Mohler: Christianity and the Dark Side

Well, Happy Reformation Day to all of you! Oh wait - there's another thing celebrated on this date.

Ever since I crossed the line of faith as a 19 year old, I have not celebrated Halloween. For me, it just has never made sense to celebrate an occultic holiday. I don't fear evil things, for greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world. I know of the pagan origins of some of our Christmas and Easter traditions, but in those cases the focal points are life and light, not death, fear and darkness. I figure that every day is the day that the Lord has made. I'm pretty non-emotional about the whole Halloween thing.

When the children came along, of course the "What are you going to be for Halloween?" questions came along, too. My kids have found that Halloween is a great season for them, since I grab the half price candy the day after. Hehehe. We've had a dress up box for many years in which costumes are stored and used year-round. Ninjas, cowboys, princesses, Batman. My kids get the joy of being "in costume" whenever they wish.

Halloween is an area of conscience for many Christians. I don't sit in judgment if you do dive into the whole Halloween spectacle... it's between you and God. I do get frustrated that because I don't celebrate it, I have to not only defend my choice to those outside of the Church, but also those within. But that's another post.

All this to say that Albert Mohler has again posted a fabulous article on his blog entitled, Christianity and the Dark Side - What About Halloween? What I found interesting about Mohler's article was that he explored not only the spiritual side of Halloween, but also the economic side of it. Did you know that Halloween is only surpassed by Christmas in terms of economic activity in our nation? That's right. According to historian Nicholas Rogers, "Halloween is currently the second most important party night in North America. In terms of its retail potential, it is second only to Christmas. This commercialism fortifies its significance as a time of public license, a custom-designed opportunity to have a blast. Regardless of its spiritual complications, Halloween is big business."

Mohler's main point: "The complications of Halloween go far beyond its pagan roots, however. In modern culture, Halloween has become not only a commercial holiday, but a season of cultural fascination with evil and the demonic. Even as the society has pressed the limits on issues such as sexuality, the culture's confrontation with the "dark side" has also pushed far beyond boundaries honored in the past."

Check out the rest of this thought-provoking article here.

We need to go beyond how fun Halloween was for us as kids, and how cute the baby looks in the pumpkin outfit, and take a hard look at why we give Halloween a spiritual pass in what we allow as believers in our own families.