creepy photo courtesy of stockfreeimages.com
I will never forget October 31st, 1991!
I was driving a few of my friends’ home after a Halloween party. We were in college, we had missed our curfew so we decided to take a few shortcuts down several dirt roads to get home a little quicker.
We were just a few miles from the college and in the distance we saw several fires burning in a local cemetery. As we approached the cemetery we slowed down and saw several people dressed in black robes with hoods, circled around the bonfires with their hands raised to the sky.
I get eerie chills just thinking about this night!
As we drove slowly by the cemetery, several of the hooded worshippers glanced over at the car and I immediately hit the gas pedal and went from 15 to 75! We were spooked, freaked out I will never forget the evil feeling that surrounded my car.
I also have a good friend, his name is Mike Leehan, and Mike WAS deeply entrenched in the dark world of satanism. You can pick up Mike’s book HERE! It is called Ascent From Darkness, and it is a detailed story of his journey in and out of the dark side. So Mike has told me on numerous occasions that he also would gather on Halloween and pray to satan and his demons.
So the aged old, controversial question that I am asking today is…
“Should Parents Let Their Kids Celebrate Halloween”
If you take a second and Google this question…
You will see rants, arguments and venom from both sides of the topic.
You will find some that oppose Halloween altogether. They believe that Halloween is of the devil and that by participating you are glorifying the dark things of this world, rather than the light, Jesus Christ.
You will also find some that oppose Halloween but opt for “Church Harvest Festivals” or take a “Trunk or Treat” approach. I believe the rationale behind these events are so Christian families can still dress up, stuff themselves with chocolate, “trick or treat” in a safe environment as well as hang with their church friends.
You will also find Christ followers that have no problem celebrating Halloween. They don’t celebrate it, in terms of celebrating the origins or the dark side of it. But they love to dress up, take the kids out and confiscate loads of candy that eventually gets thrown away.
So what does Team Sprad do…?
We actually have our kids dress up, (the pic above is of my son Cole…he calls himself “Father Time” ) and we head to a local cemetery around 9pm and…
Seriously!!?! Just kidding!
We don’t fall into the “choose Halloween or Jesus camp”, nor do we go the “trunk or treat” route. We love to dress up in ridiculous costumes, gather all our friends and garner as much chocolate as we can!!
We don’t mention, celebrate or even pay attention to the dark side (that does exist)! If we are guilty of anything on Halloween it is probably gluttony!
I don’t think our kids even have a clue that there is a dark side of Halloween.
So there you go!! That’s Team Sprad’s take on Halloween.
What do you think? Should kids be allowed to celebrate Halloween?
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I grew up in such a legalistic environment, while I was allowed to trick or treat (never was the bad side ever mentioned and I didn’t even realize there was one until I was MUCH older) there were many, many things I wasn’t allowed to do (just for the sake of not doing them in the name of Jesus….). I have vowed to not raise my daughter in guilt or legalism, but in grace. We have always participated in Halloween, the costumes, candy, pumpkins, and the Monster Mash….I suppose the lighter side of it. Our daughter is just about 2 years away from maybe being “too old” to actually trick or treat for candy, so we are enjoying the time and memories made by dressing up and seeing how many bottle caps and milky ways she can score for her momma!! ha ha – We keep it light hearted, fun and leave out the guilt. God knows our daughter’s heart, and he knows mine. And we will enjoy this “tradition” of going out in costume after dark once a year until it’s our turn to stay home and pass it out to the cute little princesses and pirates that come knockin!
Love your take Lori! Especially love how you are reversing the legalistic curse you grew up under.
I think it’s an issue of liberty. The key is to do it in good faith and be convinced in our own minds (Rom 14:5).
AGREED!
We often dressed up as a family in our house and hid candy throughout the house for the kids to search for. Some years we did nothing. Our kids, ages 12, 15, 18, and 21 will tell you they have never felt deprived. I could not, in all honesty, participate in the full regalia when they were young knowing activities like you mentioned take place. I have to answer to God for each thing I present to my child. I take that seriously.
I get it Brenda! Thanks for sharing your take. What impresses me most is your conviction and desire to honor God!
Love it – that’s what we do, too. In our neighborhood, we have tons of families with kids. The HOA hosts a cookout at the neighborhood park, then all the kids head out to trick-or-treat at the same time. It’s the only time during the year when so many of our neighbors are out-and-about at the same time. So we really enjoy the rare opportunity to “be neighborly” with so many familes at once. Not partcipating, for us, would be a lost opportunity to connect with the very people that we’re called to bring Christ to. Just two cents…
Hi Paston – I appreciate your approach. Here is how our evening turned out.
Our daughter, son-in-law and 9 month old “grand-dude” are living with us. The grand-dude was dressed in his “Aslan” costume and was so dang cute riding in his Radio Flyer wagon, that I quickly forgot about the speech I was going to give about the ills of “celebrating” the dark side.
It was a great family night walking the neighborhood and visiting with friends. Pretty sure the enemy never showed up and we were blessed by the family time and community fellowship.
We allow our kids to dress up and we take them out to get the goods. We also take it as an opportunity to reach out to others. For 3 years now the Life Group that we belong to do an outreach in our host home neighborhood, we give out pop, water, hot chocolate, coffee and candy, next year we will add popcorn to the mix. We also have an Angel Wars movie playing on a screen outside and we hand out gospel tracks as well as inviting the families to come to church and get connected. We always have such a great time as we are serving the Lord! And it has inspired other within the church to do something similar.
love the outreach angle Cindy!