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With almost five billion dollars spent on Halloween, should Christians be celebrating?
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While many are doing some last minute shopping for Halloween, retailers must be pleased to know that they will survive until...at least until Christmas. Though the National Retail Federation reports that Halloween spending is down from last year by $10.23 per person according to their estimation, they are anticipating $4.75 billion in total spending! Candy sales alone are expected to be close to two billion! With Americans spending close to five billion dollars this year on costumes, make up, candy, decorations and party foods, it's no wonder the retailers are thrilled.
Of course, the economy has still not yet recovered and many, notably Pennsylvanians, are still out of work. Some have even exhausted their unemployment benefits.
I can't help but think that just like with professional sports, people's priorities are mixed up. Americans are not seeing the bigger picture and judging from my Phillies article this is a very sensitive issue.
I see many people feeling obligated to spend money on Halloween because that's what you do, it's tradition. Most of us grew up in this tradition, right? When you think back on all the years you went trick-or-treating and the people who gave you candy, you couldn't possibly ignore your duty of handing it out as an adult. It's your turn, isn't it? But what the unemployed parents, especially those with no income? They must feel the pressure, not only from their children but from the schools, to participate in the Halloween festivities. At the very least, this requires a costume.
And then we have Christians struggling with the origins of Halloween. Is it a holiday they should participate in or should they just lighten up and count it all as fun?
After reading various articles on Halloween and even some Halloween articles written by other Examiners, I realize there are many different views on the origin of Halloween. Since history took place without me being there I can't say for sure who's right and who's wrong. And while I'm not going to get into that in this article anyway, I would like to point out that so many different authorities, if you will, make claims about the sacredness or scariness of Halloween. I'm sure this can be very confusing for those who want to make the right choice about this day. I'm also sure that some people just want to fit in and be accepted more than they want to know the truth.
For those of you who are Christians, it's important to understand that though Pagans, Wiccans, Atheists, and those who practice any kind of divination or nature worship, are not Christians. But this does not make them murderers, rapists or any of the sort just like being a Christian doesn't make us Planned Parenthood bombers and being a Muslim doesn't make them a Jihad terrorist. It's time we get our facts straight and take this seriously.
We all know that just about every faith or religion, including Christianity, has extremists in their midst (in some cases "extremist" may not be a strong enough word). These Pagans, Wiccans and Atheists may be your next door neighbor who brought you some soup when you were sick. Or they may have given your car a jump when they saw you stranded on the highway. They may also donate money to good charitable causes.
As Christians, we need to love them and all people, on Halloween and on every day, with the love of Christ, if you are His. How can we show love to those we hate or to those whom we are attacking? Jesus says our love must be sincere and that we must hate what is evil, not hate people (Romans 12:9). And even our enemies we are to love, did you forget? How can our love be sincere when we're so busy fighting and demanding our rights as Christians, even fighting amongst ourselves? Jesus also says that if we hate our brothers then we are living in darkness. God's standards are impossible for any person to reach which is why if Jesus is not in us, we will never meet His standard of loving others. Our best attempt will be like filthy rags.
As far as Halloween is concerned, it's easy to know if a Christian should celebrate it and participate in it or not. We know it's true that Pagans, Wiccans, Atheists and others who practice divination do not profess to know the one true God who sent His Son to die for us and reconcile us back to God (they deny that Jesus is the Messiah). But Pagans, Wiccans, Atheists and those who practice divination do celebrate Halloween or Samhain, which Halloween evolved from. So, then, wouldn't that be a huge clue?
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