Halloween Practice

Let me say at the outset that I understand that people have different convictions regarding Halloween.  And I also know that it is good to be challenged by the Scriptures in those convictions so that we are “thoroughly equipped for every good work”.  My own practice of the day (or night) of Halloween is constantly transforming and I would hopefully never say that my way is the right way.  With that said, please allow me to help us think together through (somewhat humorously . . . I hope) a balanced approach to Halloween.

Let’s lay out some options:

Option #1: Run/Hide Method

This option, along with option #2, is the easiest option requiring much less thought than the others.  You simply turn out the lights, go to the basement, and eat pizza by candlelight until the mayhem is over.  Or, you turn out the lights, leave, treat the kiddos to dinner and dessert (you’ll need to appease them with something), and pray no one eggs your house.

Option #2: If You Can’t Beat’em Join’em, or . . . Ignorance is Bliss.

Just give in and join the masses.  The only real decisions here are how much candy to buy and in what costumes to dress your offspring or what to allow them to wear.

Option #3: Quick! Find an Alternative!

This takes a little research, or at least a little church history knowledge.  Martin Luther tacked his 95 Theses on the Wittenberg Door in Germany on October 31, 1517 sparking the Protestant Reformation.  This is a nice alternative with a Christian twist . . . your kids can dress in monk outfits as you celebrate Reformation Day!  Hopefully no one will mistake them for Jawas from Star Wars and strike them down with a light saber.

Option #4: Quick! Find an Alternative! Take 2

If option #3 is more of a “thinking Christian’s” alternative or too theologically-driven, then #4 is a more broadly evangelical approach.  The common name is “Trunk or Treat.”  The idea is to provide candy from the trunk of member's cars in the church parking lot for all who would participate.  Clever.  Here, churches typically cater to their own members who have a conscience about Halloween and any on the outside who may have tighter morals.  Or they cater to parents whose consciences bother them and they want for their kids what they themselves feel they should do or be.  Or, it invites greedy hoodlums who prey on the vast generosity of naive church-types.  This option is mildly evangelistic.  

Option #5: Quick! Find an Alternative! Take 3

This option is the more overtly evangelistic.  Use all of the world’s devices of gore, blood, and terror then claim it in the name of Jesus.  Name it something like Hell-House, Hell-o-ween House, or Gehenna for Good.  Host it as a haunted house in the church building and then give a fiery sermonette to “scare the hell” out of the kids as you have them dangling over Hades.

Option #6: Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

This one requires the most thought and introspection.  It demands us to think through our natural sinful inclination to avoid conflict, serve our own wants and desires, and to avoid thinking critically about the day, events, and people around us.  This option drives us to reflect on the fact that this is the one day of the year when the vast majority of our neighbors are on our streets, coming to our doors, and asking us to join, share, and celebrate with them.  How many times does that happen?  It requires us to think through our motives behind the options we have chosen in the past and what dividends resulted for ourselves, our neighbor, and the kingdom of God.  It requires us to reflect on what we are communicating, not only to our neighbors, but to our own children about how to relate to our neighbors and their friends.  It requires us to be in God’s Word to recognize the grace that He Himself has displayed toward us in coming to us “while we were yet sinners” and to act out of the mercies of God for us as we serve others.  

There is no specific program for this option.  It simply asks us to love as Christ has loved us.  That could take on a thousand different forms depending on our personality, our giftedness, the particular make-up of our street, our children’s personalities, etc.  

In conclusion

I am in no way advocating the worship of Satan, witchcraft, rebellion, or evil of any sort.  That would be sin.  What I am advocating is developing a solid biblically-based conscience toward the kingdom of God and the people to whom He has sent us to be ambassadors for that kingdom.  May God bless your efforts toward kingdom-mindedness this Halloween . . . er . . . Reformation Day.

Do I believe that God does good . . . for me?

Do I believe that God does good . . . for me?

Many of us have grown up being told our whole lives through that God is good.  It has become a well-versed mantra used over the dinner table, beside the hospital bed, or across the table from a hurting friend.  

But are we convinced at every minute of every day that God means the Christian no harm but constantly and consistently has our best interest at heart and will provide His very best for us all of the time?  Is His good such a goodness that we receive our daily confidence from it never shirking back from difficulties?  Or have we recited an empty mantra . . . words that we want to believe but in reality are more like hopeful dreams?   Have we rather said, “God is good . . . isn’t He?  

One of our most beloved hymns confesses a surety in the goodness of God. John Newton’s “Amazing Grace” speaks of a confidence that we can and should have in the goodness of God:

The Lord has promised good to me,

His word my hope secures;

he will my shield and portion be,

as long as life endures.

Notice Newton’s confidence: 

The Lord has promised

His Word does secure

He will be a shield and portion . . . always.

This seems such a far cry from our daily griping and moaning about a late contractor, a worrisome bill, a “what if” future, a dented car, an unknown prognosis, a looming test, an anxious conversation . . . 

If we lack confidence in God’s goodness (and we do), we are surely in good company.  David, a future king of Israel, and described as a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14), needed the reminder of God’s sure goodness.

In 1 Samuel 23:15-18, Jonathan sees David’s shaken confidence in God’s goodness because King Saul (the presiding king of Israel) continues to seek David’s life.  So Jonathan reminds David of God’s covenant promises to Him:

David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the Wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this.” And the two of them made a covenant before the LORD.

As the story unfolds, we find David on one side of a mountain with Saul close at his heels and gaining.  I can imagine David asking our question, “Is God good . . . for me?  Will He stand by His professed good?  Were the words of encouragement from Jonathan just the sweet well-meaning words of a friend, or will they bear weight?”  Verses 27-28 answer David’s questions and fears:

“ . . . a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.” 28  So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape.”

God routed Saul by using Israel’s enemies, the Philistines, to distract him from pursuing David.  Could David have ever guessed that God would use such means for deliverance?  Surely not!  That is a good God who is faithful to His promises.

Someone may say, “This is all well and good, but come on, David was going to be the king of Israel.  Surely we can’t make the jump from David to our particular circumstances” . . . or can we?  Yes . . . yes we can.  Hear the words of Romans 5:1-5:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 

The Son of David, Jesus Christ, secures God’s love and goodness to us!  This is the self-same love that David experienced.  Who knew that a Son of Man who had no kingly appearance, and who would be stricken, smitten, and afflicted would be our deliverance to route our sin and all of our enemies?!  

Paul continues in Romans 8:31-32; 37-39:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Do I believe that God does good . . . for me?  “Lord, help me to believe.”