Halloween

I've agrued before now that Christians should have nothing to do with Halloween because amongst other things it can:

(1) encourage us to underestimate our enemy, the devil

(2) might lead to a fascination with the occult.

However, I'm interested to see that John Frame (who says he'd rather celebrate Reformation Day) and James Jordan are against me.

Frame says:

... the word Halloween is a form of "All Hallows Eve," the evening that precedes All Saints Day in the church calender. In its missionary labors in Europe, the church substituted its own holiday for some pagan observances. In the modern West, Halloween is essentially a mockery of ancient paganism. It is not paganism, but a celebration of the gospel's victory over paganism. I see no spiritual danger in observing that celebration, as long as we, and our children, understand the difference between mocking paganism and endorsing it.

Frame says he agrees with James Jordan, "Concerning Halloween," Open Book, no. 28 (August 1996). The link Frame gives is broken but the article can be found at: http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/open-book/no-28-concerning-halloween/

The Doctrine of the Christian Life p426f

Halloween: Trick or Treat?

Here are some jottings (in a Word document) for 'Listen and Lunch' talk I gave today entitled Halloween: Trick or Treat? I agued that on the whole its a bad thing. It probably has unwanted comercialism and trick or treat is antisocial. Above all, it might encourage wrong attitudes to Satan and evil, either leading people to trivialise and understimate evil or, possibly in a few cases, to be fascinated by the devil and be drawn into the occult.