all of this, I still wonder if Christian participation is a good idea.

Everything that is Halloween is bad. I've posted before about a conversation with a neighborhood friend who asked me why we didn't celebrate Halloween. My answer was to ask her what she thought about when it came to Halloween. Her answers: costumes, ghosts, goblins, witches, CANDY, scary things, black cats, etc. Aside from CANDY, there was no reference to anything inherently good. It was all evil. Dark. Hopeless.

Things that are evil should be turned away from, not made up to look different. I'm thinking specifically about the old days of Israel and how over and over again, the people of God would turn away from God and worship idols. They'd sacrifice to pagan gods and forsake God and all that He had done for them. God would put them into captivity and they would call on God in their distress. They would turn from their worthless idols and once again worship God. This is what I think about Halloween. The people of Israel did not dust off their worthless idols and make them cute and funny while worship God again. They would completely cast them aside. They would have nothing to do with them.

I believe that Christians should completely cast away the evil of Halloween. Halloween day should be just a normal day. It should not be made bigger or smaller than October 30 or November 1. We should go about our business. And maybe, maybe it would affect the economic giant that Halloween has become. Imagine if Christians did not buy candy, costumes or decorations! What a huge dent in the Halloween market that would be. And what a huge savings that would be for the Christian that could be used in hundreds of other better ways.

So that's what our family does on Halloween. We just go about our business. Last night, Keith took Keri Lynn and the little boys to the Newnan High School football game. I stayed home and made dinner, cleaned up the kitchen and crocheted and watched TV. We made sure our outside lights were off. By the end of the night, we'd had a pleasant evening and were in bed at a decent hour.

Those are my thoughts. If you don't agree, please don't think that I will think less of you. There are many points of view when it comes to this subject. I've learned that in the grand scheme of things, it's not all that important. I've also learned that I can go ahead and give my opinion even if other people don't agree! However, what is important is that we are raising our kids to honor God. That is my prayer for my kids. That was my prayer when they were still in my womb. "Lord, may this child honor You."