Coach's Corner

What about Halloween?

The month of October marks the beginning of the fall season … it is one of my favorite times of the year especially on those clear, cool, sunny, Ontario days. The two main celebrations in the month of October are Thanksgiving and, of course, the controversial date on the calendar – Halloween! Halloween has been a controversial event for many years … and in many ways rightfully so. There is no doubt that Halloween can be traced to distinctly pagan sources. It is reasonable, then, that many followers of Christ would find some aspects of its celebration disturbing. I agree with them in that regard.

The ‘traditional’ emphasis upon occult, witches, death, and evil send messages to our kids that godly parents assuredly respond with caution. There is clearly no tolerance in the Christian community for this ‘darker side’ of Halloween.

In saying this, there may be room for harmless fun. I don’t know about you, but my kids enjoy to dress up and play pretend. If Halloween focuses on dressing up and having fun rather than the occult, it is harmless. Take the opportunity to make costumes for your children and represent fun characters such as ‘Hannah Montana’ or better yet ‘Lightning McQueen.’ This side of Halloween can be thoroughly enjoyable for the entire family.

At the end of the day I realize it is a controversial topic among the Christian community … I’m sensitive to that. As parents I think we need to make some of these decisions based on ‘our own convictions.’

As for me and my family … October 31st marks the birthday of my youngest son – so this date on the calendar will always be a celebration. October 31st also marks a monumental shift in church history – it was October 31, 1517 when the Reformer Martin Luther pinned the 95 Theses on the cathedral doors that changed the course of the present day church. So who knows, in my house on Halloween we may be collecting candy, blowing out candles, and thanking God for Reformers like Martin Luther who helped us remember that the Christian faith is based on grace rather than works.

Posted October 01, 2009