In the 1990s, evangelicals Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins rose to prominence with their novel series Left Behind. Any churchgoer is likely to have a copy of at least one of the books in this series. Churches almost always have copies of them. You can certainly find a copy, or many, at your local thrift store. If you are lucky enough to have no familiarity with these books, they portray the evangelical interpretation of the end times.

Firstly, let me give you a brief summary of what such fundamentalists believe. One day, out of nowhere, Jesus is going to appear in the sky. Suddenly, members of the church will start floating towards him. They will enter into Heaven with him. Meanwhile, all hell will break loose on earth. The nonbelievers will go to war, one of them rising to global dominance as the antichrist, and anarchy will fill the streets. All the events described in the book of Revelation will lead to human extinction and later, the casting of impure souls into a lake of fire.

Of course, as you may notice, I am highly critical of this concept. Here is a summary by a prominent evangelical in the United States:

“… the Rapture is an event where all who have put their trust in Christ, living and deceased, will suddenly be caught up from the earth, be joined with Christ in the air, and taken to heaven.”¹

Is the rapture biblical?

Despite what wholly devoted evangelicals proclaim, the rapture is not a biblical doctrine. We will start by looking at the terminology. Like hell, the rapture appears nowhere in the Bible. The term comes from the Latin word rapio, which Latin-Dictionary.net defines as “destroy, drag off, hurry, pillage, seize, or snatch.” The passage fundamentalists use to proclaim the indelible truth of the rapture is as follows:

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a rousing cry, with a call from one of the ruling angels, and with God’s shofar; those who died united with the Messiah will be the first to rise; then we who are left still alive will be caught up [rapio] with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will always be with the Lord. So encourage each other with these words. (1 Thess. 4:16-18, CJB)

Now, to begin with, fundamentalists cannot comprehend the heavy use of symbolism in the Bible. They believe every word, even when translated into English, is literal. Attempting to explain metaphor in the Bible to a fundamentalist is akin to trying to teach astrophysics to a first grader. They simply cannot wrap their minds around it, and refuse to have it any other way.

N.T. Wright, a popular biblical theologian, explains the message Paul is attempting to convey in the passage. He identifies three things Paul echoes in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18: the story of Moses descending Mount Sinai with the Law (Ex. 34:29-35), the vindication of saints and their rising to glory with God (Daniel 7), and imagery of an emperor visiting a village, where the townsfolk gather to meet him. Even after explaining this to the fundamentalists, they will still play defensive and imply that the imagery is to conjure up ideas of the rapture.

If you have ever attended a fundamentalist church, you know well that they love word play. “There are three C’s of salvation!” “The three R’s of redemption!” Well, here is a case where word play bites the fundamentalist. They believe Paul is advocating for [R]apture, when in fact, he is arguing for [R]esurrection. Paul writes to encourage the saints who God will vindicate that as Christ was resurrected, so will he resurrect them.² Paul is attempting to console his audience that those who die in Christ will be raised in Christ. The distortion fundamentalists make is that Christ is simply going to snatch believers, alive or dead, and take them to heaven.

The “Rapture” in Matthew 24

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 is the favorite “rapture” verse of fundamentalists. When one debunks their misinterpretation of Paul’s letter, they turn to Matthew 24:39-42. In this verse, Jesus claims the following:

“Then there will be two men in a field — one will be taken and the other left behind. There will be two women grinding flour at the mill — one will be taken and the other left behind.” (Matt. 24:40-41).

Here is a case where fundamentalists jump to conclusions. This is a case where they do not stop to think through what is going on. Most significantly, they do not examine the context of the verse they cite. Verses 40-41 are right in the middle of one line of thought. Verse 37 introduces Jesus’ message, that when the son of man comes, it will be like the days of Noah. People were eating and drinking when the flood came out of nowhere and “swept them all away.” So who is left behind?

Fundamentalists immediately use this verse to teach rapture theology. They argue that the one God takes away is righteous, being caught up in the clouds with God. Only, this ignores what Jesus starts the conversation with. As Wright shows, “’taken,’ in this context means being taken in judgment.”³ For a group bent on literalistic interpretations of every word in the Bible, it bewilders me that they cannot grasp context. Jesus’ message is literally right there in front of them. This verse in Matthew has much to do about Jesus’ second coming, but absolutely nothing to do with the mythical “rapture.”

So, how did we get here?

