So we come to the typical strawman argument when discussing Halloween. No one is suggesting a removal from secular society. I think if you are home, it would be good to have your kids pass out candy to the visitors to your house. Maybe give them a tract or at least a "Jesus loves you." You can reward your children with their own candy later. This however is a moment to teach them that you simply do not believe as the rest of the world believes. When they have off for Jewish holidays from school we have no problem simply saying we do not celebrate those holidays but suddenly Halloween becomes this great problem because we don't want to tell them no.
As for the community strawman argument, I ask why wait until Halloween to pretend to care about your community? Have a church community event the month prior. Or even the week prior. Heck, you can do one every single month if you want. Just when the satanic high holy day rolls around, it is time to not participate. When you choose to essentially ignore your community until it comes time for Halloween, I think you are more interested in Halloween than your community. I love how Mathias defines believing in the bible to not partake in evil as being "on the edges." How sad this is how low the church has sunk to.
"Here's where I've landed: If you allow your 6-year-old to dress up as Peter Pan and grab Twix bars from the neighbor's house while screaming gleefully to the next house to score some sour, gummy, corn syrup goo, it's truly a matter of context and perspective. I don't believe it's a make-or-break spiritual decision as a parent." -- Brad Mathias
Strawman argument number two on display. By pretending this is being portrayed as a "make or break" issue, Mathias sets himself up to downplay the significance. Now, can this be a serious decision for a parent? Absolutely. You see the six year old that you dressed up as Peter Pan will one day be 16 and what did you teach him about Halloween? That it is all somehow acceptable. When your adorable six year old princess decides at 16 to dress as a vampire just remember that you taught her that. The context and perspective cannot be clearer. On October 31st of every year it is ritual in this country to celebrate Halloween. The roots of Halloween are evil and through this day it is practiced as evil. It is the High Holy Day in Satan worship and no Christian should want to play any part in it, let alone expose our children to the spiritual nature of what goes on.
"I'm not nearly as concerned about the sugar rush and pagan holiday as I am for those who allow our kids to consume an average of nine hours of media per day without batting an eye. If that's true, it suggests the values of our faith are under a subtler attack than the dangers of Halloween, and the risks of trick-or-treating have become a truly moot point." -- Brad Mathias
So we come to the second whataboutism argument offered up -- what about all the other bad things we allow! If you want to have a discussion of parenting and media, I am all in. Of course it has NOTHING to do with Halloween. I believe we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can discuss the evils of letting machines raise your kids and have a separate discussion about the evils of Halloween. I think we are advanced enough to accomplish this. Mercifully, this scary article concludes with a few sound bite arguments:
"If celebrating Halloween creates the space in your life to interact with and enjoy one another's company as a family, to draw closer together with each other and your neighbor, then I'm having a hard time finding reasons to "not" do that.
For me, I believe if you start down this road of cultural avoidance, it ends badly for the Christian family in the end. Personally,
