Word Weld

There’s a lot of research that can and has been done on Halloween, but that’s not what this article is about. This article is about common sense interpreting Scripture, and nothing more. It is a logical interpretation of what God thinks based on nothing but what the Bible teaches about Him.

A lot of people tend to get caught up in Halloween, and let me be clear about one thing: I don’t expect Walmart, malls, TV celebrities, or even your next-door neighbors to believe what this article is saying, because none of those people or places necessarily care what God thinks about anything. The world will act exactly like the world will act, and its sense of morality and ethical behavior is based on nothing more than the current state of its collective conscience. For instance, the world will say that morally, murder is wrong, yet in the next breath will tell you that abortion is morally right, simply on the basis of how it defines its terms. So this message isn’t to unsaved people at all; it’s to Christians, the people who, by definition, care what God thinks about everything. Right? This is ultimately what makes a believer distinct from a non-believer. And I love to emphasize that, if you haven’t noticed. That’s how I positioned my articles on homosexuality in the Church, and how I positioned my arguments about the Catholic Church. I am not a scholar. I’m a working man with a family and a small gift for writing. I’m the first to say I don’t have a degree of any kind much less a masters in theology. I don’t have the time to research the intricacies of the theology here, and the fact is that while we can, we don’t need to. Ultimately, it is very simple. And why shouldn’t it be? It may take intensive study and a great deal of intelligence to expound what we know about the nature of the Trinity, or God’s sovereignty versus man’s will, but there are plenty of topics in the Bible that even a child can easily understand, and since I’m only little better than a child, I’ll stick with those for now, unless I want to take more time out to do a lot more research and stretch my limited brain in the future.

No, I want to approach these big topics with simple answers, because that’s really all they need, and only seem complicated because people like to complicate things. Halloween is a case-in-point. Christians in our society tend to believe their own thoughts and feelings on matters are more important than what God actually said. For instance, take this line of reasoning (once again):

1. God is love, and God said to love one another.
2. Homosexuals need to be loved.
3. Telling homosexuals they’re living in sin makes them upset.
4. Upset people do not feel loved.
5. Conclusion: I should not tell homosexuals what they’re doing is wrong.

See, this is a very “Christian-esque” process, but it is unfortunately just plainly wrong. It looks good on paper–it even looks very “Christian” on paper. The problems with the argument are manifold, but here’s the three big truths that completely undermine the above:

1. Love ≠ not being upset
2. Love ≠ a feeling
3. The Bible flatly states homosexuality is wrong

So it’s plain that “Christian-esque” thought processes are not gospel by any means, and can in fact be quite opposite to what God actually thinks on the subject. And remember, I’m talking about Christians, and I am defining a Christian as someone who cares about what God said. I know that a Christian is really someone who has accepted Jesus Christ as the sacrifice for their sins and believed on Him to salvation. But if anyone should care what God said and thinks, it’s those people, right? The reason I’m doing that is I want to just skim off the top all those people who choose not to believe what the Bible said. You know, people who say that what the Bible says about homosexuality is “outdated” or “isn’t being interpreted correctly” and other such nonsense. A true believer in Jesus Christ knows he has nothing to stand on apart from the Word of God, and so he chooses to believe it, even if it makes him “feel upset.”

I shouldn’t need to make those distinctions and definitions. But in our society I just do. I have to, because there are people who loudly call themselves Christians who also say it’s okay to be (or even say they are themselves) homosexual in spite of everything the Bible says, just because they can’t reconcile what it says with what they want. So, I don’t want to entertain arguments from “Christian” people who have proven they don’t really want to hear what the Bible says, because the Bible is the basis for our faith. The Bible is the reason we call ourselves Christians at all, not because the book is somehow special in terms of its pages or binding, but because of the words it contains.

So, that massive side-note out of the way, let’s talk about Halloween, shall we? Christian people get very up in arms about Halloween when other people speak out about it, and here are the reasons I usually get (paraphrased):

1. I did it growing up and it was a lot of fun
2. It was harmless when we did it
3. It’s about candy and I remember how fun it was
4. We always did it and got to dress up and loved it
5. It was fun to knock on doors and ask for free candy
6. It’s harmless and it’s not Satan’s birthday
7. You just want to ruin the fun for the kids

So there you have it. There is the irrefutable argument Christians have locked and loaded against any criticism of their celebrating Halloween. I’m stumped, personally. They really have a solid argument there.

