Christianity and Halloween?

How should a Christian respond to Halloween? Before I attempt to answer this complex and emotional question, let's first present some information on the origin of Halloween.

According to scholars John Gregorson Campbell and Bettina Arnold, "Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic Festival known as Samhain. The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year."

Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient Celtic pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the alive and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirts or placate them."

In short, Halloween is a pagan (i.e. non-Christian) tradition that is steeped in superstition that believed if we dress up as scary people then the dead won't bother us. How should Christians respond to that?

Halloween is now the second most popular holiday for decorating (second only to Christmas) and an increasing number of adults are now participating in, what 30 years ago, was merely a night for children to go door-to-door and get candy. For instance, if you live in Columbia, just look at your Weekend section and you will see that virtually every bar has Halloween parties tonight complete with costume contests for "scariest" and "sexiest." What is an adult party or holiday without a little sex nowadays in our culture? Like St. Patrick's Day, which has nothing to do with green beer or partying, Halloween, which has everything to do with scaring away supposed spirits, has been annexed by the alcohol industry as yet another excuse to engage in drunken parties so that we can forget about the sufferings of life. (Also, see Cinco de Mayo).

So, what is a Christian supposed to do with Halloween? I'm not sure there is an easy answer. Obviously, we are to flee from anything that would cause us to sin. Therefore, drinking parties in honor of scaring spirits is not beneficial for Christians. What about our children? Is taking our children door-to-door to get candy okay? Again, this is an question that is not easily answered. Because this practice is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, it is up to debate. Nevertheless, here is some Halloween advice:

1. If you decide to trick-or-treat, go to a safe neighborhood. Don't allow your children to be beggers. Make it a fun thing to do with the entire family. Don't make a huge deal about it. Have them dress up in something non-scary or ghoulish and glorify God in the activity the best you can.

2. If you are home and have candy to give children, do not give them "Jesus tracts" only. It is probably a good idea to do that but if you do please give them candy as well. I wouldn't recommend giving healthy food to the children, unless you supplement it with candy. You are only disappointing the children and wasting their time. It is also perfectly fine to cut off your outside lights and not answer the door.

3. If you decide to not particpate in Halloween please do not act self-righteous about your decision. What may seem to be a clear and avoidable issue to you may not seem to be so clear to another Christian family. It is perfectly okay to not participate in Halloween - although your kids will be disappointed. Instead, give them something to look forward to on Oct. 31, besides just a lack of candy. Go to a Halloween alternative (there are plenty around) tonight or do something fun as a family. Do not make them stay at home and sulk while all of their friends are out having fun and getting candy.

Whatever you decide to do tonight, make this an excuse to have fun with your family and maybe even explain where Halloween comes from. Take time to talk to them about how we don't have to be scared of ghosts or goblins, because we have no reason to fear them. We love Jesus and He is always there to love us and take care of us. Because of this we have the freedom to live our lives to fullest and enjoy our days on earth.

Tedd Tripp and Babies

This Sunday we will have our quarterly Parent/Child Dedication ceremony in the morning worship service. It has been a tradition of ours to give parents a small Bible with their child's name engraved on the cover as well as Tedd Tripp's parenting masterpiece, Shepherding a Child's Heart. This week we will have five first time parents and five other multiple-time parents. Therefore, since they've already received Shepherding, we are going to give them the sequel instead, Instructing a Child's Heart.

For those of you who are interested, Tedd Tripp recently held a parenting conference at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Click this link below for the audio and/or video on important topics such as:

- The Call to Formative Instruction
- Giving Kids a Vision for God's Glory
- Helping Kids Understand Authority
- Helping Kids Understand the Heart
- Overview of Corrective Discipline

If I could make this required listening/viewing for every parent that I know, I would do just that.

Jesus is my Friend

A friend of mine gave me this link. Maybe we can have these guys for Fall Festival next year? Not sure about some of the theology though...

My Assignment: Clean

I was listening to one of my favorite preachers while I was driving to the church this morning. His message was on service - specifically how husbands and wives are to serve each other. During the message, he gave an assignment:

With '1' being horrible and '10' being outstanding, ask your spouse how you rate on a scale of 1-10 when it comes to serving him/her?

Fast forward to lunch time. I drive out to Harbison to meet my wife and son for lunch at the Chick-Fil-A. As we're eating I muster up enough courage (afraid at what the answer will be) and ask my wife the question:

Me: "Hey...um...on a scale of 1-10 how would you say I do in serving you?"

Wife: "Hahahahah!!! Seriously?"

Me: Yes...

Wife: I'd give you a 6. You do really well with Jackson. You score points because of how you are with him.

Me: Wow, I was seriously thinking I'd get about a 2 or 3. How can I serve you better? What exactly can I do to help you?

Wife: I'd like to have the cleanest house in the universe.

Me: ................ *looks around and up at the ceiling* Ok.

The second question that the preacher said to ask, which I did, was "How can I serve you better?" Men, especially, need specific instructions as to how we can help serve our wives. Quite frankly, I was shocked that she saw me at a 6 out of 10. I was seriously expecting a 2 or 3 because I don't do a good job of keeping the house clean. I try to clean up what I mess up, but I fail to do so with other messes that are made.

My assignment: The cleanest house in the universe. I will strive to do that. Why? Because I want to? No, I don't want to. But I love my wife and I want to her to love me and I want her to have confidence in the fact that that I love her. Therefore, I will clean.

Ben Lippen Chapel

Principal Alfrey at Ben Lippen School invited me to speak at their elementary chapel this morning. Ben Lippen has two campuses and I was able to speak at one at 9:30 and the other at 10:30. Every month the school teaches the students a concept. This month the concept is cooperation. I talked to the kids about cooperating with each other, with their teachers, and with their parents while ultimately cooperating so that they can bring glory to God. I gave the lesson from Exodus 17 about Aaron and Hur holding Moses' hands up so that his staff would never come down, thus enabling the Israelites to defeat the Amelakites. I had some students participate in the lesson and "cooperate" with me so that we could give everyone a visual lesson of cooperation.

Speaking at Ben Lippen this morning made me thankful that we have Christian schools that are well-funded, clearly teach a biblical worldview to the students, glorify God in all that they do, and have a genuine Christian atmosphere. While walking down the halls at the main campus I was pleased to see so many FirstKids in each and every classroom. I thank Ben Lippen for parterning with parents as well as First Baptist in teaching their children about Jesus.