This is my 2nd Halloween working at a Christian Preschool. It also happens to be my 2nd time thinking seriously on what exactly to do with Halloween. The history of it is pretty interesting. I’m not going to try and ignore history and say that the holiday isn’t pagan. I’m not going to say that no, people didn’t disguise themselves by dressing up as evil spirits so they that other evil spirits wouldn’t attack them. That is exactly what happened. In fact, the Christian response back in the day was All-Hallow’s Day to celebrate the lives of the faithful saints before us. To read a quick history of Halloween & All Hallows Day go here.
However, with everything I think there can be healthy balances. To me, it’d be extreme to hide children from costumes, and never talk about the 31st. I think it’d be extreme to condemn those who participate in Halloween as I also think it’d be extreme to condemn those families that dress up as angels and bible characters and go to church. There has to be some balance. Below I posted a video on John Piper’s thoughts on Halloween. He talks about 3 different views Christians have on it. It may be different when I have children but I tend to see Halloween as a time for family/community tradition. I tend to see it as one opportunity to share the gospel with children and surrounding neighbors. I like what he says at the end (as some say) “lets redeem, and penetrate it and use it.”
To read a transcript of the video go to the original source here.
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