Shaun Groves
I got an e-mail that said, and I’m paraphrasing here: So, Shaun I read about how you guys handle the Santa thing and I was wondering what you think about Halloween then.
So, here goes, some bulleted thoughts on the topic:
1. Why does anyone care what I think about anything, Halloween included? Flattered, but seriously. I’m just like you, man. I wake up and put my pants on one leg at a time just like you…only then my pants and I go to the studio and make hit records…and ask my neighbors for candy.
2. I dressed up for Halloween as a kid – a clown, a mummy, C3PO – and thought nothing of it. Until this one Halloween when, somehow, I don’t know how, I accidentally joined a cult and started talking backwards and stuff. Weird. I thought about Halloween then. Yep, when I got out of the reprogramming center I thought I should run track. I’m skinny. I’m white. It’s what we do. Let’s see those cult guys catch me next year. That’s what I thought. Almost exactly. And now I’m a Christian soft rock star so, yea, that pretty much worked.
3. Candy corns are yummy.
4. Sweet Tarts are yummy.
5. Jesus tracts are not yummy.
6. Santa Clause is not real but Hannah Montana, Batman and angels pretty much are, so my kids are celebrating those this Halloween…and candy corns and Sweet Tarts. But not Jesus tracts.
7. James Dobson and Marilyn Manson both trick-or-treated as children. They both loved Satan candy corns and Sweet Tarts.
8. Homeschooling families in the southeastern United States are not allowed to observe Halloween…after one full year of home schooling. Shew. We’re good to go. Next year we’ll argue that we’re not “observing,” we’re full on participating. If that doesn’t work we’re moving to Canada, which may or may not have Sweet Tarts and candy corns but does have Shania Twain and bacon – both yummy.
9. I moved to the buckle of the bible belt for one reason: Day after Halloween sales are all mine. No competition for the half priced caldron and pumpkin lights at Spencers on November first now.
10. Dressing as somebody or something you’re not, walking around in the dark until you can’t feel your feet and hands, demanding free stuff from adults without saying “please,” and going to bed vibrating from a near lethal dose of refined sugar and Blue #5 is fun.
anne jackson says:
candy corn. crap. i meant to put that on the presidential post you had. definitely an issue close to my heart.
milepost13 says:
I was homeschooled…when I was really young, we did the Halloween thing…when I was about 7, we stopped…now my parents are telling me their costumes are going to be better than mine at our Trunk or Treat on Wednesday…stupid parents.
I have never had any cavities…
Nate
jeff says:
sarcasm dually noted.
angie says:
A boy in my son’s class at school informed him that Halloween was Satan’s birthday. . .it was hard not to laugh, and just tell my son that we don’t make fun of other families convictions, but in our family we realize that Halloween is just a fun activity.
BTW the above metioned third grader is going as 70’s Elvis, 4yr old brother 50’s Elvis and little sis (she’s 1) is a fifties girl with an ‘I love Elvis’ sign. Too cute and no Satanic rituals will be performed, well maybe a little hip shakin’ but you know other than that. . .
Oh and we love Santa too
Cynthia says:
I let my kids participate in the Halloween thing, but as a parent I reserve the right to go through their candy and take out the items they shouldn’t have. Like…….M&M’s. I would tell them all M&M’s need to be given to mom…for their own good. It worked when they were younger, but now they’ve caught on. I was just looking out for their health. Really.
www.timetochange.us says:
candy corns are my favorite
Jenn says:
As to number 8 – Canada will welcome you with open arms so you do have a good back-up plan. We do have candy corn and sweet tarts, so don’t worry – and we actually have a lot of candy you guys don’t get south of the border which I used to find equally yummy – the whole being vegan wiped out 95% of the candy options for me – which may or may not be a good thing…
Kim B. says:
Ok…..I guess it’s up to me to be different….and it’s not because I like to rob little children….or child-like adults of their fun. ( by the way…I love the way you handle the Santa thing Shaun!!)
So, how is it that so many Christians don’t know the truth about Halloween??? I am not saying that candy corns and sweet tarts aren’t great tasting…and I am not saying that Halloween is Satan’s birthday. BUT, it is and always has been a Pagan “holiday”. It is a day that has been set aside for satanic worship and occult practices. I have done a study on it and the traditions that we have so readily adopted for our children…i.e….the costumes, the candy, the carved pumpkins with candles,trick or treating…etc…all have underlining meanings. They were thought to ward off evil spirits and to appease the walking dead. These in and of themselves aren’t harmful…but, there is a darker side to this night that people try to pretend does not exist. There are many many people out there who are practicing witches and warlocks who are very active on this night. ( yes, they are real…..their power is not their own, but, Satanic.) There are sacrifices happening…some animal…some human. The truth is we don’t want to think about these things…..but, they are real. We have had a well respected man come and speak at our youth groups…he was in the occult…and through the grace of God got out, gave his life to the Lord and now warns others how real this is.
