In the past two days, I've gotten Facebook invites to participate in worship services on campus on the same day. I go to a private Christian university, so that's not anything out of the ordinary. My first reaction to these invites were, "Oh, how nice." Then, I started reading the details of the events.
The first was a sunrise worship service for the morning of Halloween. The second was for that night. What made me cringe was the description for each of them.
The sunrise service's description states (and I quote):
"As it is Halloween, and so much of our nation will be celebrating evil, we thought we would declare it the Lord's day and pray and sing about His goodness and sovereignty over the day."
The second service's description for that night states:
"The 31st of October is a day when people celebrate evil, in many places of the world there are all kinds of sacrifices and rituals made for the evil one. So how are we, God's people reacting to this?
This invitation is for those who want to make a difference, who believe that its better to celebrate the light than the darkness. I know it may be exciting to go to the Halloween parties and the haunted houses, but how much better is it to praise the one, almighty God!? Remember that we are not from this world, so don't be afraid of what people will say."
These services sound like a really good idea. I am all for advocating worshiping the Lord. I also agree that a lot of people go out and get into all sorts of trouble on Halloween night.
However, people seem to get into trouble without a holiday for it. And to me, these worship services seem to ignore the fact that there are people out in the general public to be witnessed to. There is a danger of being self-righteous in saying, "I'm not going to celebrate Halloween because of its evil intentions, and you shouldn't either."
I see nothing wrong with getting together with friends in costume and having goodies at a party. I have good friends that I completely trust who I would love to celebrate their friendship with at a get-together of sorts.
I'm not trying to pick any fights with anyone about this or discouraging worshiping the Lord. But what if we used something that was originally meant for evil and turned it into something good? What if we went to the people and talked with them, got to know them, show them the love and truth of Jesus?
Paul had several things to say about this in the New Testament. On the one hand, in 1 Corinthians 8, he discusses the possibility of refraining from eating meat sacrificed to idols because it might cause some of his weaker brothers in Christ to stumble; some new believers who weren't as strong in their faith probably saw their more "experienced" (for lack of a better word) Christians eating meat sacrificed to idols, and they ended up having the wrong intentions and ate it. Even though the older Christians ate it with no heart issue, the new believers had the wrong motives in their partaking of it. So Paul advised that the Corinthians be watchful for their brothers and sisters, so they would be careful not to cause them to think or act wrongly.
In somewhat of a contrast, in Galatians 2, Paul criticizes Peter for refusing to eat with the Gentiles (outsiders) because he was afraid of what the Jews (insiders) would think of him. Even though the Gentiles he could've eaten with had come to know Christ and follow Him like some of the Jewish believers, he still became afraid of what people thought of him and refused to eat with the Gentile believers. Paul opposed Peter for this, saying in verse 19, "For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God." The Law, being all of the rules that the Jews followed, was not what brought salvation to believers: it was (and still is) only by faith in Christ. But Jews still had a tendency to think they were above the Gentiles, because they had previously kept the Law (or at least identified it as the ultimate rulebook of sorts). Paul goes on to say in verses 20 and 21:
"I have been crucified with Christ, for it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."
In Christ, we are free from sin and spiritual death, because He now lives in and rules our hearts and minds, replacing our fleshly desires. There is liberty/freedom in what we do as believers, as long as our intentions are pure and they don't defy what God has commanded of us. Even then, there should be boundaries set for some. Nobody is perfect and not everyone is wired the same way; everyone has different strengths and weaknesses.
I say all of this to say this final statement: if you don't celebrate Halloween, that's perfectly fine. I affirm that. I understand why. But please, don't condemn those who do celebrate it in a wholesome atmosphere. We love Jesus, too.
Thank you for taking the time to read this! However you choose to live the day tomorrow, I pray that it is edifying and pleasing to God.
