Photo by StarMama
Yesterday I shared about how October is Family Thankfulness Month which also gives us something special to focus on during October when many others are focused on Halloween. We have chosen not to celebrate Halloween. An age old debate among Christians, I know! I wanted to take a moment and share with you how our family’s decision came about.
Do I believe that dressing up and walking around gathering candy is a sin? No, I don’t. But I think that life is full of things maybe aren’t outright sin but aren’t the wisest or best choices or activities. While I realize that many view it simply as a fun candy-filled, dress-up time for children, the origins of it are clearly anything but. I grew up going trick-or-treating and don’t believe I am the worse for wear because of it. We dressed as clowns, strawberry shortcake and bible characters each year and enjoyed ourselves. When we became first time parents, I dressed Chloe up as a plush sunflower and took her to the harvest party at our church. They have a dress up theme each year (creation, bible character etc.) and have games and candy. We went out to dinner that night before going to the harvest party. Chloe looked adorable, and everyone commented on how darling she was and asked if we were going to a Halloween party. We constantly corrected everyone saying, “We don’t do Halloween, we’re going to a church Harvest party.” The following year, as Halloween approached, I really began thinking about the following verse and about appearances.
Abstain from all appearance of evil. 1 Thess. 5:22
To me, there is very little about Halloween that doesn’t appear evil. Each year, it seems to me that the decorations get more and more gruesome yet more and more people are decorating for this “holiday”. I don’t know a whole lot about the origins of Halloween but anyone, Christian or not, can glance around and clearly see that it is not of God and does nothing to honor Him thus it is not something that we’ve chosen for our family.
As for the church harvest party? I just didn’t have peace about participating in that either. I love my church and church family and I respect their choices for their families just as I hope they respect our choice to not participate. You see, as I head out the door to the party, anyone who sees me assumes that we’re heading to a Halloween party. I learned this the first year. What does that do to my testimony? If the harvest party were in unrelated to Halloween (say in September or November), I’d say count me in but really, it’s kind of like a Christian Halloween when it’s at the end of October isn’t it?
That being said, I think we each need to be confident enough in the decisions we make for our family that we don’t need to judge others’ decisions. This goes for birthing, cloth diapering, educational decisions and Halloween!
Last year I wrote a little bit about how we incorporate dress-up all year long, and how we deal with neighbors when it comes to Halloween. I’m sure each year will be different, with new thoughts and ideas. Isn’t that what parenting is about? Learning and evolving and trying to do what’s best for our families!
Enjoy your day! We’re enjoying ours 🙂
I’ve gone back and forth between going out, going to church or doing nothing. We are going this year, but who knows about next year. I agree that we aren’t the worse for it, but appreciate the scripture you shared as well. Sigh…there’s always decisions to make!
Thank you again for an amazing post that brought tears to my eyes. This was our first Halloween season with our Sofia. As children, my family did not celebrate Halloween. We spent the night eating junk and watching movies as a family. My husband and I decided that we wanted to go to “Fall Fest” at our church last night, thinking it would be what it advertised – a festival of the fall. We should have known better. There was a haunted bus, goblins, ghouls, creepy music, even an elder was dressed up as a vampire. I was told I should have Sofia’s picture taken on the set decorated with hay bales, mums, skeletons, and spiders. I declined. We milled around for about 5 minutes and decided that we needed to leave. I hated to leave what I thought was going to be fellowship with Christians, but we both felt that is was the best decision for our family. It’s nice to hear other mothers talk about their views and stands.
Jenn, thank you for your perspective on this topic. I appreciate you sharing your views, and your whys. I can honestly say I’m on the fence about this one, so it is always refreshing to hear how someone else does things!
Great post, as always, friend!
Amy