Halloween Social Imaginery

Image: Diet of the jelly worm bobbing.

No matter which way you cut it, Christians have liberty to use biblically-informed wisdom in making decisions about Halloween based on their convictions.

I have found, as a parent, that year after year, my thoughts on this permeate, grow, and get challenged this time every year. Ideas from Jonathan Pageau, W. David O. Taylor, Paul Anleitner have helped in recent years to grasp Halloween’s imagery from a more philosophical and symbolic perspective. And affectionate uncle Screwtape’s letters reveal themselves to be far closer to non-fiction than fiction.

I want to consider a specific angle in this dialogue about Halloween celebrations. That being, the imagination. Consider this an annual, ongoing, work-in-progress on the topic.

An Ever-Changing Social Imaginery

Charles Taylor defines social imaginary as “the way ordinary people ‘imagine’ their social surroundings.” He goes on, “this is often not expressed in theoretical terms, it is carried in images, stories, legends, etc” (A Secular Age, 171-172). Our imaginations are different from our intellect. C.S. Lewis calls the imagination the “organ of meaning.”

The implications are important: our imaginations and therefore our lives become shaped by the context we find ourselves in. While direct words preach at us, context preaches are our imaginations. For children (and even adults), the symbolism of Halloween becomes attached to certain realities. And those realities were formed via the symbolism and meanings assigned to the symbols throughout life.

Let me illustrate the implications of this. My wife and I know someone who grew up in a Satanic cult. As an adult convert to Christianity, it took this person many years to realize that what other Christians were doing by trick-or-treating did not equate to her childhood experience. She literally could not separate cultural Halloween practices with the grotesque things she she and experienced growing up. But if you were to ask 7-year-old Matt about Halloween’s symbolism, I would have merely said, “I get candy, and I like candy and friends and playing on Halloween.”

By celebrating the Reformation, Halloween imagery symbolizes liberation.

By celebrating Dia de Los Muertes, Halloween imagery might symbolize one’s beloved, deceased and yet living, abuella.

By celebrating trick or treating, Halloween imagery might symbolize nothing more than consumerism.

By celebrating Halloween, some might regard is as idolatry and participation in witchcraft.

What our social surroundings do with it’s Halloween imagery tends to dictate what realities get “painted” in that community’s imaginations.

Scripture & The Spiritual

“Our senses are not infallible…What we learn from experience depends on the kind of philosophy we bring to experience. It is therefore useless to appeal to experience…"

C.S. Lewis, Miracles

Pin pointing where in Scripture to talk about Halloween is a tricky one. It depends on what issues with Halloween one might have. In this post, I’ll address the spiritual realm and spiritual warfare. Are we worshipping demons on Halloween by dressing up? Are we celebrating idols?

It is important to realize a few objective realities at play.

First, Christians have mission and purpose in their lives. We ought not be ignorant of that. Our mission in life is to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:16-20). We are to walk in the good works God has allotted for us since before he created the world (Ephesians 2:10). Showcasing ourselves as light and salt of the world (Matthew 5:13-16; Philippians 2:15). And parents are to train their children (Deuteronomy 6; Psalm 127:3-5). Dad’s especially are supposed to nourish their kids towards maturity (Ephesians 6:4). Just read through Proverbs to see an example of dad-to-child the interactions!

Second, demons, spirits, and a wicked unseen council absolutely exist (Psalm 82; Luke 11:24-26; Ephesians 6:12). But we ought to take comfort because they are all subject to King Jesus (Matthew 28:16-20; Colossians 1:15). Even if they seem to be succeeding, God will ultimately judge them and they’ll die like men (Psalm 82). Still, this unseen realm has authority to operate in the world. While God expects them to govern justly, sin’s reach has impacted their ruling. God originally assigned them to oversee different nations (Deuteronomy 4:19-20; 32:8-9). In 1 Kings 22:19-23, we even see this unseen council discussing and making decisions about who will entice King Ahab. They are shown as an army (Psalm 108:12; Deuteronomy 33:1-5), seen at times subject to God’s commands (Isaiah 40:1-3; Amos 3:10, 13). If you ever read C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, you get a further idea (though fictional) of their tactics.

Third, it is true that the Old Testament is filled with worshipping false gods and animism. Rather than serve and offer their lives to the one true God, his people are often found in service to false gods. Child sacrifice, divination, fortune telling, interpreting omens, casting spells, consulting mediums, and necromancy (consulting the dead), were all practices God’s people would have been tempted by and God condemned against such practices (Leviticus 19:31; Deuteronomy 18:10-12; 1 Samuel 28:9). Such activities were considered abominations by God, punishable by removal from the community.

Does dressing up, receiving candy from strangers, and painting our social imaginery with everything from Elsa to Michael Myers equate these kinds of Old Testament practices? Are our kids participating in Satanic rituals when doing such things? I understand completely the hesitancy we might have and why the topic is so spicy.

