Where Does God Fit Into Halloween?

3 John 1:11 NIV

Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.

We see in 3 John 1:11 we are instructed to not imitate what is evil, but instead to imitate what is good. Imitate means to follow as a model. So do not follow or model evil. This is a simple enough directive because as children we are taught the difference between good and evil.

In my house, witches, ghosts, goblins, vampires and mummies were evil. We knew that these things were all a part of a culture that we could not participate in. That is until Halloween rolled around. I never thought anything about the mixed message and my mentioning it now is not a slight to my parents. This is about making sure that what we stand for as Christians and what we teach children lines up always with the word of God.

We look first at witches. A witch is a woman claiming or believed to have magical powers and practice sorcery. A witch is also a believer or follower of Wicca.

Where does God fit into dressing in the costume of a witch? The bible says in

Exodus 20:3 KJV

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

A Christian who is a true believer and follower of God cannot imitate or model themselves after someone who believes and follows a religion built on the practice of magic and sorcery. Doing so places your allegiance and that of the child you have dressed as a witch with one who is not the one true God.

This leads me to ghosts and mummies. I will address them together because they are both symbols of the dead. Ghost is defined as the spirit of a dead person, especially one believed to appear in bodily likeness to living persons or to haunt former habitats. A secondary definition for ghost is a demon or spirit. A mummy is the dead body of a human or animal that has been embalmed and prepared for burial.

Why would a Christian imitate a ghost or a mummy for Halloween? We are to be imitators of Christ Jesus who came that we might have life. Christians are to be filled with the spirit of the Lord almighty. His spirit will cause you to want to look, think, and act like Him. His spirit will lead you to worship and praise not creating scary noises and frightening images. Where does God fit into celebrating Halloween?

I follow ghosts and mummies with vampires and werewolves, who because of movies like Twilight, are more popular than ever. A vampire is a corpse supposed, in European folklore, to leave its grave at night to drink the blood of the living by biting their necks with long pointed canine teeth.

A secondary definition is a small bat that feeds on the blood of mammals or birds

Imitating a vampire blatantly disrespects Jesus. A key aspect of the Christian faith is Jesus's death and resurrection. We remember that He is the sacrifice for our sins. His blood was shed that we might live and have the opportunity to be reunited with God. So how can we profess to live and believe that and dress up like a vampire? How can we spend time and energy making sure our fake blood is carefully applied when we are to daily remember Jesus's blood sacrifice? Where does God fit into celebrating Halloween?

I know that there are parents who would not dress their child as one of these things. I know also that there are adults that would not dress this way either. But, I say to you no costume that you can buy, borrow or make will line up with the word of the Lord. There is only one way to dress up and please God. 

If we look to Ephesians 6:13-17 NIV

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

This is the the only way a Christian should dress up. Now I know that Halloween not just costumes. So for your dessert, I'll give you just a taste about pumpkins and candy.

As for pumpkins, use them as God intended. To eat. Scripture tells us in

Exodus 20:4 KJV

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

Carving pumpkins to celebrate Halloween goes against this commandment. Why would God tell us not to do something, but okay it for Halloween? 

Finally, I know that we think we have to give candy. We say I hear you on the costumes, I'm going to bake a pie with that pumpkin, but certainly there is no harm in giving the children a little something sweet to eat. I wholeheartedly agree, but let me tell you the best kind of sweet treat.

Psalm 19:9-10 NIV reads in part

The decrees (or words) of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.

So sisters and brothers this Halloween freely give the word of the Lord. It is the sweetest treat you can eat.

Adayinthelife:-)