I Hate Halloween

One of things I dread each year is Halloween. What’s a Christian to do with that holiday? Certainly what is being celebrated on that day isn’t very Christian in nature. And one could make the case that not only is not Christian, but it’s down-right anti-Christian. But then there are Christians that say, 'the original meaning has been lost and we really aren’t celebrating the day of the dead, it’s just a fun night for the kids to dress up and have some fun.' No harm in that, is there? Or maybe our churches offer a Harvest festival, that’s so close to Halloween, it’s hard to tell the difference. But it has a different name, so it must be ok. Or so the reasoning goes.

I've got no problem with kids wanting to have a fun night, dress up and get some candy. There's certainly nothing wrong with that. But when I think about celebrating death, monsters, gore, and in general, evil - that's not what I want my kids celebrating.

Each year Halloween seems to get bigger, more commercialized and more popular. The home decoration for Halloween now rival or surpase the home decorations for Christmas. I don't know if I should read too much into that, but it seems to indicate that we value what Halloween stands for more than we value the birth of Christ. That just doesn't seem right to me.

Rest assurred, when the little kids come to my door on Halloween, we've got some candy for them. But I have to wonder, isn't there a way to have some fun, get some candy and not celebrate evil? I think that's worth pondering...