Scripture Principles

What then does God expect believers to understand about spiritual warfare and Halloween? Paul, of course, stated that we are not ignorant of Satan’s schemes (2 Corinthians 2:11). What kinds of schemes ought we be on the lookout for then? A few principles to consider:

• Understand the nature of our war: We are absolutely in a spiritual war against rulers, authorities, world powers of this darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens (Ephesians 6:10-18). We are not expected to be at war with each other (Ephesians 6:12). When we fight and do not seek reconciliation, we are at risk of dividing what Christ brought together. We ought to be careful. For the sake of our Halloween convictions and not wanting to be “demonic,” we actually end up letter our emotions entice us to fight with others about those convictions. Thereby, acting demonically inso doing!

• Satan’s end goal would be for the world (Christian and non-Christian) to believe lies, suppressing truth (Romans 1:18). This battlefield is experienced cognitively against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:1-6), with temptations to believe lies (James 4:7). When we allow our feelings to govern truth, Satan is whispering in the background.

• Our fleshly desires for sin ought to be crucified (Galatians 5:16-24). When we don’t fight our flesh, we remove Jesus from his throne.

• We face attacks in such a way: truth, righteousness, gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the Spirit, God’s word (Ephesians 6:14-17). These are everyday, never-ending-in-this-life occurrences, not just one hour a year trick or treating. Not arming yourself with this outfit of protection makes Satan’s attacks easier. Don’t fight so heavily for the sake of one hour a year and bypass the other 8759 hours a year.

• Do not let the imagery fool you. I can imagine Satan saying something like, “Let them decorate with these images representing us. It’ll cause all kinds of confusion about our existence. They will get to the point where they’ll entertain the decorations and believe we are just pretend. We’ll mask our true existence behind such a lie!”

So, I guess my question remains for myself, whatever I decide to do on Halloween, what does shaping my kid’s imaginations look like given these verses? I think my greatest “daddy fear” would be that Satan would deceive my kids (2 Corinthians 11:1-6).

Crafting a Halloween Social Imaginery

Halloween is a Mutt Holiday: Whose traditions do we react to? In my ever sharpening thoughts, I feel like I get to assign the imagery to whatever symbol I want to as a dad for my kids. I get to prepare them for the onslaught of other people’s influences they will encounter. I recognize the power of the larger culture that will work for or against their imagination battle-ground. Given this, here’s my best efforts to “connect the dots” of the symbolism my kids see (rather than a checklist of “do this” and “don’t do this”):

• God gave us imaginations to steward and nurture.

• We love life, not death.

• We create over consume.

• We believe truth, not lies.

• Skull & death imagery can help us remember that it is wise to think about our last days (Psalm 39:4-6, 90:12; Ecclesiastes 7:4).

• Culturally, Halloween means different things to different people. And we want to respect the various reasonings and convictions others have. Love helps us do this.

• Demons are real. This is not a game.

• Those Halloween decorations might not literally be real (beyond the batteries, paint, and fabric), but they symbolize real things.

Takeaway questions

This was written largely for myself. Rather than concluding with a here’s-what-you-should-now-do thought for myself, a few questions would serve me more (regardless of what you choose to do this halloween):

1. What truths can I focus on and highlight from [this practice] for myself and our family?

2. How can we display love for our neighbors today?

Pumpkin Art

Since the kids were little, we’ve enjoyed carving pumpkins, a longtime tradition in my own family. Every year, we get to take raw creation and fashion it into something beautiful.

Mario, 2024

Enjoy our family’s pumpkins since 2019:

A Blind Woman’s 9,000 Hymns

What’s holding you back from trying to express yourself creatively?

Van Gogh’s Brokenness: What We All Get Wrong About His Famous Ear Incident

I am looking forward to reading Russ Ramsey’s latest book, “Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart.” Pastor Ramsey has been making the rounds with interviews to promote the book, a promising follow up to his Rembrandt is in the Wind book. During his interview with Stephen Roach (Makers & Mystics), he had something potent to say about Van Gogh’s famous ear-cutting-off story.

Ramsey says that if you ask someone on the street, “what can you tell me about Vincent Van Gogh,” they’ll tell you 2 things:

1. He painted Starry Night.

2. He cut off his ear.

He calls these answers unfortunate because, he says, “the episode of him cutting off his ear was the lowest point in his entire life. It was a moment of incredible shame, incredible brokenness and fear. He was a terrified, broken, hurting person when that happened. And it becomes something people joke about.”

He says Scripture is filled with people who “are known by the things dragging them down.”

So, what does this painting have to teach us about our own brokenness?

Self Portrait With Bandaged Ear

Van Gogh painted numerous self portraits during his lifetime. Ramsey indicates he painted this days after cutting off his ear while he resided in an asylum hospital. It is a painting of “him telling the truth about how broken, desperate, needy and wounded he is.”

Ramsey applauds Van Gogh’s courage and honesty in painting such a portrait. I find Ramsey’s take away helpful for my own life. He says, “I want to be like that in the sense that I want to be somebody who is willing to let the wounded side of me be seen.”

