Last week I briefly introduced the long, complex, and somewhat muddled history of Halloween. The question before us is, “How do we, as followers of Jesus, appropriately live in the world, loving our neighbors, intelligently engaging the culture with the truth of the Gospel, while not becoming part of the world, so muddying the message that it becomes indistinguishable from any other message?”  Simply, how do we live in the world without becoming part of it? (See John 17)  Often times, such questions are easier to ask than answer because discernment is required, and the answer may turn out to be a bit different for every follower of Jesus. 

Often Christians tend to go in one of two directions: syncretism (liberalism) or isolationism (fundamentalism).  Syncretism occurs when the church, in an attempt to engage the culture, becomes so much like the culture that it is difficult to distinguish it from the culture.  This typically does not begin maliciously; rather it takes place through a series of slow and steady decisions that lead away from the Bible and its central message, Jesus (Lk 24:27; Jn 5:39).  You know you’re at a church that is becoming syncretized when the focus is on anything other than Jesus, such as social work, environmentalism, gender issues, morality, or self-help to name a few.  Over time, the mission of the church shifts from the Gospel (i.e. what Jesus has done and is doing) to something else. That is not to say these other things are unimportant, they simply aren’t primary. When this happens the church has become syncretized with the culture, and this characterizes much of the liberal church in the world today.  Inevitably, the syncretized church/Christian dies, as we see currently see happening in mainline Protestantism.

On the other hand, isolationism occurs when the church, in an attempt to promote holiness, becomes so isolated that it retreats rather than engages the culture.  This is typical of fundamentalism. Truly, there is no “fun” in fundamentalism. Similar to above, this often takes place through a series of slow and steady decisions that lead away from the Bible and its central message, Jesus (Lk 24:27; Jn 5:39)  You know you’re at a church that is becoming isolated when the focus is on what you do over what Jesus has done.  The isolated church has a long list of man-made rules (which typically includes such things as no dancing, no movies, no “rock n’ roll”, etc) that must be followed to grow in holiness, to remain in proper relationship with the church and ultimately with God. Anything with the slight semblance of culture, such as good music, designed lighting, comfortable aesthetics, relevant teaching, and attractional programming are all seen as “of the world” and therefore not condoned. Inevitably, the isolated church/Christian also dies.

So, how does this pertain to our discussion of Halloween? Well, we can easily lean toward one of these two categories without knowing it.  On the one hand we can blindly accept Halloween as culturally normative, thus acceptable, (which leans towards syncretism) or on the other hand simply dismiss it as a demon-worshipping holiday not to be celebrated by anyone (which leans towards isolationism).  How are we to live in the world, but not become part of it, while following Jesus?  Jesus is calling us to engage culture (John 17:15, 18) and live holy lives (John 14:21), to think deeply (Mt 22:37, emphasis “mind”), to convey the Gospel clearly (Mt 28:18-20) and live in such a way so as to point to him (Mt 5:13-16). Where does that leave us? Jesus offers us a third way, outside of liberalism or fundamentalism, through the Gospel.  I’ll discuss this in my next post.

Before signing off, here are some interesting statistics relating to Halloween. Today, Halloween is observed in the US, Canada, UK, Puerto Rico, New Zealand and Australia. It is the 6th most profitable holiday in the US (after Christmas, Mother’s Day, Valentines Day, Easter, and Father’s day). Americans are expected to spend over $5 billion on Halloween.  The top kid costumes (2005) were: princess (3.8m), witch (1.7m), Spiderman (1.4m), monster (1.3m), and Darth Vader (1.26m). The top adult costumes (2005) were: witch (3.9m), vampire (1.45m), actor/famous person (784k), monster (724k), and pirate (573k).

“I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” John 17:15,18

Stay tuned for Part III.