Examine the New Testament and you will find nothing about the rapture. Consult ancient Christian literature and you will find nothing about the rapture. Turn to Christian writings from one thousand, or even five hundred, years ago and you will find no mention of the rapture. This off-the-walls concept is practically brand new. There is zero history of rapture theology… until the nineteenth century.

Rapture theology, as Americanized as it has become, actually originated in Britain. A man by the name of James Nelson Darby started this unquenchable fundamentalist movement. The idea of Jesus returning to earth was not new, however; what Darby introduced was the idea that Jesus would return twice.⁴ According to Darby, Christ will return once secretly to snatch churchgoers and take them to Heaven, then again to establish his kingdom on earth after the tribulation.⁵

Darby traveled to the United States where rapture theology caught fire. Furthermore, he created a new theological system known as Dispensationalism. For the sake of space, I will not give full treatment to this belief. What I want to highlight is that it invigorates rapture theology. A proud dispensationalist who lacked theological training wrote The Scofield Reference Bible.⁶ This is the first “Bible” to address the rapture. Ironically, despite being a “reference Bible,” it was written by someone who had no theological education. And fundamentalists are okay with that.

Conclusion

Friends, the rapture is not real. It is not going to happen. Fundamentalists like to believe that they are special and will not face the wrath of God. This pseudotheology consoles them. Like believing in the unbiblical concept of hell, it allows them to assume a “holier-than-thou” attitude. Because they are so special, they are going to enter heaven while all us non-churchgoers suffer and die in Armageddon. Before God casts us into the lake of fire, of course.

By far the gravest implication of rapture theology is that it promotes complacency. Fundamentalists are so enchanted by the rapture that they believe they will not face any repercussions when the end comes… Because it is coming, they say! Soon! If the world is going to end next week, why care about the environment? Why fight world hunger? Why put an end to all the wars going on? They do not need to worry about these things, only their enemies, the nonbelievers!

Again, as I have discussed in each of these Halloween posts, Christians resent horror. If you watch Halloween or Friday the 13^th, you are a no-good sinner who is going to face supreme suffering. The only way horror can be redeemable is if you use it to advance a theological message that Christians are better than everyone else. Everyone else will be left behind to suffer in misery for seven years, then have their souls tormented for eternity. And yet, horror movies are bad? I have questions.

Happy Halloween, everyone. Do not let the church ruin your festivities. Have fun. Be safe. Remember, you are not going to hell. You will not be left behind. The fundamentalists want you to turn or burn. It’s too bad the Bible does not promote this ill-fated lie.

1. David Jeremiah, “What is the Rapture?,” The David Jeremiah Blog, https://davidjeremiah.blog/what-is-the-rapture/

2. Barbara R. Rossing, The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation. New York: Basic Books, 2007. Accessed October 31, 2023. ProQuest Ebook Central, 175. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/reader.action?docID=879536#

3. Wright, Jesus Victory of God V2: Christian Origins and the Question of God. Minneapolis: 1517 Media, 1997, 366.

4. Barbara R. Rossing, 22

5. Ibid.

6. Erik Reed, “Is the Rapture Taught in the Bible?,” Knowing Jesus Ministries, 2022, https://www.knowingjesusministries.co/articles/is-the-rapture-taught-in-the-bible/

Halloween, for most cultures, is a day of celebration. As I have mentioned before, it is a day of celebrating life rather than death. Preachers love to twist this philosophy. It truly bothers me that they baselessly condemn non-Christians for celebrating death yet devote entire sermons to arguing such individuals will face unfathomable torture. Fire? Demons? Eternal separation from God? This, to me, sounds far more wicked than The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Why is the church so infatuated with their opponents facing such unendurable pain and misery? Does the Bible support this?

To the last question, I would like to answer that it depends upon the translation. First, we all know that English is far different from Greek or Hebrew. Words do not simply translate over to our language and convey the same meaning. For instance, to use a popular talking point from the church, there are seven Greek words, or variations, for “love.” All seven words translate to mere “love” in English. Likewise, when translating Greek or Hebrew to English, sentence structures change. Verb usage changes. Translating the ancient languages in which the Bible is written is not as simple as copying and pasting to Google Translate. These languages are quite delicate.

