We Christians have an uneasy relationship with Halloween. Most of us have fond memories of Trick or Treating as children. Then about 30 years ago, many pastors and parents began to back away from the observance of the holiday.

That reaction against Halloween came as Satanism and Wicca became more popular. Rock groups in the 70’s and 80’s began openly worshipping Satan and the demonic element of Halloween suddenly seemed too much for Christians to participate in.

This same period gave rise to Rock and Roll seminars as evangelists traveled from church to church playing records backwards and warning against the subliminal demonic messages in the songs. (By way of personal observation, contemporary rap music played forward is far more destructive than anything Zed Zeppelin ever produced backward or forward.)

For Christian parents, the retreat from Halloween was a Catch 22 guilt trip. If we allowed our children to Trick or Treat, we feared we were desensitizing them to evil ideas and entities. If we didn’t allow them to participate, we felt we were depriving them of fun that all of their friends were enjoying and they would thus develop a complex and rebel.

While most Christian parents are aware of their ambivalent guilt feelings, most are not aware of the true history of Halloween. Here’s a short version: The early days of Christianity saw thousands of believers martyred for their faith. They were thrown to the lions in the Roman Coliseum. They were burned at the stake, tortured, crucified, and even forced to freeze to death on frozen lakes.

In 610 A.D., the church designated a holiday to honor these brave Christians. It was called All Saints Day. All Saint’s Day was also called All Hallows Day. The night before was supposed to be a time of cleansing, prayer, and preparation for the holiday. All Hallows Eve eventually was pronounced Halloween.

Originally the day was May 13, but in the eighth century it was moved to November 1 to compete with a pagan ceremony of the Druids and Celts called Samhain. Samhain was the celebration of the dead.

In the succeeding 12 centuries, the holy and pagan roots of Halloween have been alternately emphasized. At times it seemed the pagans had taken it over, at other times, it seemed the church had stamped out the demonic element of the celebration.

My point is that Christians do not need to be the least bit apologetic about celebrating Halloween. Certainly we should refrain from dark costumes and symbols that celebrate the dead, but there are countless ways to make the holiday fun for children and adults alike.

One such example is Cornerstone Church’s Hallelujah Party at the Grove Civic Center. For 20 years, Cornerstone has offered a safe and fun alternative for children of all ages. Pastor Bill Lay and his congregation have done a wonderful job serving our community in this way.

If you’d like more information on this topic, I recommend a Focus On The Family book entitled Redeeming Halloween, Celebrating Without Selling Out.

Victimization has been a growing movement in America for decades. It probably began with Freud and Jung in the 19th century but the idea has now caught on and gone main stream.

The number one song in country music right now is a victim song entitled Because of You. In part, the lyrics say, “because of you I never strayed too far from the sidewalk, because of you I find it hard to trust not only me but everyone around me, because of you.”

The message is clear; all of my problems are someone else’s fault. All of my failures and sins would not exist had I not been victimized by someone else.

But when the message of victimization is actually understood, the glaring fallacy is clear; no one is ultimately responsible for anything. The person who abused me was himself, or herself, abused. So my abuser is really not responsible for his actions. The person who abused him was also abused and so forth. Once the blame game begins, it has no end.

The result of a victimized society is no one taking responsibility for his actions and the morality of right and wrong is blurred until it hardly exists at all.

It has become almost required today that every criminal convicted of a crime parades his abused childhood before the judge and jury as justification for his evil actions. Drug addicts blame their behavior on others and the cycle never stops.

All of us have been abused. Every single living being on this planet has been taken advantage of, or mistreated in some way. It’s part of living in this sinful world. Sinners sin and we should not be surprised. So yes, it’s true, we are all victims.

But is that an excuse to justify our shortcomings, sins, inadequacies, and weak character? God’s answer is no.

The Bible clearly teaches that each of us is responsible for our own actions. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10).”

None of us will be able to play the blame game when we stand before the One who knows all things.

Hope for the victimized is not found in playing the blame game. That’s a downward spiral that ends only in disillusionment and misery. Hope for the victim is found in the good news that “the old has gone, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17)!”

All of us need to leave the past behind. All of us need to embrace regeneration that only Christ can provide. All of us need to say no to victimization and yes to new life in Christ.