Last night Nathan Edwards and I went to the “Trail of Terror”—a haunted house and hayride in Shakopee. It was fun to go back to something like that, as I have great memories of going to haunted houses with my dad and other friends that local police departments used to put on when I was a kid, but it’s been years since I’ve been to one of these things.
After this latest experience I got to thinking: What's the draw to things like this for people? They’re super cheesy, almost more funny than scary, and cost way too much money. So what brings people back to stuff like this?
Though there's likely a number of reasons, a couple things came to mind:
First of all, on the simplest and most universal level, I think people enjoy haunted houses for the adrenaline rush and because they know there’s a “back door,” an end to the maze. They can scream, jump, and wince through it because they know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. They also know that none of the actors can touch them, but only surprise them. So no matter what the haunted house-goer sees, he knows going in that though he’ll likely get scared, no harm will befall him.
Secondly, and building on this from a Christian perspective, it’s hard for me not to think of spiritual matters when I’m at an event like that. On one level then, it reminds me that there is a real evil in the world that’s much scarier than anything put on by a bunch of dudes dressed up like zombies. And it leads me to thanksgiving and worship, for though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death, I fear no evil, for God is with me as my guide and my salvation (Psalm 23:4). Though I walk through a dark haunted warehouse, no one can touch me, and I come out “saved” from darkness on the other side, covered by the blood of the Lamb. As the Scriptures say elsewhere:
Romans 8:38, For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers...nor powers...will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Luke 22:31, [Jesus speaking] “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.”
So part of me wonders if this is why other people (especially non-believers) like these things so much too: they’re human beings who were created with a God-shaped hole in their hearts too (like any Christian), and going to haunted houses is a way to--in a very small way--experience a shadowy form of salvation. The victory of Christ over sin, death, darkness, and Satan is reflected in the passing through of the haunted house unscathed. Or again, the experience of death in passing through a dark maze points to the experience of the believer dying with Christ on the cross and being raised with him again into new, eternal life on the third day.
The sad and (truly) scary thing, then, is that many people going to haunted houses, though by God’s grace “seeing” the gospel in their trail-of-terror-experiences never truly believe the real gospel--in deliverance from the eschatological haunted house of sin--and without Christ never have hope of passing through darkness alive.
May the Christian laughing at and mocking of evil that occurs on Halloween point the unbelieving world to the good news that Christ has died for our sins, in accordance with the Scriptures, and insodoing destroyed darkness and evil forever for all who believe in him!
Happy Halloween everyone! As the Scriptures say, may perfect love cast out fear in our lives (1 John 4:18).
Chris
