Venice (Google Images)
November Satire and Theology post
October 30, 2011
A. Halloween/All Hallows Eve
H.F. Vos writes under the heading 'Halloween' (All Hallows Eve) that these are the names given to the October 31 celebration, the eve of the Christian festival of All Saints Day on November 1. Vos (1996: 493). All Saints Day dates back to the eighth century. Vos (1996: 493). The pagan festival of Halloween began with the Druids of Gaul (France) and Britain. The Druids reasoned that on Halloween night ghosts and witches were most likely to be at work. Vos (1996: 493). Therefore, a celebration took place. The Druids were involved in lighting bonfires and feasted on this night. Vos (1996: 493). Vos notes that pagan peoples in western Europe believed that their god could take human and animal form. Vos (1996: 493). Druid practices were eventually merged with Roman fall festival practices and all the Christian feast day. Vos (1996: 493).
BBC Religions
'All Hallows' Eve
All Hallows' Eve falls on 31st October each year, and is the day before All Hallows' Day, also known as All Saints' Day in the Christian calendar. The Church traditionally held a vigil on All Hallows' Eve when worshippers would prepare themselves with prayers and fasting prior to the feast day itself.
The name derives from the Old English 'hallowed' meaning holy or sanctified and is now usually contracted to the more familiar word Hallowe'en.'
Viewpoint
A view on Halloween from a fundamentalistic, very conservative evangelical perspective might be that Halloween celebrates evil, and since the Scripture states to abstain from even the every form of evil, anything to do with Halloween should be avoided. I am however, a moderate conservative.
1 Thessalonians 5:19-22
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
19 Do not quench the Spirit; 20 do not despise prophetic utterances. 21 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.
Page 605.
The Scripture is certainly true of course and the NASB, as it often does, does a good job of literally portraying the Greek text. Twenty-first century Christians should of course in no way be involved in any kind of Druid, Pagan, or occult like ceremonies, celebrations, games or like, on Halloween or any day of the year. That would be a form of evil that should definitively be avoided.
There is a gray/grey area in regard to dressing up in costumes I reason. I will be transparent, I have not been that interested in Halloween since I was 12 or so. Yes prior to that I was on the 31st Spider-Man or Batman and really cute, I watched out for those dreaded razor blades in the chocolate bars and 'pigged' out on a bunch of candy. I have just not been able to get interested into the 'pop' occultic nature and themes of Halloween. I remember one day in Elementary school some kids were quite upset with me that I was skipping trick or treating to go to the Canucks game as my Dad had Season tickets.
Does a Christian dressing up in a Halloween costume equate with being involved in a Druid or like pagan ceremony? I think not. One must realize that as Christmas has largely been de-Christianized of the Christian message and is largely a secular holiday and celebration, Halloween has also been largely been secularized and is no longer mainly an occultic celebration. So, if a Christian dresses up in an ghoulish costume celebrating Halloween, it is more so celebrating a secular custom than celebrating occultism. But I do acknowledge even with the pop nature of Halloween there is still a form of 'pop' occultism in a sense, which I personally as noted, do not find appealing.
As far a ministry is concerned, I live in an apartment, and so no children come by, but I generally love little children and I have thought about this quite a bit having little nieces and nephews and friends with little children. But living in a townhouse or home, if one is able bodied, I am now as a mature adult troubled with the notion of shutting the lights off and not handing out candy out to the little children. I am thinking it would be better to be known as the friendly Christian neighbour that is very kind to the children, complimenting them on their costumes and showing the love of Christ to neighbours on a secular celebration. I reason this is a far better approach than judging these children as children of the wicked world, turning the lights off and ignoring them. Again, I am not really interested in Halloween, but in Christ I am supposed to love others as myself (Matthew 22, Mark 12) and I think this a good approach.
B. Map Time
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Arc De Triomphe, Paris (Google Images)
Champs Elysees, Paris (Google Images)
Eiffel Tower, Paris (Google Images)
MARSHALL, ALFRED (1975)(1996) The Interlinear KJV-NIV, Grand Rapids, Zondervan.
VOS, H.F. (1996) 'Halloween', in Walter A. Elwell (ed.), Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Books.
C. Funny Vids
CNN
Man tazed on US Black Friday at Walmart
