Ha, ha, zombies and vampires. You don’t live forever eating brains and sucking blood.
Halloween produces mixed reactions from Christians. Is it something we can embrace and let the kids go out in costumes trick or treating, decorate our porches with Jack-o’-lanterns, spiders and witches, even have a big party? Or do we see the devil and his minions in hyperactive mode and try to avoid it completely? The real answer might surprise you as it surprised me.
The word Halloween is a contraction of All Hallows Eve, the night before All Hallows Day, also called All Saints Day. If you remember the Lord’s Prayer there is that phrase “hallowed be thy name,” hallow being an old English word for holy. In the New Testament the same word is translated as either holy or saint depending on the usage. It doesn’t matter whether one subscribes to the Catholic view of Saints being a small group of uber-holy canonized people, or the broader (and more Biblical) definition that all Christians are saints because their sins are forgiven and forgotten. This day is all about Holiness!
So why the shenanigans on the night before? In preparation for the festivities of All Saints Day, many families would bake little cakes, and the poor and indigent would make the rounds for a giveaway cake. Sounds like trick or treat right? Even better, to celebrate eternal life and forgiven sin, many would dress up as evil creatures to MOCK the devil and laugh at his powerlessness. Ha, ha, zombies and vampires. You don’t live forever eating brains and sucking blood. Unending life in the presence of God is reserved for believers. This is not a night of horrors, it is a night to see the horrors evaporate in the face of Holy Laughter. Trick or treat anyone?
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
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thanks for information.