Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

Should Christians celebrate Halloween?     

This question has been debated for generations.        

If I’m honest, I have been internally debating it for a few years, myself.   

It’s not an easy question to address but we will break this down and see what the Bible says about observing this custom.           

Does the Bible say that we should not celebrate Halloween?             

The short answer is:         

No!        

The term “Halloween” did not exist in the time when the scriptures were composed, so naturally, it was not addressed.         

So, when did Halloween come to be?           

The customs and traditions of Halloween began long before Halloween became a holiday.           

The traditions and rituals of Halloween are inspired from a Celtic festival called Samhain.          

Samhain was observed on November 1st, in early A.D. and was a celebration of their new year.           

This day symbolized the end of the harvesting season and marked the beginning of the dark half of the year.        

Because the crops ceased during this portion of the year and the conditions were very cold, the Celts associated this season with human death and identified this portion of the year with darkness.         

They believed that the day before Samhain was when the living and the dead could, at some degree, cross between the line that separates them.             

This was a big deal in Celtic culture!              

Because of their belief that there was a heightened spiritual connection between what was living and what was dead, they believed that on this day was an opportunity for ghosts to return to earth and for increased communication regarding the future.             

They celebrated by building bonfires and sacrificing animals and crops for the Celtic gods.  During this time the Celts would wear the skins of the animals as costumes and try to predict each other’s future.           

The Roman Empire conquered a majority of Celtic lands by 43 A.D.   

Naturally, the Roman Empire started to include the traditions of Samhain, in their pagan traditions regarding the dead.              

In the Roman Empire, Christianity spread wildly in the 300s A.D. and though Christianity soon became a majority belief in the Roman Empire, pagan traditions were still not forsaken.         

The Catholic pope in 609 A.D., dedicated a day to honor all the martyrs within the Catholic faith; however, shortly after decided to include all of the saints.         

This day became known as “All Saints’ Day” and is celebrated on November 1st, according to Catholic custom.         

The Catholic Church picked up the example that the Celtics displayed with Samhain and created All Souls’ Day, to honor the dead.        

All Souls’ Day is observed on November 2nd and was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with parades, bonfires and costumes.           

Christianity began to leak into Celtic culture while the creation of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, were the result of Celtic tradition leaking into Christianity.             

The All Saints’ Day celebration became known as All Hallows; as the day was created to be a day of honor.             

The day before All Hallows was called All Hallows’ Eve which eventually was named Halloween.         

That was a lot of history, so thank you if you’re still reading this post.      

It’s important to know where Halloween comes from before we discuss this topic.     

We learned that, though this holiday was originally influenced by pagan Celtic and Roman celebrations, the holiday “Halloween” was established by Christians.           

The Church’s reason for establishing this holiday was NOT because they believed in the Celtic or Roman false gods.             

The Catholic Church wanted to honor those who died and was influence by the most influential empire at the time, the Roman Empire.                 

The Catholic Church were still Christians, like you and me, and they were trying to figure this all out too.             

Honoring the dead was culturally acceptable in the time that they were living in, so I believe that the Catholic Church was trying to do the best that they could to represent Christianity.       

Notice that All Saints’ Day was known as All Hallows.         

Hallow means honor.          

The goal here was to honor those who had finished their journey on earth, as the goal of a birthday party is to honor the person who accomplished another year in their journey.            

It’s clear to see that the motive of the early Christians was not to dilute the Christian Faith.                

Nevertheless, I have to mention that the Roman Empire was severely contaminated with a multitude of different religions, customs and values at this point in time.       

The Roman Empire was the major power of this era and they conquered many nations.           

When the plethora of different nations collided, the different religions, ethics, traditions and customs, were all mixed together in one very unstable culture.       

Left was right and north was south for those who were a part of the Roman Empire at this time.                

I do believe that the early Christians were affected by this confusing culture and they allowed the traditions of those around them, to influence the fundamental principles laid out in God’s word.                 

As Christians today like to take things that they see in modern culture and make them work for the Kingdom of God, so the Catholic Church did during this era.              

The Celts would celebrate Halloween traditions to glorify the dead and seek connection between those who were alive and those who were dead, while the Christians, though they decided to participate in the traditions, they chose to honor the Christians who died or were killed.                 

Today, in modern American culture, Halloween is now celebrated with candy and festivals to welcome in the Autumn season.                   

