Craig Dunham wrote this on his blog today:
Struggling whether to “do” Halloween? Do yourself a favor and read this article from Ransom Fellowship.
Recently I’ve been wrestling with the way we Christians interact with the world around us, particularly on Halloween. I’ve been struggling with animosity towards the way many churches offer “alternative” activities on this day. While I think it’s great to celebrate events on the historic church calendar, I question the motives behind the Reformation Day idea. Anthony Bradley has posted on this topic as well and, as usual, has sparked interesting conversations.
I apologize that my thoughts aren’t more cohesively presented here. I’m still sorting through a whole bunch of ideas, trying to figure out literally What Jesus Would Do.
**Another link to another blog post, containing many more links if you have time to read it all.
7 Comments
Melissa Marsh Oct 31, 2007 10:29 AM
The Ransom Fellowship article was fascinating. I never knew this about “mocking” Satan on Halloween. I’ve never been a big Halloween fan because I always thought it was a pagan holiday – but now I’m starting to look at it differently. Thanks for posting this.
Kerri Oct 31, 2007 12:18 PM
Thank you for posting this, Rebecca! I have always felt that Christians are missing out on a way to further connect with neighbors by refusing to take part in Halloween, enhancing the belief that Christianity is all about what you “don’t do”. Great articles and links. Viva la Halloween!
Kerri
RT Oct 31, 2007 12:45 PM
Another thought… Christians know that Satan is real, that he desires the glory that only God deserves. In some way, dressing our children as little devils on Halloween does indeed mock him, as Christ already has victory over the devil. And yet, I also wonder if Satan would like us to believe that he’s harmless, like our cute little trick-or-treating devils. He’s anything but harmless.
Kerri Oct 31, 2007 4:34 PM
Good point. It would be better if we had the kids dress us like a lion, seeking to devour….
We have usually said that our kids can’t dress up like scary/evil things. I don’t know if we have had a good basis for that or not, other than it made us uncomfortable.
Kim Elliott Nov 1, 2007 7:58 AM
Hi Rebecca!
Erin had a link to the Ransom Fellowship article and to her friend “RT”‘s blog. So I clicked the RT link, only to find out it is you!
I was at Zion a few weeks ago with my sister and saw you across the way, but didn’t get over to say hi as we left right after the service was over. Maybe we can catch up one of these days!
Happy fall!
-Kim Elliott
RT Nov 1, 2007 2:02 PM
My older brother made a good point, via telephone, that the Ransom Fellowship article cites very few references. It would be nice to see more historical data to back up some of the claims. (Feel free to comment still, Adam… I just thought your point was valid.)
Lindsey Nov 3, 2007 11:36 AM
Considering that Halloween memories for the first 18 years of my life involved sitting in our darkened basement until 9pm when the trick-or-treaters left, I have no desire to inflict that on any of my children. I almost find it a lost cause to argue amongst Christians for the validity or at least lack of “apparent evil” on Halloween, because there are those who are convinced it’s a satanic, pagan holiday, regardless of how it came to be, or what it is now. There was a hint of that at some point, and so we cling to it. Which is ironic since most of our holidays have some paganism attached to their history at some point, like Christmas. I liked the Ransom Fellowship article if for no other reason than it shows we have nothing to fear from a merely symbolic day. Sitting in a dark basement shows that we have succumbed to that fear.