For these reasons, Ramsey has this painting on the wall of his offices to remind him of the kind of pastor he wants to be and the kind of people he wants his church to be.

Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear

Vincent Van Gogh, 1889.

2 Perspectives on Gifts

As a child, whether it be for Christmas or my birthday, I would have relished in my parents taking video of my gifts, themselves. What a wonderful feeling to revisit the joy and surprise at a later point in time.

During one of my kid’s birthdays recently, I found myself taking video, not of the gifts themselves, but the process of my child opening the gifts. I remember my mom loving that too when we were kids. I loved watching one of my other kids show their sibling the gift they created.

Gifts can come in many shapes, sizes, and particulars.

Sola God

I call Psalm 73 the, “I want what they have!” Psalm.

Worship leader, Asaph, battles envy in the first half of the Psalm. He watched “worldly” folk seemingly get ahead in life while those who followed God seemed to…well…not.

It wasn’t until he reflected on God’s judgment that he could attune his heart once again to his Lord.

As he finds his footing, he pens one of his most favored verses,

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 73:25-26

My friend Joel wrote this beautiful song based on this verse. In seasons of ache, songs like this bring the stillness I feel this Psalm warrants.

Heart Play

“The gods of Greece and Rome may be worshipped well enough with classical music, but Jehovah can only be adored with the heart, and that music is the best for his service which gives the heart most play.”

 C. H. Spurgeon, Psalm 81:1

A New Apologetic

Recently, I sat with a group of people at a restaurant.

After much enjoyable conversation, one man pointed out how shocking it was that none of us were on our phones. He was surprised we all (there were about 8 of us) valued our dialogue over anything else.

My friend then shared the gospel with him.

Might this be a new apologetic, a purple cow, going into 2025?

4 Ways We Interface with Politics

My brother used to be afraid of monsters.

The monster may not have been real,

but my brother’s fear was very real.

Jack Pearson, This Is Us

This post is not so much about politics.

It is more about how we interface with politics.

My aim is not to debate, get us in a frenzy, or stir up commotion. My heart is to frame this season with some love-your-neighbor concepts.

I tend to see four ways we respond to whatever the political season is.

Consequences & Emotions

Whenever election season comes, we see the full panorama of consequences and emotions displayed. Sometimes, the consequences are real. Sometimes, they are imagined. We find legacy media interviewing people genuinely optimistic as well as terrified.

The way I see it, people tend to fall into one of four categories during election seasons.

Hopeful

The hopefuls are those who are not entirely sure, but envision a blessed future because they see their preferred candidate winning. This might also be the person who has a more positive outlook without feeling the need to even vote.

Pragmatic

Perhaps just as optimistic, the pragmatist is hopeful, yes, but their hope comes from experience. They can read the winds of time and make connections to another day that was similar to this one. They feel they have a little bit of “proof” for their hopefulness. “The data is in…this will work if _________ wins” they might say.

Suspicious

Those who feel suspect during this season may imagine the worst possible outcomes and therefore lack any sort of trust in specific candidates.

Pessimistic

The pessimist has a little more reason to be suspicious. Their doubts are based in experience. I once knew someone who lost their home due to a previous candidate’s policies. Based on what they know, their expectations are low for specific candidates.

Love Your Neighbor

Of course, we often do not even fit perfectly into just one of these categories. Depending on the day, it is more likely that you are a certain blend of them all! The American experience is made up of vastly different people who each have their own context and set of values. While one candidate’s words and actions symbolize comfort to one person in Montana, those same words and actions symbolize violence in California.

If you are an artist or any kind of maker and you care about someone in any of these spaces, consider joining us for our October “Love Your Neighbor” art challenge on The Yellow Ochre Team Patreon page.

The Need 60 Years Ago

In 1962, Calvin Seerveld exhorted college students with these words:

“If there is anything the Christian community needs it is leaders, scholars, trained artists and writers who, because they virtually live out of the hand of our heavenly Father daily, stay close to the uneducated followers and untrained readers doing the same, living out of the Scriptures.”

Calvin Seerveld, A Christian Critique of Art and Literature, 17

Needing a New Environment

Typically, plants will only grow within the context they’re in. If their pot is small, they will be small. If the pot is large, then they will be large.

Their roots can only extend as far as their context allows.

People are more like aloe plants though. We need space to stretch. We need new spaces and new pots to accommodate our growth. Like crabs, we must find new shells, new environments, for our angsts and movement.

This is one reason I launched The Yellow Ochre Team. If you are an artist, looking to stretch those artistic muscles within a community of other mission-minded artists, join The Yellow Ochre Team today.

Join the Yellow Ochre Team

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4 more days until I launch my Patreon community. I'm calling it "The Yellow Ochre Team." If you are a Christian and a "creative" who wants to discover how to use your artistry for the mission of God, this is the community for you.