Halloween:  Clean Or Unclean?

Halloween: Clean or Unclean?

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you" (2 Cor. 6:17).

I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean." (Ro. 14:14)

"And that you may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;" (Lev. 10:10).

"And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean." (Ezek. 44:23).

1. Introduction: A Dilemma

On Halloween last year my young children really wanted to go trick-or-treating. On the other hand, many of my close Christian friends would have nothing to do with Halloween. I shared my dilemma with several brothers, and got extreme responses on both sides, with very little middle ground. One brother indicated that he considered trick-or-treating as tantamount to participating in demon worship. Another brother told me that trick-or-treating is obviously innocent fun, and to think otherwise is silly fanaticism.

Another brother mentioned a church which was holding a carnival on Halloween evening. This seemed like a nice compromise, and I decided to take the children. However, I became occupied with one thing or another, and by late afternoon we still hadn’t left yet. Some neighbors’ young children had already come to our house. My seven-year-old son came up to me almost in tears. "Daddy," he pleaded, "They’ve already started trick-or-treating. Can’t I go too?"

This was a crucial moment. I felt like Abraham raising the knife over Isaac; or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego told to bow to the golden statue; or Peter being told, "You also are one of this man’s disciples". I knew this was a test, and that my response would have a far-reaching impact on my son’s life, and mine as well. My response now would reveal the true contents of my heart.

I thought of heros of faith who had courageously said "no" to the world, risking their lives and their comfort. I thought of saints I had met in China, who edured years of prison rather than deny their faith. Surely if I take a stand now, I would be following in their footsteps, and teaching my children to do so as well.

But at the same time, another train of thought was passing through my mind. Was saying ’no’ to trick-or-treating really saying ’no’ to worldliness and ’yes’ to holiness? Or was it rather saying ’no’ to innocent enjoyment and ’yes’ to irrational fear and prim legalism? I had gone trick-or-treating as a boy, and for me it was nothing more than having fun dressing up in costumes, going out and getting candy. So what if some used Halloween as an occasion for devil-worship? I had nothing to do with them. So what if the holiday has origin in pagan religion? So does Christmas--and so do the names of the days of the week and months of the year, for that matter. Does that make them demonic?

I had to make a decision, one way or the other. So I brought the kids together in the kitchen. I told them that if we did go out trick-or-treating, our purpose was to make friends and to have fun dressing up (my son knows that I like them to go outside for exercise, so he put that in too). Then we prayed together. I told the Lord that, as far as I could see, there was nothing wrong with the kids going out. I asked Him to prevent us from going out, if He would not be pleased with our going. We offered the occasion to God in the spirit of 1 Timothy 4:4-5, and then went out.

The weather was great that evening. Outside the street was crawling with little children under 10 years old. Most of the costumes were TV characters, princes, princesses, animals, and the like: almost no ghosts, witches or ghouls whatsoever. The occasion had the feel of a neighborhood get-together -- parents gathered on the sidewalk and talked while their children went from house to house. We had just moved to the neighborhood--this was our first opportunity to meet many of our neighbors.

It appeared to me that our trick-or-treat outing had been entirely positive. However, when I discussed it later with other Christians, I felt awkward and embarassed, because I knew about their strong feelings against Halloween. It seemed that our trick-or-treating drove a wedge between us and some very dear friends.

2. Pork or carrion?

Did we really participate in demon worship? Did I dishonor God and violate His law in front of my children? Rather, I believe that all we violated were the qualms of certain fellow-Christians. They might compare me to Peter denying the Lord; but I would liken myself rather to Peter going to Cornelius’ house over the objections of his squeamishly kosher fellow-believers.