DATE: October 24, 1999 - CNYC Meetings
THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK CITY
CHILDREN'S MEETING LESSON
DATE: October 15, 2017
SUBJECT: The Truth about Halloween
SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 18:9-14; Leviticus 19:31; 20:6, 27; Deuteronomy 7:26; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; 11:14
AIM: To share with the children and parents the source and evil background of Halloween, so that we can all choose God and not participate in this holiday at all.
MEMORY VERSES TO CHOOSE FROM: 1 Thessalonians 5:5 (For you are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.); Psalm: 97:10a (O you who love Jehovah, hate evil!); Leviticus 20:7 (Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am Jehovah your God.); Deuteronomy 14:2 (For you are a holy people to Jehovah your God, and Jehovah has chosen you to be a people for His personal treasure, from among all the peoples which are upon the face of the earth.); James 4:4b (…Therefore whoever determines to be a friend of the world is constituted an enemy of God.); John 17:14b (…because they are not of the world even as I am not of the world.)
SUGGESTED SONGS: 8 (I Want to Live for Jesus); 142 (I Belong to Jesus); 192 (We are Different); 37 (I Have Decided to Follow Jesus); 2511 (Follow! Follow! I Will Follow Jesus); 174 (When Ugly Satan Knocks On My Heart’s Door); 191 (This Little Light of Mine); 3424 (I’ll Be a Sunbeam for Jesus); 52 (God is Light); 74 (Boys and Girls for Jesus)
CONTENT:
I. Realizing the Darkness in Halloween. At the beginning of the autumn season, we see many things related to Halloween, for example, decorations in the neighborhood, costumes for sale, advertisements, and parties and activities in school. On Halloween, we might see children trick-or-treating. As Christians, however, we should understand the background of Halloween in order to make a choice for God. Even though some things seem innocent and fun, such as cute costumes and collecting candy, we also realize that Halloween is dark and full of evil. The evil and scary things are seen all around us during this time of year. In addition to this holiday, many things of Satan have become geared toward children, including books, toys, video games and television shows that involve fortune-telling, magic, witches, skeletons and death. Even though these things are dark, sometimes they are packaged in a cute way to attract children and their parents. But a rotten apple packaged in a beautiful way is still a rotten apple inside.
II. As God’s Holy People, We Should Not Participate in Practices that God Hates. The Bible tells us how God feels concerning many things. Because we love God and belong to God, we should want to know how God feels by reading His Word. Even though Halloween is not mentioned in the Bible and did not yet exist when the Bible was written, we can look to the Bible to understand what God likes and dislikes and follow God’s way in many current situations.
In the Old Testament times, God warned His people against learning the practices of the nations around them, which were an abomination to God. (Abomination means something intensely hated.) In Deuteronomy 18:9, God told His people, “When you enter the land which Jehovah your God is giving you, you shall not learn to do things according to the abominations of those nations.” God specifically warned His people not to pick up the evil practices of those around them, including fortune-telling, sorcery and other dark things (Deut. 18:10-11). In fact, God hated these things so much that in the Old Testament times, the punishment for participating in such dark things was stoning to death (Lev. 20:27). In the New Testament, the Bible similarly warns us against joining in the sinful and dark things around us (2 Cor. 6:14-16). “Do not become dissimilarly yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14).
We are God’s people and should be separated from participating in things that God hates. God loves us, and calls us His personal treasure. We should not take this lightly! To be called God’s personal treasure is quite amazing! Deuteronomy 14:2 says, “For you are a holy people to Jehovah your God, and Jehovah has chosen you to be a people for His personal treasure, from among all the peoples which are upon the face of the earth.” We belong to God and want to do what pleases Him. Instead of participating in things that God hates, we should come out from those evil things completely. 2 Corinthians 6:17 says to “come out from their midst and be separated, says the Lord, and do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you.”