There are four words that translate to “hell” in our modern English Bibles. These are: sheol (Hebrew), Gehenna, Hades, and Tartarus (Greek). With the advent of the King James Version, the most prominent and revolutionary translation of the Bible in the history of English, these four words were translated into one: hell. The “doctrine” of hell rose to prominence beginning with the KJV publication in 1611. Quickly, the Old and New Testaments, as well as church doctrines, began to focus on Heaven’s antithesis. A place where the streets are not paved with gold, but blood, fire, and brimstone. Let us explore what each of these four words really mean.

Sheol

Sheol is a bit of a complicated word to grasp nowadays. We owe this, in large part, to evangelical Christians of the past five centuries who cut the word to fit their conceptualization of hell. Some scholars from the early twentieth century believe sheol comes from a word meaning “hollow.”¹ More recent scholars argue that the word means “grave” or “pit,” while still others believe it is synonymous with “underworld.”² Given the contexts of the term’s usage in the prophets (especially Ezekiel and Isaiah) as well as Job, sheol is closer to, if not synonymous with, “grave.” Job especially gives us a vivid picture, describing sheol as a pit of dust and worms. Consider the following passage from Job:

One person dies in his full strength,
completely at ease and content;
his pails are full of milk,
and the marrow in his bones is moist.
Another dies with embittered heart,
never having tasted happiness.
They lie down alike in the dust,
and the worm covers them both. (Job 21:23-16)

Good or bad, everyone goes to sheol according to Job. But Job is not alone; the patriarch Jacob even considers that he will enter sheol upon his passing (Gen. 37:35; 44:29). Both the CJB and NIV correctly translate sheol to “grave.” My favorite psalm, Psalm 88, refers to sheol as a pit or grave five times (88:4, 5, 7, 6, 12). So now that we know what sheol is, who goes there?

It goes without saying that the wicked descend to sheol after death. But so do the righteous. Both Jacob and Job are biblical characters we would consider righteous, and yet they acknowledge that they will enter the “grave.” Hezekiah, one of Judah’s “good kings” who enacted sweeping reforms for the sole worship of Yahweh, admits he will face the same fate (Isa. 38:10).³ The Psalms beg that the wicked “return to” or “be silenced” in sheol (Ps. 9:18; 31:18). Many evangelicals, at least those familiar with the Old Testament, may refer to Proverbs 15:24, which states, “For the prudent, the path of life goes upward; thus he avoids Sh’ol below.” However, this verse does not speak of the afterlife, merely living a righteous live will be an upward life.⁴

Finally, a quick note on “eternal separation” from God in Sheol. As a homeschooled churchgoer, I was dually informed that the worst punishment of hell is being separate from God. Whether hell is a fiery pit or pure darkness, detachment from God is the most severe punishment. And yet, one psalmist declares, “If I climb up to heaven, you are there; if I lie down in Sh’ol, you are there” (Psalm 139:8, attributed to David). In the Old Testament, eternal separation from God is nonexistent.

Gehenna, Hades, and Tartarus

Let us start with Gehenna. Jesus uses this term in the Sermon on the Mount, which also translates to hell (Matt. 5:22, 29-30). The foolish who allow their eyes or hands to deceive them will be cast down into Gehenna. So, what is Gehenna? Gehenna is symbolic. Of course, fundamentalists do not understand the overwhelmingly symbolic nature of the Bible and treat every word literally. Gehenna is essentially a dumping ground for the dead, located just outside of Jerusalem.⁵ In ancient Greek, Roman, and Jewish cultures, the worst punishment one could receive is an improper burial.⁶ Jesus acknowledges this, declaring that corpses of the sinful will be lumped together in a pit.

As Jesus witnessed to people from a variety of cultures, he did not use only Jewish imagery to evoke his message. In some instances, he turned to Greek interpretations of realms of the dead. Seemingly synonymous with Gehenna, Jesus frequently referred to Hades. For those familiar with Greek mythology, you know that Hades is the god of death. He is also regarded as the king of the underworld, and his name has since become synonymous with the place. Jesus refers to Hades, often translated “hell” in English, in Matthew 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10:15; and 16:23. In the Bible, Hades never associates with Satan and his minions torturing lost souls. Instead, it is identified as either the grave (Sheol) or simply, as in Greek culture, the realm of the dead. Some consider it an intermediate state, common to sheol.

Finally, there is Tartarus. In ancient Greece, Tartarus is “originally a place to imprison those who posed a threat to the rule of the Olympians, later [becoming] a place of punishment for those who had committed serious crimes.”⁷ The only occurrences of Tartarus in the New Testament are 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6. It describes a place where fallen angels face punishment.⁸ And, of course, 2 Peter and Jude are two books of the New Testament that barely made it into the biblical canon.