I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to digress into sarcasm, and I’m really not trying to be derisive or ugly. The fact is it’s not really funny at all. It’s scary. That something is fun is in no way a justification for doing it. Intercourse is also fun, but most real Christians would say there need to be some limitations on its practice. Frankly, whether or not something is fun is pretty much the worst argument for doing anything. After all, sadists think it’s fun to cause other people pain. Bullies think it’s fun to beat smaller people up. Fun is no basis for our behavior. Not all fun things are bad, but not all fun things are good. This is what’s known as an unnecessary clarification. People don’t commit adultery because it’s a high and noble calling; they do it because it’s fun.

So, why should we hate Halloween? Well, simply put, because it’s a celebration of evil. We might as well call it National Day of Evil. Because that’s what it is, plain and simple. You can do whatever you want on that day: hug penguins, bake cakes, take fun selfies with your 3 year old, talk about world peace. But no matter what you think it is, and no matter how you treat that day, it is inherently a day dedicated to reveling in and celebrating everything that God hates. The fact that you dress up in funny costumes and go door to door with your kids in harmless fun doesn’t at all change the nature or purpose of the holiday.

“Well…” you might say, “…it’s not really evil. It’s just like Easter but with a different theme!“

To which I say, “Right. An evil theme.”

I don’t care if you want to go door to door and ask for candy. God probably doesn’t either. Truth is, that argument really nails it on the head, because the theme of Halloween is the crux of the whole matter. It is not our celebration that is wrong, it is what we’re celebrating.

I think everyone, everywhere (maybe) would be horrified, after all, if on some random day every year my family went door to door asking for candy, all the while dressed in Ku Klux Klan robes, or Nazi uniforms. And it wouldn’t matter if I said that it was just for fun, or to get candy, or that it was for the kids. I’d be strung up, and rightly so. And nobody would say I was evil because I wanted to have fun or get candy or give my kids a good time. They would say I was evil because of how my activity was themed.

Halloween is exactly the same way. We as Christians are identifying with, actively promoting, and celebrating the following concepts:

1. Death (the Grim Reaper, plus graves, corpses, etc)
2. Murder (all the monsters, vampires, etc basically want to kill people in various ways)
3. Violence (apart from just killing people, there’s all kinds of violent themes, like imprisonment, torture, severed limbs, removed organs, etc)
4. Demons and/or Satan (even though Halloween may not technically be the same holiday as Samhain and it may or may not have anything to do with Satan himself)
5. Malicious pranks and “tricks” (from simple vandalism to evil spells that strongly affect people’s lives)
6. Witchcraft/Wizardry (sacrifices, incantations, summoning the dead, curses, etc.)
7. Hideous Monsters (everything from evil wolves and bats to abominations formed from sewn together corpses)

I put death first because Halloween seems primarily themed around the concept of death. Zombies, vampires, Frankenstein’s Monster, and almost every monster or creature pictured on Halloween centers around death. Many of these creatures are portrayed as wholly or partially dead, and their purpose and motivation is either to kill people outright or else turn them into another monster. We can argue all day about whether or not Satan has anything to do with Halloween, but I can say this with certainty: he loves it. God is a God of light, life, love, peace, joy, and goodness. Halloween is a day centered around darkness, death, hatred, violence, misery, and evil. I don’t know how anyone could be truly honest and say that God has no opinion about Halloween. Indeed, I know that He hates it, just based on the above comparison. But in case there was any doubt, He did write down His thoughts on the matter:

“Abstain from all appearance of evil.”
-1 Thessalonians 5:22

But wait, wait, wait! What’s the context of that verse, you might argue. Let’s pick it apart in detail and see if we can’t undermine the seemingly plain and simple message, right? Okay, fine. Paul is at the end of his letter to the Thessalonians, and he’s not in the middle of a deep theological discussion. Rather, he’s giving some last advice as he says goodbye. In fact, it’s actually at the end of a kind of list of things Paul says Christians should always be doing.

“Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.”
-1 Thessalonians 5:16-22

And for the student of language, a quick trip through the verse with E-sword (which I highly recommend) reveals this:

Abstain:
Greek
ἀπέχομαι
apechomai
ap-ekh’-om-ahee
Middle voice (reflexive) of G568; to hold oneself off, that is, refrain: – abstain.

Pretty much what we thought it was. How about “appearance”?

Appearance:
Greek
εἶδος
eidos
i’-dos
From G1492; a view, that is, form (literally or figuratively): – appearance, fashion, shape, sight.

Interestingly, it means what it seems to mean in English, but perhaps with a little bit broader connotation. But let’s go on, what does “evil” mean in the original tongue?

