I Am Just Not That Big a Fan of Halloween

I have a confession to make. I am just not that big a fan of Halloween. I just don't much care for it. I don't completely reject everything about it. I know of many fine Christians who for reasons of conscience, believe that Halloween in any form is evil. I respect that conviction (see Romans 14). To be honest, I am actually sympathetic to it. But I don't necessarily think total abstinence is the only option for Christians. In my case, my problems with Halloween are two-fold. One is the glorification of death, horror, and evil in the surrounding Western culture. The other problem is how childish the whole thing is.

As to the first, it should go without saying that glorifying death, horror, and evil is repugnant to me and to other Christians. Death is not a good thing. I hate death! I work in Emergency Medical Services. I have seen my share of death. In fact, I once witnessed an autopsy being performed as part of the orientation process at one of my prior ambulance jobs. Death is evil. Death is not natural. Death is something that only exists as part of the curse of sin brought about by the sin of Adam (Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22). Why in the world would I want to glorify that!?

Similarly, why would I want to act as if horror and evil was something to be used for entertainment? Why would I find joy in viewing disturbing images and sounds? I for one hate the horror genre of movies. Now I don't mind suspense and thrillers and things like that. Some mild forms of that I have been known to view with enjoyment (think anthology series like The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits). But I am talking about horror/slasher movies; film franchises like Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, or more modern series like Saw or The Nun. In my opinion, those things are energized by Satan.

The other thing about Halloween that bothers me is how childish the whole thing is. Let me explain. Personally, I am of the mind that what can be salvaged about Halloween (which is very little) should be for the kids. My own kids dressed in silly, cartoonish costumes and went and got candy from the neighbors. It was cute. It was fun. It wasn't scary at all. And I think that is just the way it should stay. Hearing about teenagers going trick-or-treating in my view speaks to the massive childishness in Western culture today. And I scarcely need to go into how excited adults (and I use that term loosely) seem to get about going to horror attractions and getting drunk while in costume.

Where I live, trick-or-treating is done on the Friday just before October 31, so we just had it. I did enjoy seeing the joy on my kids' faces when they got to dig in to some free candy (of course, I consider myself entitled to a small candy tax as Dad). I also think they looked cute in their costumes (my son was Spiderman while my daughter was dressed up as a black cat). The bottom line is that other than a little bit of kitsch (cartoonish ghosts, Frankenstein, Wolfman, etc...), I only tolerate Halloween for the sake of my kids.

In my mind, Halloween is something to just get through. Personally, I enjoy the fall season; especially now that I live in the Northeast where we actually have changes of seasons. Fall foliage, pumpkin spice (insert everyday product here), and cool days and nights. But to me, one of the nicest things about fall is that we are getting closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas, especially Christmas. Anyone who knows me knows how positively Clark Griswold I get over Christmastime. I am a true Christmas junkie! I am looking forward to getting on with Thanksgiving and Christmas once Halloween is over. Blessings.