Conclusion

With the rise of evangelicalism, the flames of their make-believe hell rose. Despite what fundamentalists will wholeheartedly profess, hell is not a biblical doctrine. It is, like many other Christian doctrines, an invention of the church. It is a scare tactic. “Believe what we say, or you will suffer for eternity!” Critics of these schools of thought, including myself, identify this twisted strategy as “turn or burn” evangelism. And it is used as a protruding stratagem this time of the year.

Christians despise horror. They despise Halloween. Watching a horror film is equivalent to participating in the villainous plots of such movies. And yet, they invented an entire doctrine of eternal torment. And they use this false doctrine to judge and condemn those who reject their message. Hell is not real; it is a figment of the evangelical’s imagination. To those celebrating Halloween, fear not the turn or burn messages. The “religion of love” is wrong. The “Scripture of love” is correct. Your loved ones who do not share your beliefs are not burning.

1. Fred B. Pearson, “Sheol and Hades in the Old and New Testament,” Review and Expositor 35, no. 3 (1938): 304, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/003463733803500304?journalCode=raeb

2. Bar, Shaul. “grave Matters: Sheol in the Hebrew Bible.” The Jewish Bible Quarterly 43, no. 3 (2015): 145, https://web.s.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=2bfc2708-6c0b-43cd-aca9-2f5fd6a4b655%40redis

3. Ibid., 138.

4. Ibid., 149-150.

5. Bart D. Ehrman, “What Jesus Really Said About Heaven and Hell,” Time, 2020, https://time.com/5822598/jesus-really-said-heaven-hell/

6. Ibid.

7. Michael A. Peters, “Hell as Education: From Place to State of being? Hell, Hades, Tartarus, Gehinnom.” Educational Philosophy and Theory 53, no. 4 (2021): 320. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2019.1675470

8. “What is Tartarus?” Don Stewart, Blue Letter Bible, https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_167.cfm

Many friends I grew up with were not allowed to celebrate Halloween at all. For such unfortunate individuals, they were told something along the lines of Halloween being the devil’s birthday. I was led to believe that it was initially a Christian holiday that became secularized. In recent years, I have found that there is truth in the opposite. Despite this, I still always enjoyed Halloween, even with a distorted perspective. Trick-or-treating. Hayrides. Carving pumpkins. Dressing up as something new each year. It always brought a sense of excitement as soon as the leaves began to change colors.

Christianity and Halloween: A Love-Hate Relationship

Christianity and Halloween have a bit of a complicated relationship, especially in the current age. Churches never celebrate Halloween, and yet they inadvertently do. Each church we attended when I was growing up held fall festivals, which is the term for Christian Halloween celebrations. I still get a kick out of the last church our family attended, the church where I initially became furious at what Christianity has become. Their fall festival (which always fell on, or the week as, Halloween) was called the “Hallelujah Ho Down.” I mean, what? If you didn’t know before, I am from the American south. The title of this event alone ought to tell you.

Anyways, the love-hate relationship Christianity and Halloween hold has always intrigued me. My understanding, from growing up in a Christian home, was that October 31 was initally the celebration of All Hallow’s Eve. This is where we get the name Halloween; but bear with me, it appears Christianity could only claim the name of this popular holiday. Nothing else. All Hallow’s Eve precedes All Saints’ Day, which falls on November 1 and precedes All Souls Day on November 2. These three days make up the three-day Roman Catholic holiday of Hallowtide.¹ This holiday originated in the seventh century CE as a way to honor martyred saints. But this is not where our contemporary Halloween has its roots.

Reformation Day and Protestantism

Before moving to the historical origins of Halloween, I would like to note even further the view instilled in me as a child. Catholicism and Protestantism are at complete odds and have been for hundreds of years. As you may know, I grew up in an evangelical Protestant home. As such, my family would never celebrate a Catholic holiday. And here is where Protestantism attempts to also claim the day as its own. I was brought up to accept Halloween, or All Hallow’s Eve, as Reformation Day. This day, of course, celebrates in observance of Martin Luther’s nailing the Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Catholic church and the birth of Protestantism on October 31, 1517.

