Halloween – Yes or No?

Here in Australia, Halloween wasn’t such a big thing in the past, but in recent years its popularity seems to be growing. So, should we celebrate Halloween – yes or no?

American money-making scheme

Halloween is big in America. And some would say that in many ways Australia just follows America.

“Since World War II, American values and perceptions, carried by American popular culture, have infiltrated the social fabric of Australia, subtly transforming the thinking of more and more Australians.” Cultural ‘Americanization’

Judging by the displays in the shops, Halloween is also a big money-maker. And people seem happy to spend their hard-earned cash on this stuff. I recently heard on the radio that Australians are expected to spend $500million on Halloween this year. Wow! And we’ve supposedly got a cost-of-living crisis.

Ugly stuff

It’s ugly stuff – spiders, spider web, bats, witches, skeletons, blood-stained objects, knives, ghosts, black and dark. All the stuff that I want to clean up and not have in my house and life.

Halloween is unashamedly scary – the scarier, the better. It seems to be glorifying fear, demons, hell, death and evil.

It seems that all the things that we don’t want to think about, or have our children see, are OK for this one night of the year. Actually, it’s been a whole month of being bombarded with ugly, deathly, fearful images, and hearing that it’s OK. But is it?

Fear

Halloween is meant to be scary. It’s meant to generate fear. I don’t want my family to look at all this stuff. I don’t want to look at it myself. I don’t want to think about bad stuff. I don’t want to become desensitized to the dangers of evil.

I don’t want to glorify or celebrate death. Death is bad, sad, awful. I have written about it in this post: But I Don’t Want to Die!  

God calls death the last enemy:

The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 1

Corinthians 15:26

Death

We weren’t meant to die, but because of sin, we all have to die:

The wages of sin is death.

Romans 6:23a

There is only one death that I want to celebrate, and that’s the death of Jesus. I celebrate that every year at Easter. When Jesus died, he willingly took all the sins of the whole world, including your sins and mine.

Jesus hung on the cross, and God turned away!

God is holy and just. In our sinful state we cannot be in relationship with God. We deserve God’s eternal punishment in hell. That means to be in darkness and pain and loneliness and grief – forever!

But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 8:12

And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.

Isaiah 6:24

Hell, where ‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’

Mark 9:48

Heaven or hell?

It’s unbelievable that Jesus, God Himself, would suffer and die to take MY punishment, the consequence that I deserved. He went to hell, so that I don’t have to.

Jesus rose from the dead. He defeated death once and for all. Because I believe that Jesus has saved me, God has promised that I will be in heaven forever:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

Death is awful. It’s our enemy. But we believe it’s not the end. We were made to live forever. After death comes judgement for all of us. I’m never, ever going to be able to justify myself and all the bad things I’ve said, thought and done.

But, thank the Lord, I have one who has taken my place. Jesus already paid the price for me:

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

I’m not going to heaven because of the good things I’ve done. That’s not possible. I’m going to heaven because of Jesus and what He has done.

The gift is for you too

Jesus died for you too. Do you believe this? Heaven, eternal life, perfect bliss, is a free gift. You don’t have to do anything except believe it. God has given you free will. He doesn’t force anyone to believe Him. But, in our consciences, we all know that He exists:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 

Romans 1:20

Halloween – yes or no?

Some say that Halloween is just a bit of fun. Scary, but fun. There are lollies (candy in the US) and getting to visit neighbours, so it can’t be that bad. I say, just be aware. Just be careful. Here is a warning from an ex-psychic: Halloween warning.

So, you have a choice. Think about what you are celebrating, if and when, you celebrate Halloween.

And, most importantly, think about your death and where you want to be in the next life.

Think about Jesus, and his invitation to accept His free gift of eternal life with Him. Once again, God’s invitation:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16