First: 1 Thessalonians 5:22, “Abstain from every form of evil.”
Second: In life, the life that God intended His people to live, there is a line that we draw, and that line is called sin. There are things that are very specific in regards to this. Lying is sin. Stealing is sin. Sex with someone other than your spouse, is sin. That’s the division. On the other side of that line is freedom. Those things that are specifically sinful should be cut off and separated from the rest of life, but everything else comes under the heading of freedom. Freedom for us to enjoy and delight in. This would obviously include being able to dress up in a costume one night a year and collect candy from other houses, right? Sure but, before we go further, we need to look at 1 Corinthians 10:23
“All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.”
Paul, here, is wrapping up a discourse he started in Chapter 8. He starts with verse 1, “Now, concerning things sacrificed to idols…” and has continued on discussing an issue that had been brought up in the Church at Corinth. Most of the meat that was sold in the meat markets in Corinth came from sacrificial animals that had been slaughtered at pagan temple ceremonies. However, part of the problem was that it was the best meat in town. The immediate concern of these Christians was this: If a Christian ate meat offered to an idol, were they somehow participating in the worship of that idol? Did these rituals somehow automatically taint the food? Some of the younger Christians in the church said it was sinful to eat that meat. The meat was tainted by its idolatrous identification. But other Christians in the church said it wasn't a sin to eat it. Well, first, Paul sides with the people who want to eat this food. Chapter 8, Verse 7-8. Paul tells these Christians that he agreed with their theology of freedom, but the problem was that they had become arrogant and selfish. (vs 9-13).
The real evidence of spiritual maturity was not knowledge but love, the willingness to live sacrificially for other people in the body of Christ. Paul asked these more mature believers in Corinth to exercise the freedom they had in Christ in a loving and sensitive way. They ought to be concerned for the brothers and sisters in the body who had a weaker conscience with regard to eating food sacrificed to idols and attending events in the pagan temples. So the call to these Christians was to give up their legitimate rights for the sake of the gospel that was at work in the body and in their community.
Edification is more important than our personal gratification.
As Christians we have freedom in matters of morally neutral things, such as celebrating All Hallows Eve. Contrary to what Janis Joplin sings, freedom is far more than merely “nothing left to lose”. Freedom means enjoying and developing our gifts and skills as the Lord has given them to us. Christ didn’t die to redeem half of our actions. When we received Christ, we were either redeemed in whole, nor nothing was. Christ died that we might have life and life abundantly. John 15:15, “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is dong; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you”. We need to realize that we have so much more freedom that we ever even think of reaching out for. But, if we are going to reach out for freedom, and I honestly hope that we can try, our behavior must be tempered with concern for others in the body of Christ, as well as those who are outside.
If our freedom is going to be properly expressed through our Christian life, it has got to be concerned with the spiritual benefit of others. It is really for this reason, more than any other, that me and my family choose to opt out of celebrating Halloween.