Should Satan have that which is called Holy?

'The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.' Romans 14:6-9

The other day I made a post about something Christians can do today that would be God honoring and to an extent pro-life in that it would focus on how sacred and fragile life is resulting in showing us how important it is to share the Gospel whenever and however we can, because we don’t know when someone will breathe their last, while also praising God for His grace and mercy offered to us through Christ’s death on the cross. I was surprised to see the negative reactions to this post from Christians and most likely only because of how I referred to today and by looking at it as a Christian Memorial Day, which is what the early church intended.

The way I had referred to today was by calling it Halloween (HOLY evening), in fact after I saw those reactions I began to wonder if they would have reacted the same way if I had said Reformation Day (as both refer Oct. 31 just Reformation day would only be recognized by a few Christians in some protestant denominations while Halloween is a more widely known way to refer to the day even by nonbelievers) or if I just left off calling it anything other than Oct. 31 or not referred to a specific day at all.

Earlier that same day I had posted on how the way many of us Christians treat Halloween is essentially telling Satan if he twists something far enough, we will let him have it, even if it is called “holy,” remember Satan is not holy so why should he be allowed to take something that has holy in its name? Halloween literally means HOLY evening, and for those that state it came out of a pagan celebration that takes place at the same time of year, Halloween was originally observed by the early church in May for about 200 years before getting moved to October (which some will state was because of pagan influence, but there is also strong evidence it was for more practical reasons such as Rome being better able to handle an influx of pilgrims later in the year compared to the summer).

Regardless I didn’t state we should practice the pagan rituals that have become associated with Halloween, though as a side note in reading up on Halloween with some activities it is hard to separate what came from the pagan celebration and what was more from medieval superstitions mixed with the teachings of the church at that time (from what I read the church’s practice of “souling” may have come about a century before the pagan practice “mumming and guising” which both are viewed as being the precursors to trick-or-treating) and thus some of the traditional activities should be approached prayerfully and through personal conviction by the Holy Spirit with an eye towards passages like that found in 1 Corinthians 8 or Romans 14:1-9; rather I just offered a way Christians can observe the day in a way the early church intended, but without the medieval superstitions and associated beliefs, as essentially making it a “Christian Memorial Day” again. Just like regardless of all the pagan practices and imagery that have become strongly associated with Christmas and Easter, and some could argue that they have become just as pagan centric as Halloween through Satan’s attempt to claim them as well, as Christians we still celebrate Christ’s birth and resurrection on those days respectively constantly fighting Satan to keep the Christian origins in those days and keeping him from claiming them as his own.

If the reaction was due to fact that there are pagan practices associated with how I referred to the day, while I said nothing about partaking in those practices, I have yet to read a passage that states not to honor or glorify God on days that have been overrun by pagan traditions or to only honor and glorify God on days that don’t have any pagan associations. Remember we are called to be a light to the world, and a light is most effective when it is dark; so, what better time than today to be a light to the world.