III. The History Concerning Halloween. The traditions and beliefs that led to Halloween were from people that were very superstitious, far apart from God and did not believe in the real God. They had many pagan practices, (pagan means relating to the worship of false gods), including offering fruits and vegetables to dead people. By the Lord’s mercy, we are people who believe in the real God, the only God. We can choose God!
Note to serving ones and parents: We are attaching an Appendix providing a more detailed history of Halloween. It is intended mainly for the serving saints and parents, and should not be covered in its entirety with young children. We should be careful not to unnecessarily stir their imaginations. Some portions, however, may be suitable to share with the children. Please pray and fellowship over what to cover and how much to cover, depending on the age group of the children.
SUGGESTED APPLICATIONS TO CHOOSE FROM: Please pray and fellowship over which applications to cover. Please do not feel obligated to cover all the suggested applications.
• Instead of participating in Halloween, we can be together with our Christian friends. We should refrain from participating in Halloween parties and partaking of the goodies—just like Daniel and his friends in the Old Testament. We should not go trick-or-treating, wear costumes, put up decorations, etc. Daniel and his friends did not feel “left out” of activities. Rather, they took a stand for God and were not wishy-washy. Instead of participating in Halloween activities, we can get together with other children in the church and do something fun together.
• How parents can help. Parents can ask teachers for alternative projects (maybe a fall scene or fall leaves) and request that their children be excused from all Halloween activities. Since young children may have difficulty explaining to a teacher or peer why their family does not celebrate Halloween, parents can help by writing a note to the teacher or speaking to the teacher in person about why the family does not celebrate Halloween. Parents can also help the children to respond to questions from other people. Friends from school might ask, “What are you going to be dressed as for Halloween?” “Are you going to the Halloween party?” Children can give a simple answer, such as saying, “My family does not celebrate Halloween. It has a lot of dark and evil things and it’s scary.”
• We can help the children not to be afraid because we have God with us. We should stay away from Halloween and other evil things, but sometimes, the children cannot help seeing scary decorations and advertisements in the streets. We can remind the children that we believe in the true God, the Creator of the universe, and He is always with us. Since we have God, and are people of God, we do not need to be afraid.
• We should not judge others. The Bible tells us: Do not judge, that you be not judged (Matthew 7:1). While we may choose not to celebrate Halloween, we should not judge others—including other Christians—who participate. The Lord gives us a free will to make a choice. We should not judge others, but we can pray for one another to choose the Lord.
Adapted from the Church in New York City’s Children’s Meeting lessons: 10/15/06; 10/14/07; 10/19/08; 10/4/09; 10/17/10; 10/9/11; 10/14/12; 10/20/13; 10/12/14; 10/18/15
APPENDIX
THE HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN
Note to Serving ones and Parents: This Appendix provides a more detailed history of Halloween. It is intended mainly for the serving saints and parents, and should not be covered in its entirety with young children. We should be careful not to unnecessarily stir their imaginations. Some portions, however, may be suitable to share with the children. Please pray and fellowship over what to cover and how much to cover, depending on the age group of the children.
I. THE SOURCE OF HALLOWEEN
A group of people from a long time ago, the ancient Celts (residing in England, Ireland, and Scotland) began their calendar year on November 1. In addition to being the start of the new year, the date also marked the beginning of winter for them. It was also the time of harvest—crops were reaped and stored, and animals brought in from pasture to be settled down for winter. They believed that on this day only were the souls of those who had died during the year “admitted” into the otherworld (a place for the dead). They believed that demons, witches, and fairies joined the wandering souls. The Celts did not believe in the Lord Jesus and therefore believed in a lot of things from evil imaginations and superstitions. The date was celebrated with a feast—the biggest and most important holiday of the year. It was called Samhain (pronounced Sah-weenˊ).
Some of the festivities of the holiday included animal sacrifices, offering fruits and vegetables to dead people, and lighting bonfires. The Celts practiced such things because they were afraid of evil spirits.
