I'm Okay with Getting Halloween Wrong

Former Halloweiner here! There was a time it was by far my favorite holiday! By late September, fall cleaning was complete, and the ghoulish transformation of our home began. Meals could no longer be eaten in the dining room: it was used for a macabre spread of floating eyeballs and severed limbs. Every haunted hayride and trunk-or-treat we could squeeze into our schedule, we did. And costumes were designed, fitted, and tweaked by the time the first leaves began to fall. BUT GOD...

In my childhood, Mom and I spent Saturday afternoons watching horror flicks. I loved a good mystery, but it didn't stop with Nancy Drew --the scarier the better. I cut my metal teeth on Ozzy and Iron Maiden; I loved their connection to the demonic and the lore of backward masking. I had a close relative who dabbled in the black arts (or seemed to) and had a pentagram etched into the floor. Personally, I leaned more toward pornography and dark practices. BUT GOD...

I heard there were connections between the "celebration" of Halloween and the Satanic. Pastors warned how easily we can become "sucked in." I knew all about portals from witnessing what the demonic had done in my family members and me. I toyed with the idea of skipping Halloweening but feared I was "taking religion too far." If I just threw out all of those cute little witches, I'd be okay, right? BUT GOD... 

Here's the thing about that "clean slate" I mentioned last week: why on earth would someone who refuses to eat hours after she's been to the dentist for a cleaning, hastily, recklessly muck up the clean slate given her by Jesus? Jesus died so that my sins are paid for; I have a fresh start without shame. Jesus, my Representative, rose to life so that I can live a new life, an eternal life in a way unbound by things of this world (sin, death, expectations, judgment, fear, etc.). Jesus ascended into heaven so that His Holy Spirit would dwell within me changing me and sanctifying me for as long as I submit and obey. Is messing around with Halloween that important to me that I would risk desensitizing myself to things anti-Christ in nature? Is being like everyone else so important to me that I would open a portal for my child the way I've seen portals open for others? Has the Holy Spirit given me clear warnings against celebrating a day that celebrates death when I am called to life? Has the Holy Spirit given me clear warnings against celebrating a day that celebrates darkness when I am called by the Light of the world to be light to the world?

And, I have to be honest: even as I write this, wonderful memories of our children and past "celebrations" tease me into thinking I'm being a bit extra about all this. My flesh begins to tingle with the excitement of visiting a haunted hayride or walking dark streets with a host of others in disguise. But I'd be a fool to think there is no deception in a holiday that exalts the other-spiritual. And that's really what it is, isn't it? It's a promotion or a glorification of the spirit world; but certainly not the spirit world of the Holy Spirit. And if not Him, then who?

Riaan Swiegelaar, a former reverend with the South African Satanic Church and, by God's grace, obedient Christian, doesn't waffle on his warning to parents about Halloween. He says it is the highest "holy" day on the Satanic calendar, a day when human sacrifices peak in number. Swiegelaar notes that the founder of the Church of Satan (Anton LaVey) and co-founder of Satanism as a religion had a very well-known quote: I want to thank Christian parents for allowing their children to celebrate the devil one day of the year.

The Church of Satan has this to say about Halloween on its website:

Satanists embrace what this holiday has become, and do not feel the need to be tied to ancient practices. This night, we smile at the amateur explorers of their own inner darkness, for we know that they enjoy their brief dip into the pool of the “shadow world.” We encourage their tenebrous fantasies, the candied indulgence, and the wide-ranging evocation of our aesthetics (while tolerating some of the chintzy versions), even if it is but once a year.

So, am I taking religion too far? Am I Doin' Too Much? Perhaps I am, but where is the risk? If I am indeed erring on the side of caution, what have I lost? But if I choose to meet the approval of public opinion or the retailers or even my child, what will I lose? There are things far too precious I am unwilling to gamble, so I'll just have to be okay with getting Halloween wrong.