Saturday, October 31, 2009

Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

I know that Halloween does not line up with the Word and Will of God. There is a proverb that says "When you sup with the devil, use a long spoon."

Halloween is a pagan holiday that began in ancient times. The origins of Halloween are Celtic in nature and have to do with observing the end of summer sacrifices to gods in Druidic tradition. It is celebrated and revered as a day to worship the dead by the wiccan culture.

In ancient times, the gods were worshipped on this day with human sacrifices. Celtics believed Samhain, the lord of death, sent evil spirits abroad to attack humans, who could escape only by assuming disguises and looking like evil spirits themselves. The waning of the sun and the approach of dark winter made the evil spirits rejoice and play nasty tricks. Most of our Halloween practices can be traced back to these old pagan rites and superstitions.

In the fourth century, Christians attempted to co-opt the holiday by celebrating the lives of faithful Christian saints the day before Halloween. This was a conscious attempt to provide an alternative and to re-focus the day away from ghouls, goblins, ghosts, witches and other “haunted” experiences. Since that time many Christians have decided to allow their children to dress in more “innocent” costumes of pumpkins, princesses, Superman or as a cowboy. Part of this is due to the simple reality that in today’s Western culture it is nearly impossible to “avoid” Halloween. But Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 10:20 "But I say that these things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God, and I would not that you should have fellowship with the devil.

Our children are impressionable and allowing them to celebrate Halloween can send mixed messages. Satan is cunning in the ways that he gains entry into our lives. If we are not careful, before long he can turn someting as simple as celebrating Halloween into a stronghold in our lives. You could be opening up doorways into your chidren's lives for evil by bringing them into a kind of "fellowship" with these ancient "gods."

Children are God's heritage. We should do everything possible to train them up in the Word and Will of God.

We are commanded not to become involved with the unfruitful works of darkness (Eph. 5:11).

So, should Christians celebrate Halloween and/or look for alternatives to celebrate on this day? What do you think?

Please think about this, pray over it and ask God to lead you.

Be blessed!!

13 comments:

AzureReadingIt said...

I went to a private Christian School. We made Halloween into Harvest Day and we dressed as farmers, and fruits and veggies. We also did non-evil costumes, like super heroes.
I think that it's the spirit that Christians should stay away from. If our children don't know what is bad and the history behind it then how will they know not to feed into it?

Bella said...

I've often wonderd about the origin of Halloween, so thanks for explaining. Do you mind if I post it on my blog? I'll direct readers to your blog and give you the credit.

Evangelist Donovan said...

Bella, feel free to post this to your blog.

Anonymous said...

I think we need to examine our motive and the spirit in which we do things. We also need to clearly understand why as Christians we do or do not do certain things.

In the case of Halloween, we need to explain the purpose to our kids and then offer them something. If kids feel like they're missing out, they're likely to search for something that's not good for them. At my church we have a carnival for the kids to enjoy in a safe environment. They can dress up as actions heroes or cartoon characters etc.

Wanda B. Campbell

Kendra Norman said...

I don't get into scripture wars with people, nor do I try and force my beliefs on them in any manner. But personally, my spirit is in utter disagreement with any form of Halloween celebration, whether it is held at a church dressed as angels and preachers, or on the dark streets of the community dressed as ghosts and goblins. Regardless of how you dress or where you go (again, this is my belief), the root of the holiday remains the same. I know churches that improvise with Hallelujah Night, Holy-ween Night, etc., and I certainly understand what they are trying to do when offering the alternative. But when did it become so hard just to teach our children righteousness from evil, and then by example, show them what's righteous instead of having to come up with a way to dress up the evil?

Emmanuel Brown of SeeingGrowth.com said...

I do not believe that we should celebrate or allow our children to celebrate this holiday because of the meaning and what the holiday represents.

Dancing Palmtrees said...

Re: Should Christians celebrate Halloween?


Halloween is a secular Holiday which is as far as I can tell from informal
research has nothing to do with hell or the devil. Look it up on Wikipedia then try other websites.

