If you haven’t noticed, Halloween is getting more and more popular these days. The National Retail Federation projects that Americans will spend over $6.9 billion dollars on costumes, decorations, and candy this year. There has been a steady increase in Halloween participation and spending over the past several years, so much so that some have asked if it is “the new Christmas!” Every year Christians (especially those with kids in the home) face the dilemma of what to do about Halloween, and the fact that it has taken on the status of a virtual national holiday does not make it any easier.

Opinions of Halloween are found along a wide spectrum among Christians, from those who see it as nothing but a purely pagan celebration of evil in which the Christian has no business participating, to those who view it as an Americanized holiday for fun and candy – as innocent as apple pie. These opposing opinions become more polarized when pastors and bloggers take it upon themselves to address the subject dogmatically and declare it either “clean” or “unclean” for believers. The default for many Christians is to stay home, turn out the lights and pretend that nothing is going on outside. Many churches hold some sort of “Harvest Festival,” seeking to provide a Christian alternative. Others hold a “Trunk or Treat” which is basically the same thing without the fuzzy title. So what are we to make of Halloween? Should we participate or not participate? Should we ignore it or find some alternative? And how do we shepherd our children in regard to it when it seems that everyone at school (even the Christian school) is going trick-or-treating this Saturday? Well, the issue is complicated, just like all of life is complicated because of sin, and God calls us to think. It is not an option to bury our heads in the sand when it comes to Halloween.

A brief survey of the origins of Halloween will certainly cause any Christian to cringe. Its beginnings were far from holy, and some of the practices carried on today are indeed rooted in pagan rites (but then again, so are some of the practices of our modern Christmas holiday). Most of the confusion over all our modern holidays has come as a result of Roman Catholicism’s Christianizing of pagan celebrations in a vain attempt to redeem them, and Halloween is probably the most convoluted of all because it does not have any direct Christian affiliation (as with Christ’s resurrection at Easter). This is not to mention the profuse mysticism and perpetual false teachings of the Catholic Church that only serve muddy the waters even further. The fact of the matter is that in our 21st century American culture, materialism has trumped all vestiges of pagan roots and Catholic redefinition, so that the average American doesn’t even know (or care) about all of that history. We live for the moment, for the thrill, for the fun. Let’s be honest, any excuse to have a ten-foot-tall blow-up monster in your front yard and to fulfill your inner longing to dress up like Batman without people thinking you’re a complete weirdo is pretty cool! And don’t forget about the candy!!! So in reality, much of what our culture does at Halloween (or Christmas or Easter, for that matter) has virtually no meaning at all.

With all of this in mind, the question of whether or not a Christian should participate in Halloween to whatever degree comes down to an issue of conscience (see Romans 14:1-12). The real question is how are you going to participate or not participate, and how you will communicate your convictions to your children. Here are some guidelines that may serve to help you in making these decisions. For those who choose not to participate, you need to explain to your children the reasons why in a thorough, understandable way, pointing them to Scripture. You also need to help them understand that while Christians are commanded to make wise, discerning judgments, we must always beware of the danger of falling into judgmentalism in regard to other Christian families who choose to participate.

For those who choose to participate in some sort of alternative, you will need to give your children the same lesson about the difference between judgment and judgmentalism. If you choose to participate in the standard trick-or-treating holiday, you need to explain to your children the danger of rejoicing in evil. It is never wise for Christians to celebrate death or evil either with decorations or costumes. There are plenty of good, wholesome options for costumes that do not glorify horror or death, and you can save decorating for Christmas. You also need to point your children to Scripture in this regard, showing them why there is a distinction in the way your family will participate in Halloween and the way other families choose to do so. Obviously you’ll need to give your children boundaries and warn them of the practical dangers associated with trick-or-treating. If they are small, it is always best to accompany them.