Druids, who were the priests of the Celts, would disguise themselves by wearing costumes made of animal heads and skins so that the spirits would think the Druids belonged to their own company and thus would not harm them. The Druids were generally recognized by authors of the time (including Julius Caesar of the conquering Romans) to be very cruel and addicted to magical practices and divination. They were enormously powerful and exercised great influence over the Celtic people. They no doubt led the people to practice many evil things.
II. TRANSITION: SAMHAIN “CHRISTIANIZED”
In AD 300-400, missionaries supported by the Roman Catholic Church converted the land to Christianity. The Catholic missionaries tried to change the godless practices of the Celtic people and to blot out holidays such as Samhain. In AD 601, Pope Gregory I enacted an official policy: Don’t try to stop the people’s practices, instead put them to use, e.g., if a tree were worshipped as an idol, it would no longer be cut down; it would be consecrated to Christ and its worship allowed to continue. Catholic missionaries practiced this very successful principle of “Christianization” as new lands were conquered; holy days were purposely moved or set to coincide with native pagan holidays. (Pagan means relating to the worship of false gods.) For example, the birth of Christ was designated as December 25 to correspond with pagan celebrations around that time of year.
Samhain itself was “Christianized” when an existing Catholic holy day, a festival of the saints, was moved to November 1. It was declared All Saints’ Day to honor dead saints. The pagan practices, however, continued and eventually it was realized that this holy day wasn’t an appropriate substitute for Samhain. Consequently, November 2 was “made” All Souls’ Day. On this day the souls of the dead, especially those who had died during that year, were honored and prayed for. This much more closely matched the intent of Samhain. Nonetheless, the pagan practices remained. The celebrating began on the sundown prior to November 1. October 31 was called “All Hallows Eve” or, “eve of all the holy ones’ day.” Hence the name Halloween. People still believed that on this night the souls of the dead wandered, along with the demons, witches, and fairies. Gifts of food were set out to appease them. As time went on people began to wear costumes, depicting themselves as these creatures. They performed tricks or pranks in exchange for the food and drink offerings.
III. CURRENT PRACTICES
The following activities remain as the most popular part of the Halloween celebration, but they are all from an evil source.
1. Trick-or-Treating: This practice has its direct roots in Samhain when people played tricks to earn food meant for wandering souls. The concept has developed over the centuries. In the late 19th century there was an Irish belief that fairies played pranks on Halloween. The fairies supposedly influenced youths to carry out practical jokes on that night, e.g., putting a buggy on a roof, overturning small buildings, and breaking windows. In the 20th century, this developed into the practice of “trick-or-treating.” In the present day, groups of youths roam our streets damaging property and sometimes menacing people. Also, in recent years many children have been “tricked” into partaking of deadly poisons and other harmful things that were placed in candies and treats distributed by wicked people.
2. Costumes: This custom is also directly related to the ancient holiday of Samhain and to the practices of the evil Druids. To this day, costumes of witches, ghosts, and skeletons are still very popular. We must, however, realize that the donning of even the most innocent costume is still directly associated with Samhain.
3. Jack-o-Lanterns: According to an Irish legend, the jack-o-lantern was named for a man called Jack who supposedly could not enter heaven because he was a miser. He could not enter hell because he had played jokes on the devil. As a result, Jack had to walk the earth with his lantern—lit with a coal from hell given to him by the devil—until Judgment Day. In America, pumpkins replaced turnips (used in ancient Ireland) as lanterns.
References:
Encyclopedia American, International Edition. 1994. Vol. 13, pp. 725-726.
Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. 1981. Edited by James Hastings. Vol. 5, pp. 82-89.
Halloween, All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day: October 31-November 2. The Folklore of American Holidays, 1st edition.
Halloween: An American Holiday, An American History. 1990. By Lesley Pratt Bannatyne.
Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life. 1994. Edited by Jack Santino.
Night of the Wandering Souls. By Jack Santino. Natural History, Oct. 1983.
The World Book Encyclopedia. 1990. Vol. 1, p. 370.
Time Magazine. Religion section, circa 1990.
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