What is Halloween?

 

Halloween is the holiday that takes place on October 31.  In the United States, children wear costumes on Halloween and go trick-or-treating. Many carve jack-o'-lanterns out of pumpkins.

Hallow is the same word for "holy" that we find in the Lord’s Prayer, and e’en is a contraction of "evening." The word Halloween itself is a shortened form of "All Hallows Eve," the day before All Saints Day.

The truth is that Halloween's deepest roots are decidedly pagan, and unlike Christmas and Easter, it has kept those pagan roots, despite its now Christian name. Through the centuries, Christians of most persuasions have tried to transform this pagan holiday into a Christian one, from a festival of fear to one of joy.

The Bible says every true Christian is a saint.  All Hallow's Day (November 1) was a celebration of all "the holies" - those people who had died faithful to Christ.  That means if you had a brother or sister or grandparent who loved God and died, you'd remember that person. You'd celebrate the joy those loved ones are experiencing in heaven and remember the good times you had with them when they were alive.

In the early years when Rome persecuted Christians, so many martyrs died for their faith, that the Church set aside special days to honor them.

The same way people gather today at the site of a tragedy on its anniversary to talk to each other and to reporters, the first Christians gathered on the anniversary of a martyr’s death to remember it the way they knew best: with the "breaking of the bread." They retold the stories to inspire each other at a time when faith meant persecution and more martyrdom. Not even death could break the unity in Jesus which Paul had named "the Body of Christ."

By the mid-fourth century a feast of "All Martyrs" appeared on local calendars. As persecutions grew less frequent, the feast was extended to include non-martyr "witnesses," Christians whose lives were "the gospel in action.”

In the 16th century at the time of the Reformation, most Protestants discarded both the doctrine of the communion of saints and the practice of praying for the dead. All Hallows Eve became "hollow" for them, the vigil of an empty feast day.

Death is not cute. Halloween began with martyrs, after all.  At Halloween we need to use discernment to separate the symbols, to protect our children from very real dangers, to cut through the customs that contradict our relationship with God, including occult practices.

Most of all, be free from fear. We who are in Christ have nothing to fear, and we should be ready with an answer to those who act as if the devil were the equal and opposite of God. There is no "equal and opposite" of God.

 There is a supernatural world. We're fascinated by it, and there's nothing like a graveyard story to scare us awake! But evil does exist. That's why stories like the "The Wizard of Oz" and "The Chronicles of Narnia" ring true. Temptations. Evil spirits. A lot of horrible things happen in this world. Evil powers are nothing to fool around with! But the Bible teaches us that 'God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love….'

 The Celts believed the dead would harm them. But we know that Christians who die are happy with Jesus Christ. Our loved ones aren't nasty ghosts. Don't forget: when Jesus rose from the dead, He had a real body. He walked, talked, touched things, and even ate fish!

It's good to remember our loved ones who have died. But they're not sad; they're alive with Christ, awake in a different world.

That's one reason it's so important to let Jesus take charge of our lives now. Christ has conquered the forces of death and evil."  

Amazing Grace says:

"When we've been there then thousand years, Bright shining as the sun, We've no less days to sing God's praise Than when we've first begun.”

 

......This is from my Sunday School lessons written in 2016.)