Its been a few days ago that my wife and I set out on our several time a week afternoon walk. Almost as soon as we set out, she asked, “We pray ‘Hallowed be Thy Name..’ and yet we walk past all of these houses owned by professing Christians decorated for Halloween. What does ‘hallow’ mean?”
A good discussion ensued.
Merriam-Webster’s says,
Definition of HALLOW
transitive verb1: to make holy or set apart for holy use2: to respect greatly : venerate
Even nominal believers in the Messiah will rattle off the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ and say, ‘hallowed be Your name.’ Or, ‘sanctified, set apart, holy’ is Your name.
How then is it so challenging a connection to recognize that ‘Halloween’ is about ‘setting apart’ a day, or evening, for everything that is contrary to the Word of God? My wife, nor I, get it.
Churches try to skirt the issue by having ‘harvest fests,’ but it only takes half a brain to recognize that it is lipstick on the pig. Nothing more than justified syncretism. That didn’t work out so well for the peeps in Exodus 32!
Deuteronomy 12:29-32 is starkly clear. The Almighty is not just a little offended at this justification of and participation in paganism. He HATES it.
Either, hallow His name, or don’t hallow His name, but this lukewarm cocktail of mixing the sacred and the profane is dangerous stuff!