Our church passed out today a four page statement, article and discussion guide concerning Halloween, which I greatly appreciated. Above all, I appreciate the preface wirtten by our pastor;

In case you are curious, the Session of [our church] does not have an “official position on Halloween. Rather, we hope that each household will, by the grace of God, humbly and wisely seek to base their “house rules” on the Word of God and seek the best way to both nurture their children in the faith and to bring God’s redemptive work to bear upon the world, starting in our own neighborhoods. At the same time, we must bear with and love one another “in Christ” as we perhaps come to different conclusions about how best to observe and participate in things like Halloween. (emphasis mine)

I am warmly encouraged and rejoice to hear the church recognize an issue that is not black and white and to admonish the body to bear with one another in love. We won’e all agree on such issues as this and I don’t know that we are intended to, at least intended to behave in the same way. I respect my friends who choose not to trick-or-treat. Perhaps that is best for their children. In the following, I will refer to a position that encourages mockery of Satan’s defeat. I understand that reasoning and respect the sincere, vigorous faith of those whom I have heard support it, yet I as of yet am not sure that I agree with it.

In all the reading I have done of late, I honestly cannot discern exactly what the historical factors really are surrounding Halloween, nor exactly the current practices among neopagans and other groups. Much of the information seems either exaggerated or downplayed, taken too seriously or dismissed outright as mere myth. I am guessing the truth lies somewhere in the middle and quite certain that it is not so easy to understand as those with quick answers would be loud to assert.

The issue of Halloween has also highlighted my concern with the degree of isolationism that I see among many Christians (which I believe is both strongly theology based as well as rooted in our sin nature, our affinity to condemn and for that which is easier.) I emphasized my pastor’s exhortation to both nurture our children in the faith and engage the world with the redemptive work of God. We are not called to just bear children into the faith, we are called to go OUT into the world and make disciples. I hear many families with a tendancy to isolate themselves and their children speak of expanding the Kingdom of Chirst through their children. Wonderful. However if you only focus on nurturing your children in the faith, it is likely that they too will be isolationist (or rebellious). Such a one-way focus will create a separate Christian society that is not able to be in or go out into the world as the chruch has been commanded to do.

We are not called to be cynics, throwing up our hands crying “The world is going to hell in a handbasket!” We are to work to proclaim the Gospel in and to the world, going out into all the nations, being used of God to redeem them, not just saving souls from the fires of hell, but redeeming people, communities, cultures. Enough on this for now. However, in our thinking of Halloween, we are to consider our commission to both our children and to our neighbor. These are not to be at odds but integrated in our calling to Chirst.

A few interesting exerpts from the article by James B. Jordan included in our church handout;

The Festival of All Saints reminds us that though Jesus has finished His work, we have not finished ours. He has struck the decisive blow, but we have the privilege of working in the mopping up operation. Thus, century by century the Christian faith has rolled back the demonic realm of ignorance, fear, and superstition. Though things look bad in the Western world today, this work continues to make progress in Asia and Africa and Latin America.

The Biblical day begins in the preceding evening, and thus in the Church calendar, the eve of a day is the actual beginning of the festive day. Christmas Eve is most familiar to us, but there is also the Vigil of Holy Saturday that preceeds Easter Morn. Similarly, All Saints’ Eve precedes All Saints’ Day.

The concept, as dramatized in Christian custom, is quite simple: on October 31, the demonic realm tries one last time to achieve victory, but is banished by the joy of the Kingdom.

What is the means by which the demonic realm is vanquished? In a word: mockery. Satan’s great sin (and our great sin) is pride. Thus, to drive Satan from us, we ridicule him. This is why the custom arose of portraying Satan in a ridiculous red suit with horns and a tail. Nobody thinks the devil really looks like this; the Bible teaches that he is the fallen Arch-Cherub. Rather, the idea is to ridicule him because he has lost the battle with Jesus and he no longer has power over us. . . .

Similarly, on All Hallows’ Eve, the custom arose of mocking the demonic realm by dressing children in costumes. Because the power of Satan has been broken once and for all, our children can mock him by dressing up like ghosts, goblins, and witches. The fact that we can dress our children this way shows our supreme confidence in the utter defeat of Satan by Jesus Christ—we have NO FEAR! . . .

This is a good place to note that many articles in books, magazines, and encyclopedias are written by secular humanists or even the pop-pagans of the so-called “New Age” movement. (An example is the article by Wynn Parks cited above.) These people actively suppress the Christian associations of historic customs, and try to magnify the pagan associations. They do this to try to make paganism acceptable and downplay Christianity. Thus, Halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc., are said to have pagan origins. Not true.

Oddly, some fundamentalists have been influenced by these slanted views of history. These fundamentalists do not accept the humanist and pagan rewriting of Western history, American history, and science, but sometimes they do accept the humanist and pagan rewriting of the origins of Halloween and Christmas, the Christmas tree, etc. We can hope that in time these brethren will reexamine these matters as well. We ought not to let the pagans do our thinking for us. . . .

“He who sits in the heavens laughs; Yahweh ridicules them” says Psalm 2. Let us join in His holy laughter and mock the enemies of Christ on October 31.

I find Jordan’s comments on the origins of Halloween new, fascinating, and if accurate, very liberating. I am recently becoming aware of how many Chirstians accept non-christian biased history and dismiss many things as offensively pagan. If we all truly came from Adam and Eve, and then from Noah, within less than 10,000 years, would not the myths and thoughts of pagans be likely to still hold remnants of truth, shreds of that passed on from ancestors who did know the one true God? What if God in His soverignty kept that myth of the sun God in x pagan group so that when He sent his messengers of the Gospel whose feet are blessed that the people would have some kind of symbol or basis of being able to understand the message brought to them? To consider this line of thinking more deeply, I highly recommend Eternity in Their Hearts by Don Richardson. (see “The Library”)

Concerning the mockery of Satan, however, I have some reservations. Interestingly, some Reformed and other theologians teach that Satan has already been bound. Right now he is not freely roaming the earth, but this is the time of his imprisonment so that the Gospel may go out through all the earth. I don’t intend to go into this theology at this moment, nor have I formed my own opinion on the matter. However, it certainly affects how you would approach Halloween. I heasitate with mocking Satan, because I know that he is a formidable foe, said to prowl looking for those he can devour because his time is short. (BTW - those who say he is bound, I presume would teach that Satan was prowling around at the time Peter wrote that, but that with the fall of the Temple in 70AD, the old world and order were ended and Satan was bound. This view interprets much of Revelation - though not all - as having already happened.) Jude also wrote, “But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Thus, although Halloween had Chirstian origins, perhaps they were not the wisest of Christians who established them!

I hope I have provoked deeper thought on the issue. Whatever you and your family decide, let it be from bold faith and not from fear. Peace be with you!