Even now as I write this, Reformation Day honestly excites me. Not because it was an attempt to claim an already Christianized holiday, but because of Martin Luther. Indeed, the first time I studied Martin Luther was when our family attended the “Hallelujah Ho Down-Hillbilly Throwdown” church. By that point, as a freshman in high school, I was beginning to see why I am at odds with the church. And Martin Luther absolutely fascinated me for having the gall to condemn the church of his day. I only wish he could do the same with the contemporary Protestant church. As I progressed in my study of theology, I came to find Luther was, well, a sick individual in many ways (e.g., many of his writings promote antisemitism). But to this day, I respect his work in calling out the Catholic church’s innumerable crimes.

So, on October 31, what do Christians celebrate? Whether it is All Hallow’s Eve or Reformation Day, one thing is for certain: Christianity is still trying to claim a holiday that is not theirs. Just as Easter and Christmas were initially pagan holidays, so was Halloween. And the church used one of its best weapons to lay claim to these days: syncretism. Syncretism is not necessarily a bad thing. In its simplest form, it is the act of “blending contradictory beliefs, theology and/or mythology together to come up with something unique and unified.”² But of course, a knife is not necessarily a bad thing either; it depends on how it is used. And the church uses it as a weapon.

Samhain: A Pagan Holiday

Halloween, as we know it, has roots in Paganism. As do Christmas and Easter, the two major Christian holidays. So, where and when did it all begin? Numerous sources, both Christian and secular, trace Halloween’s origins to the Celts.³ And by the way, the sources I am using for this post are not hidden away in a university’s library; they are easily accessible via a simple Google search. The holiday we now celebrate as Halloween can be traced back at least 2,000 years ago as a holiday celebrated by Celtic pagans.⁴

For the Celts, the new year began on November 1. This day marked the end of the summer harvest and the beginning of winter. Furthermore, it was believed that on the evening preceding November 1, “the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred.”⁵ On October 31, the Celts celebrated Samhain (which translates to “summer’s end”). The holiday was celebrated by carving jack-o-lanterns (with turnips, as opposed to pumpkins), wearing scary costumes (to fend off evil spirits), and prominently displaying orange and black (black representing the “death” of summer and orange the arrival of autumn).⁶ As we can see, in and of itself, Samhain was not a day of celebrating the devil, as many evangelicals claim.

But eventually, seeing the joy pagans had in celebrating this peaceful holiday, the church decided it wanted to claim the holiday. Around 43 CE, the Roman Empire conquered much of the land possessed by the Celts.⁷ And within a few centuries, the Roman Catholic church had a chokehold on the Roman Empire. The church wanted to appease pagan-to-Christian converts, thus taking pagan holidays, such as Halloween, and Christianizing them. This also is not necessarily a bad thing. But in America, centuries later, Puritans decried the celebration of Halloween, falsely proclaiming that it is a day in which the pagans worship Satan. Since then, Christians have accused those who celebrate this day of the same, baseless action.

Many evangelicals, to this day, stand firm in their belief that Halloween is inherently evil. They condemn churchgoers who participate for being “unequally yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6:14, KJV). To them, syncretism is an abhorrent sin. To me, and to millions of others, it is a beautiful thing. It is a way for people of different beliefs to come together. One source I have referenced aptly explains that syncretism is a “harmonious blending of beliefs and less conflict about beliefs.”⁸ And yet, once again, evangelicals weaponize syncretism to a sort of “us vs. them” or “holier-than-thou” tactic.

So What do Christian Want with Halloween?

Generally speaking, there are two primary approaches Christians take to Halloween: reject it as a detestable heathen celebration or sterilize it to fit the evangelical method. Granted, as with most issues I discuss on this blog, these are not the only approaches. There are Christians who accept the holiday for what it truly is, but these are a minority, at least in the Bible Belt. I have lightly discussed the former approach, but the real heart of this entry and why I wanted to compose it concerns the attempts to steal Halloween. Going back to what I mentioned at the beginning, Christianity celebrates Halloween without accepting Halloween for what it is.

At least, this is true for the Christianity I knew for most of my life. I mentioned the minimal presence of horror in Christian literature in my last post, and I would like to use a similar argument to further the discussion. One of my favorite Halloween activities is visiting “haunted” attractions. Atlanta is home to Netherworld, one of the best and most popular haunted attractions in North America. Usually, I will visit Netherworld or similar attractions around this time each year. And here is a case where Christians have attempted to cash in on secular Halloween traditions.