So….having candy is great….having costume parties…fun….doing it on Halloween….well, ask the Lord…see how He feels about it…..but, when we compromise for the sake of fun…we lose out….and we look to much like the world.
Allie says:
Kim B. Thank you for this. I know everyone is led differently and the Lord sometimes takes certain families on different paths of obedience. The Lord has led us to give up “the worlds” way of celebrating holidays and embrace his set aside Holy Days as we worship Him. Are we the oddballs in our extended families? Do we only have maybe a handful of friends that understand? Do people get offended when we talk about the path the Lord has taken us? The answer to all these is yes.
Part of the reason the Lord led us the way He did, was the fact that I was into witchcraft so I know all to well what the pagan portions of holidays represent (especially Halloween). Yes all that you spoke of is real. I know first hand. I hate that I participated in such a disgusting practice, but thanks to Jesus, I have deliverance, freedom and forgiveness.
Our family as is yours is set apart as a beacon of truth to the dangers of compromising with the world. When we allow what we think are small things, Satan is using that as legal ground in our lives. Not all will follow this path and the Lord may not lead them just yet, but I do think there will come a day when we Christians will live whole heartedly for Jesus and nothing in this world (holiday, habit, tradition) will ever satisfy that.
miss munky says:
We’re not to big on Halloween around here…been homeschooling too long, I suppose…but we are big fans of candy corn!
miss munky says:
Okay how many people noticed that the homeschool mom spelled “too” wrong. Sheesh!
rich says:
Shaun,
So you’ll be taking out a Hannah Montana too? Awesome. I bet you, like me, can sing every word of “Best of Both Worlds”…
Kim B,
You bring up the Pagan holiday angle. I would ask you how is you do not know the truth about why we have Christmas and Easter when we do? And come on, the human sacrifice urban legends? This talk makes us Christians look like a bunch of crazies…
Pam says:
Maybe we can put up our Christmas decorations this weekend and see if we can absorb Halloween as a holiday….wait…I think think the retailers are ahead of us on this one.
Halloween is not a holiday I go all out to celebrate but I think to avoid it makes a bigger deal out of it than it deserves.
Vicki says:
My kids are all 20somethings now, but when they were little, I guess we compromised. They could dress up, but not as anything creepy or undead. So they were cowgirls or clowns or cats, etc. We handed out candy and carved a pumpkin to set out on the front porch, but that was about the extent of our decorations.
Now I don’t decorate at all, but I have no problem handing out candy to the short (and not so short) people who come to the door. However, it is clear that our culture is becoming darker as each Halloween goes by. A gazillion years ago when I was a kid, we dressed up as cartoon characters. When my kids were small, vampires and werewolves were popular. Now I see some of the grossest, most horrifying masks and makeup on small children.
Being a sci-fi fan (is that a contradiction for a Christian?), I watched the Scream awards on Spike TV the other day. This was an awards show for Horror/SciFi/Fantasy in movies, tv, and comic books. Well, from what I could tell, it was predominantly horror-ridden. I saw clips from the Saw and Hostel movies, in addition to other crap of that nature, that I had no desire to see. This type of thing was celebrated throughout the show. At the end I thought, “This is the emphasis of our culture. Sex and death,”
And that’s what Halloween is to me: The celebration of death. Especially now when it has become a commercial part of our lives. We buy decorations from Yankee Candle to make our Halloween tablescape complete.
Yeesh. This is too long and I’ve vented enough. Just my 22 cents worth.
Nancy Tyler says:
Halloween for me is a neighborhood connection opportunity. I love sitting out on the porch with a bucket of chocolate, visiting with the superheroes and princesses and goths (who come as they are) and their parents. Halloween is one of those times when people are actually open to being part of their community and talking with strangers. I can’t make the most of that opportunity and make those connections if I’m sitting in the house with my porch light off, afraid of three foot tall werewolves.
benstewart says:
Wasn’t Christmas originally a pagan holiday? Maybe there’s still hope for Halloween to become as holy (and commercial) as Christmas is here in America.
Maybe I’m wrong.
