I am a contributing writer for The Inspired Woman, a ministry based in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. It is a group of women in ministry who share personal, practical, and ministry-related ideas, devotionals, and more.
One of our contributors, Kim Dillingham, shared her thoughts on Halloween and I loved how she answered this question: Is it Ghoulish or Godly?
Kim said:
In order to answer that question, we should take a look at how our culture typically promotes Halloween. If you walk into stores, you will quickly see what is being promoted: witches, zombies, skeletons, gore, darkness and death. The main way our culture promotes Halloween is by feeding on and perpetuating fear.
The best way to find out what the Lord would want for us and our families [as Christians] is to take a look at what His word says. “For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret” (Ephesians 5:8-12).
If we are born again of the Spirit of God, then we have light from the Lord. His word tells us we should live as children of light. “Don’t become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That’s not partnership; that’s war. Is light best friends with dark?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-15).
The last part of that verse, “Is light best friends with dark?” The answer, of course, is no!
Clearly, the darkness and death that is “glorified” around Halloween celebrations should have no place in a person’s life who is trying to honor God.
MY THOUGHTS
I have to agree wholeheartedly! I am dumbfounded at the number of Christians who live out their faith year-round and then paint their faces like zombies, put ghosts in their front yard and cobwebs on their porch… all in the name of “cute” “cool” or “beautiful –don’t be deceived — death and fear is neither beautiful nor cool.
A cartoon poster of a witch crashing into your front door isn’t cute. Breadsticks that look like bloody fingers, or candy that looks like eyeballs aren’t cute or funny. They have one thing in common–to scare and desensitize you. And who is the author of this? [Hint: not God.]
The goal of Satan is to DESENSITIZE us to his real game. He wants us to become less sensitive to his gore, and in the name of cute or funny, he’s just as happy to make us indifferent or unaware of his true motives. He loves to make us “laugh” at getting frightened. But fright, fear, gore, witches, ghosts, or other words should not be used in the same sentence as Christian. They do not describe God, and therefore should not describe us.
As an alternative, our church hosts an event on Halloween because we refuse to stick our head in the sand on the (quote-unquote) “Day of the Dead.” Instead we shine our Light in the dark through games, candy, and family fun–with a strong emphasis on sharing the Gospel through drama and tracks.
In other words, there are ways to turn the emphasis from fear TO FAITH, dark TO LIGHT, evil TO GOOD.
So consider these truths today. As a child of God, you are LIGHT. And dark is not your friend.