Regardless of how Christians choose to participate in or abstain from the festivities of Halloween, we are often so caught up in the dilemma that we forget about the awesome opportunity this day affords for evangelism. I believe it is providentially ironic that October 31st is also Reformation Day. On this day in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenburg, Germany, sparking the Protestant Reformation, recovering the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ which had been sorrowfully perverted by the Roman Catholic Church for centuries. Why not redeem this day for the gospel in the spirit of the Reformation? It does not take long to recognize the golden opportunity we have to place a gospel tract in the bag of every trick-or-treater who comes to our door or participate in some sort of tract-giving evangelistic event. Christians who do not wish to participate in Halloween could make it a ministry night involving the entire family. All you need to do is secure some good, gospel tracts (check out www.livingwaters.com for some great, affordable options or ask your church if they provide them), buy some candy (hey, don’t be a killjoy!), and have a fun family night interacting in a kind, loving way to the world at your doorstep while giving them the gospel. As a friend recently reminded me, it is the only time of year you can do this and even get a “Thank you” in response every time! If you choose to participate in Halloween, you could take tracts  with you and give them to people as your own “Thank you” for the candy you receive and even pass them out to other trick-or-treaters along the way. I would even go so far as to encourage churches to ditch the “Harvest Festival” or the “Trunk or Treat” and simply hit the town, posting teams of people in strategic places to hand out gospel tracts. Our church has done this for a number of years with great success, distributing literally thousands of tracts each year. Whatever you do, think through how you can redeem October 31st for the gospel!

I remember the day the nation stood still when shots were reported at a school in the sleepy little town of Columbine, CO. Since that fateful day in 1999, it seems that mass shootings have become almost expected in our country. It’s not a matter of whether or not one will happen again; it’s only a matter of time. This week’s shooting in Roseburg, OR is simply the latest in a string of violent shootings in less than two decades. Even President Obama relayed his frustration about this fact when he stated, “Somehow this has become routine…we’ve become numb to this” in his response to the Roseburg shooting.

Beyond the religious connections of the shooting, (it is reported that the shooter asked if the victims were Christians before shooting them), what can believers learn from yet another brutal display of violence? Are we willing to settle for this as “routine?” Have we too “become numb to this?” Some will jump on the bandwagon of banning firearms as a response. I’m not going to venture an opinion on that; perhaps something practical needs to be done at some level. But is that all we can learn: ‘people shoot others because they have access to guns, so let’s get rid of the guns,’ or can we learn something more from Roseburg and the list of other tragedies preceding it?

I believe that there is a lesson here, screaming out to all those who would have ears to hear, and it is this: the reason these mass killings are becoming commonplace in our culture is because the philosophical agenda which has been peddled and gobbled up by America at large is producing them. And what agenda is that? Romans 1:25 calls it “the lie.” It is the lie which has replaced the truth of God and seeks to worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator. When sinful man suppresses the truth of God which has been clearly revealed to Him in creation and conscience and throws off all restraint of morality in order to indulge his passionate lusts; when he believes the theory that man is nothing more than a higher order of animal who is expressing his primal instincts as he lives out an existence which has no real meaning or value; when the existence of an ultimate Lawgiver and Judge is denied so that there are no eternal consequences for one’s actions, what do we expect is going to result? 

Secular culture will once again believe the lie that mankind is basically good and still progressing toward greater heights of intellectual and moral virtue. It will once again cast the shooter as someone who simply suffered from some sort of mental illness. It will seek to ‘solve the problem’ with more legislation and regulations. But as Christians, we can learn from this tragedy the truth that we already know afresh: that “there is none righteous, not even one” (Rom 3:10), that mankind is not progressing toward utopia; he is the same as he has been since the Fall and the first murder shortly thereafter (Gen 4). We can once again be reminded of the truth that Satan is “a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him” (John 8:44). We can once again learn that the natural man is dead in his trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1) and that his mind is blinded by “the god of this world.” In short, we can learn again how much this world needs to see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” People need truth and light; people need Christ! And we have that truth; we have that light; we know Jesus Christ and we have a message of hope that, by the power of God can shine through the darkness and bring hope and healing and a real solution to the real problem which is the fallen human condition! May this horrific event be a sober reminder to us, and may we learn this lesson anew. As we pray for healing and comfort for those who have lost loved ones in this senseless act, may we also be stirred up to speak the gospel to our friends and family and neighbors.