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What Are We Gonna Do About Halloween?

Album:

Episode: 45

Lesson/Theme: Halloween; bringing light from darkness.

Bible Verse: Romans 12:2

Characters: Whit, Tom

Writer: Paul McCusker

Sound Designer: Bob Luttrell

Original Air Date: October 22, 1988

Last Air Date: January 1, 1987

Description:
Halloween-a time for witches, ghouls, goblins . . . and controversy. There is dissension in the air, especially at Odyssey Community Church. There, Tom moderates an elder's meeting at which Mr. Renfield expresses his disapproval of Halloween. Renfield believes that Halloween is not only harmful, it's a slap in the face to Christians everywhere. He wants the pastor and the elder board to recommend that parents not celebrate Halloween in any way. The following Sunday, the pastor preaches against the observance, which leads the parents of the congregation to ignore Halloween. This makes the kids at Whit's End extremely unhappy. They elect Brad and Leonard to talk to Whit about it. Whit says he won't go against their parents' wishes, but he will let them learn all about Halloween by reading library books. Brad and Leonard start researching and learn the history of "All Hallow's Eve"-a night where it was traditionally thought that demons would run wild, pulling pranks and tricks on people. The boys sadly decide that Halloween really isn't a good thing to celebrate. Brad suggests that maybe instead they should celebrate All Saints' Day and have a Biblical Character Costume Party. Whit agrees and offers Whit's End as the celebration site. This seems to be an acceptable solution for everyone-except Mr. Renfield. He visits Whit and asks him to cancel the party. Mr. Renfield says it's causing a ton of trouble in his household because his children aren't allowed to participate. Whit suggests that Mr. Renfield reconsider-after all, the party is a celebration of the saints, not demons. Renfield disagrees. The party goes on as scheduled and is a great success. Everyone has a good time. At the end of the evening, families gather together as Whit helps to focus everyone's attention on God-a perfect example of letting light shine through the darkness.

Questions:
Why was Mr. Renfield so opposed to Halloween? Is Halloween really bad? Why or why not? Does your church have a biblical character costume party on Halloween?