Halloween is already in the stores and that means we have to have a serious talk.
Sad fact – Halloween has been taken over by commercialized sex more than any other holiday. It is part and parcel of a culture that is stewing in a porn-injected understanding of sexuality and the human person. In many ways, other people are only pieces of meat for public display in modern culture.
But, Halloween isn’t all bad and we Christians need to start to work on redeeming what is good in the holiday.
First, let us look at the bad, by way of introducing a few costumes.
I remember dressing up as a kid as a robot, superman, cowboy, etc. I also remember some ghosts, princesses, etc. But, I certainly don’t remember the tawdry outfits that we have today. Think of Halloween as a kid. What did you dress up as? No matter what you answered, you could probably put the word “sexy” before that costume idea and if you google it, come up with several options. Seriously, who dresses as a “sexy” kid’s cartoon character and thinks that is ok (if you think there is something sexy about Dora The Explorer, then there is really something wrong inside)? This means that both men and women have some work to do.
\(\rightarrow\rightarrow\rightarrow\)
WOMEN STAND UP FOR YOURSELVES. Who do you think designs all these “sexy” and “adult” costumes? It certainly isn’t your neighborhood feminist, religious sister, grandma, or anyone else who respects women. It is someone who wants to use your beauty to incite lust in others. This is not only is scandalous, but it is just downright evil. Pornography is the depiction of human sexuality with the intent to incite lust. If that is the case, don’t treat your body like a walking porn video by dressing in something that shows too little of who you truly are by showing too much of your beautiful body!
MEN AREN’T OFF THE HOOK EITHER. You don’t need to wear anything offensive or sexy either. The most offensive costumes I have seen were actually for men. Men do not need to parade themselves as objects of sex or evil either. Nor should they encourage women to dress up like prostitutes or porn stars.
Think of it this way – do you think it pleases the Devil to see these kind of outfits?
As I mentioned above, even small children’s costumes have been sexualized (but as a father of four girls, you won’t find any of them dressing up like tiny kid strippers, which they DO have)