As we come to another Halloween, I want to make some observations.
I have never really liked Halloween, even as a kid (the abundance of candy notwithstanding), but we go along with the traditions of passing out candy to “Trick or Treaters” and putting up fall decorations. And as for the fun costumes of hobo’s (that was my “go-to” costume as a kid), sports figures and princesses, I have no problem. But when you start getting into some of the darker costumes and themes, I take a pause.
I can remember being horrified by some neighbors Halloween displays that included bloody scenes and dead babies, beheadings and the like. These are things that I believe are wrong for Halloween.
And I can say with zero hesitancy, these are things that are wrong with the brutal butchery by Hamas in the Holy Land and supported by their supporters all over the world! There is absolutely no justification for the types of things we have seen from Hamas in their October 7th “uprising”. None. I know life in Israel for Palestinians is not perfect, but there is no way it is so bad that murdering babies and old women is a just response! It wouldn’t even have been justified to do that to the Germans in World War II! I know that bombs do pretty much the same kind of killing, but there is a fundamental moral difference between dropping a bomb on anonymous people and actively murdering a baby in person. The results may be similar, but the action, morally, is quite different.
But then using human beings as shields, as Hamas does, so that they can claim the moral high ground is appalling.
I think that one of the factors in the horror happening in Israel and Gaza (and is even reported in Ukraine) is the normalization of butchery. In video games, movies and websites that promote this, people are becoming numb to the moral degradation. I think some of the more extreme Halloween themes also contribute to this.
We who are followers of Jesus need to stand up to the moral decline all around us. We need to pray for the Holy Land and Ukraine, that peace would come for all people. And we need to pray for our culture and its fascination with darkness and death. This is not what God wants for the world He created!
Peace,