My “Hallelujah Ho Down” church was one of many churches today that want to claim Halloween. Each year, the youth group would attend a Christian haunted attraction in Georgia. Yes, a Christian haunted attraction, you read that right. They are real. Judgment Journey, the name of this tour, was a guided tour through the popular yet unbiblical interpretation of the book of Revelation as the end times. Actors walk around with fake blood, claiming their loved ones suddenly vanished (the rapture, nowhere mentioned in the Bible yet vital to Christianity), and, of course, wishing they had accepted Jesus all those years ago. For me, it was a bit of a comedy tour. My favorite part will always be the four horsemen who spoke with astute Southern drawls. For instance, “My name is death! I am the rider of the black horse—I will kill yewwwww.”

As humorous as the tours were, the ending always provided the greatest scare. When the tour comes to an end, the group gathers to hear a preacher or church leader give a turn-or-burn message. “These events are happening, soon! Surely you do not want to experience what you have just seen. If you do not accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, this will happen to you!” And of course, the speaker offers a chance to put people on the spot. With “every head bowed and every eye closed,” they insist on raising your hand if you are willing to accept their doomsday message. This is, like most church events, an attempt to get the numbers: how many people can we convert? The toxic and depressing message is almost always followed by DC Talk’s song “I Wish We’d All Been Ready.” For the church, horror is bad—that is, unless you are using it to force someone to accept your beliefs.

Conclusion

It amazes me what lengths the church will go to for the goal of either claiming Halloween or capitalizing on it. It is never to promote unity. It is used to portray non-Christians as villainous heathens who are trying to thwart the progress of the church. It is used to promote division among Christians and non-Christians. “Accept our message, or you will be left behind!” Again, it is all an “us-versus-them” strategy. This is where syncretism becomes a weapon. But that is not the approach either side should be taking. Halloween is an opportunity for Christians and non-Christians to come together. To share their traditions. To understand that we all bleed the same blood and breathe the same air, regardless of beliefs.

Finally, Halloween is a time for us to embrace the problem of suffering. What I love about horror is that it presents the problem in a crystal-clear manner: there is suffering in this world. We do not address the problem by forcing others to accept our beliefs. We can use this holiday to accept that there is evil in this world, and suffering will inevitably come to each of us. Halloween reminds us that we need to make the most of this suffering. We need to have fun and enjoy life. Life is fleeting. We are not guaranteed tomorrow, so we need to take a moment to appreciate the life we have been given. We need to respect those around us, whether they are Christian, pagan, agnostic, or anything else. We need syncretism. We need to come together, put our beliefs aside, and love and cherish those in our lives. We need to celebrate the life we have received, for we never know when we may lose it.

1. Sophia Balasubramanian, “Spirits, ghouls and pumpkins, oh my! The historical origins of Halloween,” The State Press, 2021, https://www.statepress.com/article/2021/10/origins-of-halloween

2. Cathy Mantis, “Halloween: Christian and Pagan Syncretism,” Psychics Directory, https://www.psychicsdirectory.com/articles/halloween-christian-pagan-syncretism/

3. C. Matthew McMahon, “A Brief History of Halloween,” A Puritan’s Mind, https://www.apuritansmind.com/the-christian-walk/a-brief-history-of-halloween-by-dr-c-mathew-mcmahon/; Balasubramanian, “Spirits, ghouls and pumpkins, oh my! The historical origins of Halloween,” https://www.statepress.com/article/2021/10/origins-of-halloween; Cathy Mantis, “Halloween: Christian and Pagan Syncretism,” https://www.psychicsdirectory.com/articles/halloween-christian-pagan-syncretism/

4. “Halloween 2023,” History.com, 2023, https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween

5. Ibid.

6. Heather Thomas, “The Origins of Halloween Traditions,” Library of Congress Blogs, 2021, https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2021/10/the-origins-of-halloween-traditions/#:~:text=Yet%2C%20the%20Halloween%20holiday%20has,costumes%20to%20ward%20off%20ghosts.

7. “Halloween 2023,” History.com, 2023.

8. Cathy Mantis, “Halloween: Christian and Pagan Syncretism.”

Over the past several days, as I try with desperation to understand the core of my psychological makeup, I have made a few observations. I have been working through a lot these last weeks as I have, once again, begun my journey of recovery from alcoholism. For those who have been in recovery, it goes without saying that the initial steps are hard to work through. It requires a strong degree of focus and self-evaluation to break the chains that have held us captive for so long. During my free time, I give myself a break by celebrating the Halloween season in my usual fashion: watching a few horror films.