(Sorry if this comment starts a bunch of really long, probably historical and informative ones from older, smarter, and much more convicted people. That really wasn’t its intent.)
Molly Ranae says:
I have to say I am with Kim B on this one. I will not be too lengthy here (primarily because I have beaucoup homework), but my foremost reason for not celebrating Halloween is because the Holy Spirit has not given me a peace about it (unlike Christmas and Easter…which also have pagan origins…but that is another argument for another day).
I have not done extensive research on the issue, but in what little I did do (a “refresher course,” so-to-speak) after reading this blog and the comments inspired by it, I could not find one Biblically based argument in support of celebrating it. That is not to say that there is not one, but it appears that an overwhelming majority of arguments are firmly against it (I will not list reasons…”Google” it and read all you want).
Another thing I have learned in the few years that I have believed in Jesus, and echoed by the accounts I read during my “refresher course,” is that many (perhaps not all, but no exceptions that I have heard of) believers who were formerly occultists want nothing to do with Halloween because of the fact that it is THE occultic/satanic high “holy” day. Whether you believe that human sacrifices are preformed on this (and many other) days does not negate that fact that it does happen (one of the best quotes I have ever heard is “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”).
These thing being said, and considering the fact that our God is the Great Redeemer, if a believer does not feel unsettled in their spirit about celebrating Halloween, than who am I to say “I am right, you are wrong.” I just pray that the Lord will reveal His truth to me, and that I will walk in it unwaveringly.
Kimb. says:
Rich-
I do in fact know the truth behind Christmas and Easter…and how the Catholic church decided to make December 25th (aka the winter solstice) the day we celebrate Jesus’ birth.( when most probably He was born at the end of September.) I know the Pagan significance of the Christmas tree and Yule log, etc. Easter…(aka the pagan fertility/worship of the goddess Dianna) was chosen also by the Catholic church to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. The Easter eggs, bunnies…all signs of fertility. They did this as an attempt to redeem pagan holidays…..to take something Holy and try to blot out the worldly. Now the question I pose to you is…and anyone else who cares to answer is….Do you see more non-believers joyful over These two days of our celebration…or do you see more compromise, of letting the Pagan rituals intermingle with the Holy. Tell me how Jesus is glorified through a Christmas tree, a yule log, Easter eggs, chocolate bunnies…etc….not to mention all the consumerism and I will stop the discussion. ( and I don’t mean that we do all that and give Him glory along with it. I mean how do these specific things give Him glory??) Remember what happens to those who offer up or practice in the rituals of other Gods…..it isn’t good !!!
One more thing…..you might not choose to believe what I have to say about Halloween and the things that do happen..and that’s ok. But, seriously it is not urban legend…I have at least 2 people I can go to now and that can prove otherwise. Just remember Satan is a great deceiver…I am in no way suggesting the two extremes of a witch hunt, or hiding inside of my house out of fear. The Christian church has made some big mistakes in the past. The best use of any Christians time is to pray for the lost on that night….and everyday day for that matter. I am not crazy….I just choose to be set apart from the things of this world….and from the way I read my Bible that is still a command given to us from the Lord even today. ( by the way…all of this is said in love….I hate the fact that the written word can lose the tone of ones “voice”, so, please know I am not “screaming” as I write this.
Do all you do as unto the Lord, redeeming the time until He comes, for in fact…the time is near!!!
Blessings, Kim
Kim B. says:
Molly- Amen !!! Being sensitive to the Holy Spirit and seeking the Lords will is the beginning of all wisdom!!!
Jim says:
When I first became a step-dad, I put up with halloween, then I stopped it, then we started again. We don’t celebrate witches or ghosts or the occult or gory murder masks, just characters, and try to keep it upbeat and polite/friendly. I (dad) usually end up a WWII Figher Pilot ( got the suit on ebay ) this year we’ll have Cheetah Girl and Storm Trooper
Shaun Groves says:
There’s nothing actually wrong with the meat offered to imaginary gods, Paul says, but be sensitive to those who don’t know that yet. Sensitive in that you don’t make them eat it, and you don’t punish them for not eating it, and you don’t tempt them by serving it to them. But, yea, the meat’s fine. Eat up. Just eat it with like minded folks who don’t believe in ghosts, I mean gods.
All meat is made by God, after all, and where it’s bought and what others use it for doesn’t change that fact.
