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Enjoying Halloween??? – Culturally Acceptable and Spiritually Divisive
I did a definition search on the word “hallow.” The basic definition is, holy. I searched for the meaning of the suffix “een.” IIt is considered to be a contraction of the word “evening.” It seems to have in its definition the meaning of “not something” Evening is the time between day and night. It is neither. So what do Christians do with a holiday that is not holy but is between? October 31st has been dubbed Halloween. The name fits well. It is not truly holy, but it is not completely evil either, and considered by some even neutral. Some use this holiday to decorate in a fall theme,…
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Two Halloween Opportunities
We may love or hate it, but we can’t avoid Halloween—it comes around every year. As you talk with your friends, neighbors, and co-workers about all the revelry, don’t miss these two divine opportunities. 1. Build Relationships. Halloween is one of the few times when the whole neighborhood comes knocking. It’s not always easy to build relationships, but this one’s a no-brainer. Sit on your porch and talk to everyone who comes to you. It’s a stepping stone to deepen relationships, which will show you care and, in turn, may provide opportunities to share your faith. 2. Exult in Christ’s victory over evil. People might look at you funny if…
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How Should We Think About Halloween?
A number of articles are available advising Christians to have nothing to do with Halloween. And I do agree that Christians have no business celebrating a holiday that glorifies something that delights the enemy of our souls. And potentially opens us up to demonic harrassment, to boot! But if we’ve got kids, especially kids in public school or who hang around other kids in the neighborhood, it’s entirely possible that parents can feel pressured to do something about Halloween. After all, it’s pretty hard to hide under a rock for the whole month of October. A number of houses on our street are more decorated for Halloween than for Christmas!…
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Halloween or Reformation Day?
It seems that our world is head over heels in love with Halloween to the point that you can go to almost any store and find all kinds of paraphernalia. Halloween has become big business and the merchants are using their “trick or treat” to drain our pocketbooks and fill theirs. If you have looked closely these days the merchants are also promoting the death culture with the ghouls and goblins dripping with blood. Our public schools spend the month of October in preparation for the party centered around Halloween, costumes, candy and spooky music! Have we become so enamored with Halloween that we have forgotten about what happened on…
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Bewitched: A Bible Story for Halloween
As the world focuses on goblins, witches, death, and cemeteries, we find in the Word a lesson for the season (borrowed from a previous post)…. Double, double, Saul in trouble/Flew to Endor on the double. The year was about 1007 BC. When our story in 1 Samuel 28 opens, the prophet Samuel has died and King Saul has removed all the fortunetellers and mediums from the land—one of his few obedient acts. When his enemies, the Philistines, assembled at Shunem in the north part of Palestine, King Saul cobbled together an army. As he camped with his troops at nearby Gilboa, the size of the Philistine force left him quaking. By all…
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The Tapeworm Gallery: Candy-Coated Catnap
October 29. Just hearing someone utter "pumpkin" gets you giddy like a high school cheerleader. But not this year… Despite what Pastor Mike says, Grace and Christian should attend the Monsters' Ball. They will make a fine vampire-ballerina and zombie-policeman for this innocuous school dance. Besides, they haven't dressed up since grade school. People need to relax with the whole "Halloween is evil" bit. Since when is fun a bad thing? Since half-baked, fanatic, church weirdos said so? Just don't let their Halloween pictures land on Facebook. You don't need Pastor Mike's wife getting into your business . . . again. Speaking of meddling . . . your dread pirate mother-in-law,…
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Halloween: Are Witches and Wizards Evil?
My husband and I went to see a movie this week, but the theater near us listed mostly zombie movies and walking-dead stuff. Not our thing. And some of our neighbors are sporting graveyard-themed decorations as elaborate as what folks used to bring out only for Christmas. No one seems to remember that the name "Halloween" started out as "All Hallows Eve" or "Hallowed Eve," the night before All Saints Day. So this seems as good a time as any to re-run a blog post I once ran about witches and wizards. You can read the original for a string of comments that followed, which I won't repeat here: Six…
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Halloween: Are Witches and Wizards Evil?
Six years ago, my friend and former student Marla Alupoaicei published a book, Generation Hex (Harvest House). She did so because she’d had little interaction with Wiccans until she was in college. And there she met a girl in a writing class who told her, “I’m a white witch.” Marla didn’t know what to say, and having been taught to stay away from anyone involved with witchcraft, she remained silent. Marla still regrets being unequipped to have a spiritual conversation with that girl. But the experience led her to co-author a book that helps Christians have meaningful conversations with Wiccans. When the book came out, I ran a column here…
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Halloween 101: Community Building and Factories of Courage
A child hid her face in her hands, “Mommy who would put such a scary mask on display?” “Boo!” Out of the shadows jumped Mr. Incredible hoping to steal some candy from his unsuspecting sister. “What an awesome batman mask!” said a father brandishing his camera. Love or hate them, one thing is true: a simple, plastic mask evokes strong emotions. Some of us may stay as far away from them as possible, shunning anything that even reminds us of evil in the world. Others join in the merry making with hardly a care in the world. Either way, we can’t completely hide from Halloween, which brings me to an…
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Redeeming Halloween?
A number of articles are available advising Christians to have nothing to do with Halloween. And I do agree that Christians have no business celebrating a holiday that glorifies something that delights the enemy of our souls. And potentially opens us up to demonic harrassment, to boot! But if we’ve got kids, especially kids in public school or who hang around other kids in the neighborhood, it’s entirely possible that parents can feel pressured to do something about Halloween. After all, it’s pretty hard to hide under a rock for the whole month of October. A number of houses on our street are more decorated for Halloween than for Christmas!…
