CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Halloween is Monday.
How does this holiday intersect with faith?
Is it Satan’s holiday? Should Christians abstain?
I think it’s in our intentions, which God knows. Psalm 139 tells us that God discerns us from afar. “Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.”
So, if, in your heart, Monday is a day to dress in a costume and collect candy, and for most people that’s all Halloween is about, God knows that.
Even in other cultures, where a day of the dead is observed, I’m not overly concerned. I like the idea of a day to remember departed relatives and friends. I see no harm in setting a day aside where we remember their lives and the possibility that on one particular day (November 1st this year) they are closer to us. My family and friends were not evil in life. I have no reason to think they’d be sinister in the afterlife. Just like when my kids dress up as an owl and a sheriffs deputy – those were last year’s costumes – they’re not celebrating Satan.
Now, on the other hand, if you’re planning on holding a Black Mass for Halloween where you want to conjure up evil to mark the occasion… well, God knows that too. And I am troubled for you.
Are evil forces real? Yes, they are. The Bible tells us so. And the nature of such wickedness cannot be fully known to us, just like the very nature of God and goodness are not fully understood. Now I spend much more time thinking about the latter, and very little time thinking about the source of evil in the world.
If Halloween is a fun day for you, go ahead and have your fun. If it is a dark day for you, I pray that you turn away from that and turn toward God.
Chris Conley
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