A Christian View On Halloween

Should I hand out candy to the little princesses and knights who come to my door or leave my light out? Should I consider the evil history of Halloween and not participate or should I allow my child to dress up as Minnie Mouse believing it's "innocent" fun? These questions my husband and I debated once we became parents.

I grew up in a home where we trick-or-treated and passed out candy every year. Then my oldest sister had children and they chose to not participate in Halloween because of the evil history and I fully respected that. Then my middle sister had children and they chose to allow their kids to wear costumes to a fall festival at their church rather than participate in the neighborhood hand out. And I respected that. And then along came my children - there were three choices - the 2 my sister's chose or the option of fully participating in the neighborhood trick-or-treat. What should we do?

Since the Bible does not give a clear mandate "thou shalt not participate in passing out candy or dressing up as minie mouse on October 31st" - this is an area of Romans 14 - called liberty, conscience or a grey area.

Now I know that someone who believes this is black and white will pounce on me and say it is wrong and will even have some verses to support their choices. That is because your conscience does not allow you to participate due to past history with the occult, research you have done on halloween, scriptures you believe apply to October 31st or because you are submitting to your husband in this matter. I sincerely respect your decisions and just want to share my convictions as one of 3 options. I am not trying to persuade anyone to change their opinion - but rather just answer the question:

Dear Courtney - "Do your children dress up for halloween and how do you handle the issues that people have with Christians participating in these activities?"

Yes, my children dress up for halloween and we participate in the neighborhood trick-or-treating. Let me say up front - I despise the skeletons, witches, ghosts and other vile things that go with Halloween. My neighbor has these displayed in their front yard right now - and I do not enjoy it - at no other time of the year would these things be socially acceptable.

That being said - if my children dress up in harmless innocent costumes we believe it is acceptable. One reason is because we live in a neighborhood where the neighbors drive straight up their driveways and into their garages. We have little contact with them and never has a neighbor knocked on my door and asked for anything except on this night, once a year.

Another reason is because I love having my lights lit to the hilt on Halloween displaying hospitality to the sweet neighborhood children that again - we rarely see...


And finally it has been a great training ground for our children - for example - the vice of greed - warning them to not be greedy when they take the candy, reminding them to say thank you, to be patient while they wait in line at the doors for candy, to compliment others on their interesting costumes and to simply be friendly, approachable and loving to others. Oh yes, and to explain in simple terms the dark side of halloween - it reminds them that there is an enemy that is real - he does exist.

Our neighborhood has a pizza party after the trick-or-treating and we have attended in the past and really connected with people. One of my pastors has had BBQ's at his house on this night - again using this opportunity to connect with those in his neighborhood. I do not see this as a night where the gospel will go forth - but I do see it as one small step towards a better connection.

So that's what we do - but like I said - I believe this is a matter of conscience so do not follow my lead here - follow your husband and the Holy Spirit. Pray and do what God lays on your heart this Halloween.

(By the way, the most hateful comment I've ever received came on a post from last October titled - "Witches, Wizards and Ghosts" -click here to learn more about what God's word says about these things.)

Walk with the King!