Hallowed be Thy Name

Since my last blog began quite the discussion/debate, I felt it was only right to follow it up a little bit. After a lot of back and forth with great friends and family, what it came down to is this: while many believe that we are honoring Satan by participating in anything Halloween, my take is the opposite. I believe that in avoiding the day all together, we are honoring him, by basically giving him his own day! It is true that people have used it to purposely honor him and continue to do that to this day. That does not mean that Christians who participate in Halloween are honoring Satan anymore than they are honoring the sun god by putting up a Christmas tree at Christmas or honoring the fertility god by celebrating Easter. Do the research and you will find that both Easter and Christmas were once highly regarded as pagan holidays. Neither one of them is biblical, though we use them to celebrate biblical truths.

I have heard some complaining that the church shouldn't be putting on Harvest Parties in lieu of Halloween. I ask, what better place is there to be? I believe we should be including God in a day when many are leaving Him out. I agree that we should not be dressing up as evil beings. We actually had to duck out of our church party after only 10 minutes because one of the the costumes there absolutely terrified Elijah. He was trembling terribly. It was a shame and very disappointing. I believe it is risky to take on such characters. Actors will tell you that to play a role, they channel that character they are playing. Such young, impressionable and imaginative minds are very easily capable of the same channeling, and even "just pretending" to be evil can be very dangerous. However, what harm is there in letting our children play dress up? Do you mean to tell me that your children can play princess and cowboy all their little hearts desire on any other day of the year and that's ok? Do you believe that on that one day of the year their hearts aren't as innocent?

I realize it is a fine line, and the evil and scary aspects of the day are hard to avoid, even at church parties. I also understand that this is just one of those areas where people are convicted differently. Drinking the occasional glass of wine is not a sin, but getting drunk is. Many people are convicted strongly against touching alcohol at all, and perhaps with good reason. Maybe they are prone to alcoholism. Some are, and they know it, so they have a strong conviction against it. That doesn't mean that a glass of wine is bad and that all Christians should avoid it. If you are strongly convicting against participating in Halloween, so be. I'm not arguing with you, or judging your decision. I believe what I believe. God knows my heart. He knows exactly where I stand, and I'm not going to avoid some traditions of a day that has long been filled with quality family fun for me.

Also, don't kid yourself when you say you are not judging. It is another topic entirely, but I'll touch on it now. We all fall short of the glory of God. We are all sinners, yet we somehow manage to tear each other apart for things we believe are wrong. Someone else is always doing something we don't agree with. I lovingly remind you that we all do things that are wrong or that could be perceived as wrong, every single day whether others see it or not. Someone else allowing their kids to dress up, have fun, and eat candy on Halloween should really be the least of our concerns.

Jesus says in Luke 7:33-34, "For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'"

Both of them lived according to their own convictions. Yet both were regarded as flawed, to say the least, by many. Let us not forget the God we serve, who did not avoid the sinners, but rather, went to those who needed Him most, without being fearful of the names He would be called. 

I reiterate, Halloween does not need to be the evil thing that it has become or that some people treat it as. Anything can be what you  make it. Just google "Hallowed be Thy Name," and check out the first couple things that pop up. Yet, we won't remove that from the Lord's Prayer, and that won't take away from what it means to us, because it is God's...as is everything.