A Reflection

For context, as I have mentioned elsewhere, I was raised in a conservative, Christian household. As such, horror movies were never allowed. Yet, at a young age, I became interested. It all started with the 1989 classic, Pet Sematary. Upon seeing the film, I began to dive deeper, I would watch horror films when my parents were away. I would sneak Stephen King books, hiding them under my mattress. Again, I did not know why horror fascinated me. And I didn’t really care.

Christianity and horror at extreme opposite ends of the spectrum. My mother, a devout Christian who was completely opposed to horror as most churchgoers are, did allow books by Frank Peretti. It may come as a surprise to some reading this, but Christian horror is a thing. It’s rare, but it is real. Peretti, for example, has long been regarded as the “Christian Stephen King.” And even now, I enjoy Peretti’s few, but exemplary works. Just avoid the movies based on his books.

For many people, faith and horror are polar opposites. For me, they supplement each other. Why? Because life is not always a happy fairytale. In fact, this is rarely the case. Life is not a Hallmark movie. Maybe it is for some, and I have certainly had my share of such moments. But that is exactly what such instances are—momentary. Every day and every second, travesty strikes somewhere in our imperfect world. We would be wrong to just ignore it, as if this fact is baseless. But are we to glorify the suffering so prevalent in this world? I think not. It is because of this suffering that we need to have hope. We need to have faith.

I have spent the past two weeks reflecting on my life. More particularly, the past year. My life is a horror story. It is because of past traumas that I felt the need to numb the pain—with alcohol. But eventually, as I have found, the euphoria of drunkenness wears off. And eventually, I must face the pain. Numbing this pain does not solve the problem. Ignoring the fact that suffering is real does no justice for myself or those close to me. In fact, it only makes matters worse.

Taking the first step

The first step in recovery is admission that there is a problem. It is recognizing that life is never perfect. And it is especially recognizing that there are no shortcuts around the problem. Students of the Bible should feel no shame when subjected to adversity. It is in such moments of recovery that I am reminded of the introduction to the epistle of James. Particularly, the following verses:

 “Regard it all as joy, my brothers, when you face various kinds of temptations;for you know that the testing of your trust produces perseverance.” James 1:2-3, CJB.

This is no easy task. When the cravings for alcohol come after me, it is my last thought to regard such cravings as joyous. For those who have been through similar struggles, it is frightening when cravings abound. Nobody wants to suffer. Nobody wants to feel that they are powerless over forces of evil that possess the capability to destroy us. I have never been chased by a psychopath wielding a chainsaw. But it is a sort of symbolism that I can relate to. Alcohol pursues me; and when I am sober minded, my instinct is to run. It is my instinct to fight with every fiber of my being. Because I am fighting for life over death.

Horror requires faith

Having faith does not remove the presence of evil in our lives. Similarly, possessing faith does not mean that we should remain in denial when being pursued by vicious suffering. But for some reason, the church wants its members to follow such outrageous thinking. That because they believe that if they find God, darkness is afraid of them. This is simply not the case. We do ourselves and our fellow humans a great injustice when we deny that the darkness is real. And the darkness is powerful. While my favorite verse confesses that the light always overcomes the darkness, it does not end there. We are not to remain idle when the darkness pervades. We must recognize that it is real. We must recognize that it is a problem.

This is exactly why I am a horror fan. Horror recognizes the reality of the evil and darkness that we face on a day-to-day basis. And in any horror story, the protagonists do not remain in denial. They take the first step—admitting that they have a problem. And in many instances, they are powerless to the problem. So should we admit that the macabre is real. Admission does not mean worshipping. It means recognizing that such forces are real, regardless of what we believe or do.

When I watch a horror film, I am reminded of the prominent suffering in our chaotic world. I am reminded that I must admit that such suffering is real, and it will stop at nothing in its pursuit of me. And, knowing who I am and my struggles better than anyone else, I know that I am powerless over such suffering. The strength that I find to overcome the darkness is nothing that I can produce on my own. It requires me to have faith in a power not only greater than myself, but greater than the powers that hunt me.

And I cannot fight back if I deny that such powers are real. I must admit that they are after me. While I struggle to find joy in such moments of testing, I know that in the end light will prevail. I have to trust that it will. I have to find the strength apart from myself.