Aspects of Christmas also have secular roots. In America as this is a secular
country both these holidays exist for capitalistic reasons. Think of all the
money stores make every year for these two holidays. They lost any religious
significance they had long ago. I have friends who are Jewish, Hindu and Muslim
that celebrate Christmas. Actually if you do any research on most holidays
celebrated in the USA whether Christian or secular many have pagan roots. The
Christmas tree and Santa Claus are pagan/secular. In fact there is no place in
the Bible I've found where the Hebrews or early Christians celebrated something
called Christmas. Even holidays like Kwanzaa that start out with good beginnings
get pulled into commercialism.

Very few Americans/Christians including myself believe in a hell or a devil.
Evil yes. devil no.

Since I do not have children I don't celebrate either one. The only holidays
that mean something to me are Thanksgiving, Palm Sunday and Easter and of course
Veterans Day since I am a Vet. When my parents were living I did honor them for
Mothers/Fathers day but I take very little if any interest in holidays anymore.

DeBorah Ann Palmer

Dee said...

I don't think Christian should celebrate Halloween AND we do not have to come up with an alternative. Some churches are now doing trunk and treat and using the day as a witnessing tool to reach out to people. I guess that is fine but that is a personal choice. I just treat Halloween as any other non-holiday of the year.

Evangelist Donovan said...

Deborah your comment is well taken and I'm glad you brought it up. I will be posting a topic about Christmas in December. Thanks for the comment.

Evangelist Donovan said...

Thanks to all of you who responded. As with anything else the celebration of Halloween boils down to a personal choice. I hope everyone who reads this post will make an informed decision. Don't just stop with my post. Read about and come up with what works within your spirit. God bless

Anonymous said...

I agree with you about Christmas, as the holiday is rooted in pagan ritual and the tree is a pagan symbol (not all Christians celebrate Christmas). However, I do know Halloween to be more than secular, many Catholics celebrate Halloween as a religious observation or All Hallows Eve as the day before All Saints Day. I am not Catholic, but I do have a great many friends and associates who are. I do not celebrate Halloween either.

Most Christians I know do believe in hell and Satan, so I did find that statement interesting that not many American Christians do. I would like to see that information or statistic on that one.

Many holidays we observe now can be traced back to rituals to pagan gods. If you start to look at the historic origins of Christmas (not the birth of Christ), and of Easter (not the resurrection of Christ) you will find interesting parallels to ancient pagan rituals. The egg is a pagan fertility symbol...what do we hand out during Easter--the egg, just for one example.

We know the first day of the week is Sunday. The Catholic church changed the calendar which is why the first day of the week is now regarded as Monday, which also pushes the Sabbath to Sunday. There are many Christians and other religions that still observe the Sabbath on Saturday (Friday night at dusk til Saturday at dusk) and worship as such. My father, for example who is Jewish observes the sabbath on the sabbath (Friday-Saturday) , as we did growing up. For Jews, they regard keeping the sabbath holy as keeping the commandment to do so and adhering to the Covenant. Seventh Day Adventist observe the Sabbath on Friday-Saturday as well for the same reason.

Just as the calendar was changed, some religious observations were adapted from the pagan festivals. I have observed Halloween as a child through Holyween or Fall Festival at church, my father quickly stopped that as he didn't see a difference. In his mind, celebrating halloween in an angel costume at church was still celebrating halloween. I don't know that I am that strict on the event, but I do not allow my 12 year old to dress up, I don't hand out candy, and I don't trick or treat.

I would probably agree that Christians probably should not be observing Halloween as the origins of the holiday likely are in conflict. Tz

BG said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
BG said...

Well there are many scriptures that are explicit about Christian conduct, whether Christian act on it or not does not change the Word of God.

Friendship with worldliness is enmity against God-- James 4:4

Come out from among them and be separated--2 Corinthians 6:17

This isn't talking about being friends with non-Christians, but adopting a non-Christian lifestyle or habits.

The word church in Greek is ekklesia which means the called out ones. Long story short, no we should not celebrate evil.