Evil:
Greek
πονηρός
ponēros
pon-ay-ros’
From a derivative of G4192; hurtful, that is, evil (properly in effect or influence, and thus differing from G2556, which refers rather to essential character, as well as from G4550, which indicates degeneracy from original virtue); figuratively calamitous; also (passively) ill, that is, diseased; but especially (morally) culpable, that is, derelict, vicious, facinorous*; neuter (singular) mischief, malice, or (plural) guilt; masculine (singular) the devil, or (plural) sinners: – bad, evil, grievous, harm, lewd, malicious, wicked (-ness). See also G4191.

So, basically, it means “evil.” You know, everything that’s bad, harmful, malicious, or wicked. Do I really  need to post the Greek for “all”? No, if you really want to question “all” you can do it yourself. Just go get E-sword, take a semester of Greek, or buy a copy of Strong’s Concordance and figure it out. I think you’ll find it means “all.”

We need not to be celebrating goblins, witches, demons, Satan, or horrific monsters, nor should we be advertising for death, violence, and evil in general. Besides which, all of the things represented in Halloween are a direct result of sin and in opposition to how God intended this world to be. Evil is evil is evil. And please don’t argue that costumes and decorations are harmless. I already made the point that dressing up like a KKK member would be unacceptable. Why is dressing like our popular perception of Satan or one of his demons so much different? Why are witches fun a cute now that we have forgotten that they have, and in some places still do practice real witchcraft? Why are vampires that are really just possessed dead people who kill by drinking blood (something forbidden in Scripture) somehow “cool” these days? And let me remind you that I’m talking to Christians, people who care what God thinks, or say they do. When we decided to follow Christ, it meant being different, and it meant giving up a lot of what makes us happy or feel fun. But God replaces those desires with better ones, if we let go of the old man and feed the new nature that is Christ within us. Do your kids need Halloween to have fun? No. If your kids never knew about Halloween, they’d never miss it.

Now, a big argument on this topic is participation. What happens, after all, when your kids see all the other kids having fun celebrating evil, and they want to celebrate evil too? I don’t know, let me wring my hands for a minute and chew my fingernails. Never mind, I don’t have to do that. So what if they do? Kids always want to do what everybody else is doing, because kids typically have less understanding than their parents about things like morality and right versus wrong. Kids also want acceptance from their peers, which further undermines their moral compass sometimes. So you really can’t base your behavior on your children any more than you can base it on your sense of nostalgia or fun. After all, your children are going to grow up and see other kids getting drunk and smoking pot and sticking themselves with drugs, and I would bet none of my readers would be arguing for those things just because their kids want to do them. Face it, we’re bad inside, rotten even, and children are arguably worse because they have less self restraint than adults. We are drawn to this evil because we know it’s not right and our old nature finds that stimulating.

I know I’ve gone on, and maybe rambled a bit, but Halloween is a very, very scary time of the year, and the only thing that frightens me more than all that happens beneath the surface on Halloween is the fact that back up on the “cutesy” kid-friendly surface Christians are frolicking along with all of the unbelievers, celebrating evil and immersing their children in it. They don’t realize what a contradiction it is, or how confusing it is to a child to preach to them 364 days of the year about God, and doing right, and not sinning, and how murder and death are not natural or right, and then turn around one day every year and literally throw all of that out of the window because it’s fun. It’s like putting our whole philosophy of life on hold for one day, just because we want to do it.

I believe with all my heart that on Halloween night, when regular people are out collecting candy while dressed as cute skeletons, ghosts, and other evil creatures, there are real people in real places, practicing real sorcery and witchcraft. People (and a host of animals) die on Halloween night, because whatever it is not, Halloween is a holy day for many cults, Satanists, and Wiccans. The evils that are done by those people go completely unknown to us in our sanitized homes, churches, and subdivisions, but it has not gone away simply because we have shut our eyes to it. King Saul’s kingdom had made witchcraft illegal and the Israelites had supposedly hunted down all the sorcerers and witches, but when the time came, even that zealous Hebrew king knew where there were evil people still practicing their craft (1 Samuel 28).

I’m sorry if I offended someone or everyone, but just as with homosexuality and Catholicism, Christians need to stop passively accepting things that God has stated plainly that He is against, and which are against Him. This is not a matter for the Bible scholars or theologians or clergy or pastors. Nor do we really need to explore Greek texts or compare translations. This is a simple, old-fashioned, straightforward, Ten Commandments-esque Biblical mandate. Stop celebrating evil. We should be able to obey such simple commands in the Bible without hearing the same command in three different languages.

(*Oh, and here is the definition of “facinorous” for those people who, like me, had no idea what that word meant)