Grovesfan says:
Can’t say whether the Catholic church invented the use of the tree, yule log, easter bunny,etc. I believe that the little chicks, bunnies, eggs, flowers, etc. used at Easter are a symbol of new birth. The new birth all Christians experience when they accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. We are new creations in Him. As for Christmas trees and the other decorations surrounding Christmas, I can’t say as I’ve never looked it up. Halloween has become more sinister over the years, whether that was the intention or not and whether or not most people “celebrate” it with sinister intentions in mind.
I started out letting our kids dress up and trick or treat, but got away from it as we moved overseas where the holiday isn’t celebrated. I can’t think of a Biblical reason TO celebrate it and the kids can certainly do without the extra sugar buzz. Those who chose to celebrate it are free to do so and I don’t think of them as pagans or devil worshippers either; unless that’s why they’re celebrating of course.
Beth
Alan says:
Candy candy candy candy candy candy candy candy candy…
Shaun Groves says:
Thank you, Alan. Your words mot only illuminated the dark crevasses of this nuanced topic but also moved me in my inner most places depleting me of all words but Amen.
Kim b. says:
Beth- I meant that the trees, bunnies,etc. were already in place…the pagans used them as symbols to represent their traditions….the church just used their holiday dates as a way to lure the pagans away from what they were worshiping….my point was that instead of them changing and embracing Christ….we have changed ..over time…to include their “items of worship”.
Shaun- I know what scripture you are talking about….and that is not what I was saying exactly. I was alluding to the fact that an offering to the Lord should not be mixed with any pagan idol or symbolism. If we mix our traditions…taking some that are Holy….and some that are not and we lift that up to the Lord in celebration of Him…does He see it as Holy and set apart for Him…or does He cry out that we have defiled what He considers Holy.
I was not speaking of “ being a stumbling block to a brother or sister in Christ”. You brought up the point that if a believer believes he should refrain from meat…and I see no problem with it, that I should not say to my brother you can eat meat also. This scripture is talking about the fact that our bodies are of no consequence. What goes into our bodies comes back out. ….and these are not the important things in His eyes. But, He does repeat over and over in the scripture about our worship and what we offer to Him in sacrifice….This is totally a different matter…..The first is about our temporal bodies the second about What a Holy God will accept as an offering.
I hope I have explained this ok…my point comes down to….Israel was always getting it wrong. No matter how many times the Lord warned them that He is a jealous and Holy God….they still had to hold onto their pagan idols…they tried to hide them, tried to pretend they weren’t sinning…..but, God felt otherwise. He chose us to be set apart….He tells us to test all things….He does not want us to walk blindly through this world adapting to it’s ways…How can we be a light that shines brightly when we look to much like the world???? Ask any atheist why they remain so….most will say because of the hypocrisy of the church.
I ask any who read this…don’t react in anger….or dismiss it quickly….pray over it…ask for wisdom and council on these things. The road is wide that leads to destruction…but, narrow is the path of righteousness.
Susanne says:
For the people out there who think Halloween is evil, I say this:
If you’re going to choose to not observe Halloween because it’s “pagan,” then you should be fair and omit the red guy at Christmas (also pagan) and the Easter Bunny (yet again, pagan). I have way too many fun memories of Halloweens as a kid to take it away from my kids. I also think it’s sad that so many of my friends don’t know enough of their neighbors to feel comfortable letting their kids trick-or-treat. We have such a close-knit group of neighbors on our street. Our neighbors, especially the older ones, always look forward to seeing all of the kids come by in their costumes.
Besides, I think the materialism that is Christmas is a much bigger threat to our society than Halloween is. It scares me how obsessed we’ve become with gift-giving at Christmas. Is dressing up as a skeleton at Halloween any worse than spending more money than you have at Christmas? I think not. So until my neighbors start doing a witch dance on October 31, my family will be having fun dressing up and eating candy. The kids’ teeth will be fine.
ally simpson says:
its posts like this that make me love you Shaun! keep being real & keep being a tiny bit sarcastic!! haha
we have tonnes of sweets (candy) ready for the “little devils” who will no doubt knock our door in a night or 2!! bring it on, il have my KJV Bible strapped to my back just in case i need to rebuke on of them!
Shawn Bashor says:
Candy corns are just nasty, and if you call Shania Twain yummy in public, farm heath should beable to tell your wife she smells good.
NerdMom says:
Shaun, Come to Cali. Not only are homeschoolers allowed to participate, our church “encourages” us to help out with the huge trunk or treat event (literally thousands of kids). We don’t do anything scary or really follow it with our kids (6 and under). They view it as a day to dress up and get candy, end of statement. To them this is the only holiday that exists as just its face value. I am sure as they get older that will change but for now we are going to take the candy and be glad!