Some people use this holiday to relate to the dead and others use this holiday to give their children something fun to do while they teach them the distinctions of each season.            

This is the same as the Celts associating the day with darkness and the connection to the dead while the Christians commemorated the day by honoring the fallen saints.       

Just to clarify,        

Dressing up as a princess and eating candy on Halloween is not going to send you to the fires of hades.              

Even if pagan worshippers do the same thing, it’s for a different reason and they are honoring a belief entirely different.           

We truly do forget that God looks at our hearts.     

So, for all of those who really believe that Halloween should not be a holiday…             

Our priority should NOT be to abolish Halloween, if we have not first ensured that we seek the Kingdom of God, trust Him and love His people.                         

“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts.”               

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭21:2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬.       

There are some things that we do, that everyone has to do, but if we do it for the glory of God, that makes all the difference to God!             

We are going to shop at the same stores as nonbelievers;       

Eat at the same restaurants as nonbelievers;          

Wear the same color shirt as nonbelievers;         

Fly on the same airlines as nonbelievers;           

Use the same kind of smartphone as nonbelievers and drive the same car brands as nonbelievers.           

If there is so many things that we will do similarly to nonbelievers, there needs to be a distinction between us and them.         

Here it is…         

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”                      

‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭10:31‬ ‭NKJV‬‬.     

      

This should be our goal in everything that we do!          

If we truly believe that we can honor God’s word and bring Him glory in what we are doing, then we should do just that.            

This should be our focus!    

How can Halloween negatively impact our focus?        

For starters, we need to understand that God’s focus is far from death.      

God is the Lord of the living!           

“But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken.””           

‭‭Mark‬ ‭12:26-27‬ ‭NKJV‬‬.       

In this text, Jesus is reminding the Sadducees that the forefathers of their faith, those who they think that they are honoring in their death, are not dead!       

God is honoring promises made to men who are eternally alive!     

The LORD is not the God of those who are dead and gone!          

God’s focus is bringing to life, even those we think have died.              

In fact, in ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭8:22‬ ‭NKJV‬‬, Jesus responded as follows, to those who put off following Him, for the sake of a funeral.          

“But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.””          

Jesus wasn’t saying, let the physically dead bury another body that is physically dead.             

He was saying that if honoring and focusing more attention on the dead is going to keep you from walking towards eternal life, you are already spiritually dead.           

Jesus was encouraging us not to see physical death as significant; because if you focus on Jesus, physical death is not the end of our story!         

He is telling us not to focus on the physical appearance of situations on this earth, but remember that eternal life is up ahead!      

Jesus was basically saying,      

“Follow Me to life!       

   Let those who only see life exist on this earth, place their attention on death; while we place our focus on life!”         

He just doesn’t want us to think that the end on earth is the end of it all!     

If we follow Him, we will see that life has always been something that God created to last forever!           

We don’t even know what living is yet!         

God wants us to focus on eternal life!           

He doesn’t want us to be caught up in what happens between the two dates on a tombstone!             

So, placing weight on the physical dead is not something that God wants us to focus on.         

He would rather resurrect, raise dry bones to life and lead us to bring others to life!            

What about candy, princess costumes and pumpkin carving?          

Our customs today are not even centered around the original use of this holiday, so why can’t we just have fun and dress up?          

Some people don’t even think about death on Halloween!        

They think about dressing up like a super hero and getting candy from their neighbors!          

This is where you need to decide in your own heart… 

Though, I am not commemorating the dead, am I focusing on something that can bring God glory?       

Am I doing something that puts life at the center of my focus?        

Am I loving God and loving people?         

Am I trying to point everything to Jesus?       

We cannot avoid October 31st.       

However, we can utilize this day as we would everyday, and seek to love people, love God and point people to Jesus!           

I will always encourage you to use every moment as an opportunity to lead people to focus on the Kingdom of God, and never waste a minute!                   

I have learned that we can point to eternal life in Jesus Christ, in many ways!         

I would just encourage you to ask yourself on this day, as I would also encourage you to ask yourself every other day,      

“Am I doing what I’m doing to love God and to love His people?”          

“Is my goal to bring attention to eternity or is it to make significant what is here and now?”          

If you are following Jesus and if your focus is on life, you are surely celebrating something that will never fade away!             

“This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.”                  

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭118:24‬ ‭NKJV‬‬.