“Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (1 Thess. 5:22 KJV)
Last week I was speaking with one of my grandchildren who was excited about Halloween. I told him that grandma and I do not like Halloween, do not celebrate it, and we avoid it as much as we can. He was shocked and asked me why. I told him that Halloween is one more example of Satan stealing a Christian holiday and turning it into a tool for his own evil purposes, just as he has done with other Christian holidays (by the way, holiday means holy day). A couple of examples are Easter (instead of the resurrection, it is about the Easter bunny) and Christmas (instead of the birth of Jesus, it is about Santa Claus and getting gifts). Sadly, most people do not know that Halloween began as a Christian holiday known as All Hallows Eve, or All Saints' Eve, held on the 31st of October, at the beginning of the observance of Allhallowtide, a time to remember the passing of saints and martyrs (hallows). But now that day has become a celebration of horror, being associated with the macabre and supernatural. It is a celebration of evil, about witches, death (skeletons, graves, ghosts, ghouls), and jack-o-lanterns (from the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a drunkard who bargains with the devil and is doomed to roam the earth without hope). Today, people celebrate Halloween with costumes (deception), putting up evil decorations, and by sending their children from door to door saying, “Trick or treat” (give me a treat or I will trick you). And just as it is with Christmas and Easter, Halloween has become extremely commercialized, profitable, and accepted.
What do we do?
Personally, we try to ignore it as much as possible and do not celebrate it. We don't put up Halloween decorations. However, we do love fall colors and decorations, which are seasonal but neutral. We focus on loving people and upcoming Thanksgiving, and mostly we understand that most are simply unaware of what is behind Halloween, and they are just having fun.
What the Bible says
The Bible does give guidance about dealing with evil. The verse at the top of the page says to “abstain from all appearance of evil,” which is difficult to do with it being virtually everywhere, including the neighbor’s yards and at the grocery store. But we still work to ignore it or use it to share Christ when possible. The Apostle Paul faced the presence of idols when he visited the city of Athens, and he used one of them to present Christ to the group of philosophers that were there on Mars Hill (see Acts 17).
Therefore
“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” (1 Cor. 13:6)
“We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” (1 John 5:19)
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isa. 5:20)
The promise
“He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure. Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty; will see a land that stretches afar.” (Isa. 33:15-17 ESV)
