Halloween is once again upon us. The modern version is yet another holiday meant for children to receive treats. Tricks are discouraged. So are any hints of celebrating evil. Hence the alternatives, like fall festivals and harvest celebrations.
Glow-in-the dark skeleton costumes and pretend cemetery scenes mock the fear of death. Materialists are quick to dismiss the idea of life after death, although they are tickled to give miniature Snickers bars to toddling skeletons or ghoulish apparitions who manifest near their front yard spider webs and jack-o’-lanterns.
The only way you can conclude, “After I die, I’m only worm food,” is to start with the assumption that the supernatural doesn’t exist. Of course, the opposite is true for those who do believe in an afterlife. It’s worth pointing out that whichever assumption you start with doesn’t change reality. “I assume no one does Halloween anymore” wouldn’t make it go away.
Throughout history humans have explored and embraced the idea of a powerful mind behind our existence and the possibility of immortality. To dismiss the consensus of history, i.e. “the democracy of the dead” (G.K. Chesterton’s phrase), is to commit “chronological snobbery” (C.S. Lewis’ phrase). Are we smarter than they?
Of course, there are various views of an afterlife, like successive reincarnation or becoming one with the universe. The Christian hope can be expressed simply as resurrection. To be absent the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). Jesus demonstrated power over death when He called the four-days-dead Lazarus out of the tomb (John 11:43). He told the story of a rich man who died and begged Abraham to warn his brothers. “They will not be persuaded,” Abraham said, “even if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31). And so it is, that after the no-longer-dead Jesus left His tomb empty, and despite the evidence that it actually happened, unpersuaded souls yet remain. The invitation is open to embrace by faith the resurrection hope, but they whistle past the graveyard.
If you have lost a loved one, you might relate to Lewis’ deep grief over the untimely death of his Inkling friend Charles Williams. “The odd thing is that his death has made my faith ten times stronger,” he wrote. “All that talk about ‘feeling he is closer to us than before’ isn’t just talk. It’s just what it does feel like.” It was their shared hope in Christ that strengthened Lewis in his grief.
All Saints Day follows Halloween. It’s a day to remember the lives of believers who have stepped into eternity, no longer dead. They’ve experienced the reality of life beyond what is seen here. That is something to celebrate. So is that innocent little face looking up at you expecting a Halloween treat.