Is it Wrong for a Christian to Participate in Halloween?
67I grew up in a Christian home, and every year my family celebrated Halloween. I have wonderful memories of dressing up in extravagant costumes that were handmade by my mom. My siblings and I brought home pillow cases full of candy and my brother and I would spend the whole next day sorting our candy and making a poster sized bar graph of all the different types of candy we received. Making the graph was my mom’s way of adding an educational twist to the mountains of candy, and we really enjoyed it. Sometimes our Halloween candy lasted until Christmas! For me, Halloween was simply a day to dress up in a cool costume and collect a load of candy from the neighbors. It was so much fun!
However, many families do not participate in Halloween celebrations. My husband never celebrated Halloween growing up due to his family’s religious beliefs about Halloween. They didn’t dress up and they didn’t hand out candy. Halloween was basically ignored. It wasn’t a holiday my husband’s family chose to acknowledge. Now that we have children of our own, my husband and I have a decision to make about whether or not to participate in Halloween activities. We are both believers in Christ, and we want to make the right choice as parents.
Let me start out by saying that the Bible clearly tells us to oppose evil. For example, Deuteronomy 18 warns us to stay away from witchcraft, sorcery, divination, interpreting omens, and calling up the dead. These are all condemned repeatedly in the Bible. I realize that some people do celebrate Halloween in the evilest of ways. However, I really do not see any harm or evil in my son dressing up like Bob the Builder and collecting treats from friends and neighbors. It’s an innocent fun activity. There’s no witchcraft or devil worshipping involved in that. If there was, we’d definitely sit Halloween out.
Before having children, we passed on all Halloween events. We’d go out to dinner or a movie to get away from the house for the evening. In the past few years, our kids were too young to really participate anyway. My husband felt stronger about not celebrating Halloween than I did about celebrating it, so until now, we have opted out of Halloween activities.
This year, our church is hosting a Trunk-or-Treat event where families will line up their cars in the parking lot and hand out candy from their trunks. It is a safer alternative to trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, and everyone in the community is welcome to join in the fun and fellowship. I think it’s a great way to reach out to those in the community who aren’t church members or don’t know Christ. This potentially evil holiday can be used by Christians to shine God’s light and make a spiritual difference in people’s lives.
I recently asked my husband if he would be okay with participating in the Trunk-or-Treating event at our church on Halloween. I could tell he was hesitant, but he said he would go along with it. Since I celebrated Halloween as a child, I know how much fun it can be, and I want my kids to experience that. I guess that’s why I’d like our family to participate in the Trunk-or-Treating at our church this October.
So this year we’re going to dress our adorable kids in adorable costumes, and I’m sure my son will think he’s in heaven when he finds out there’s candy involved. We’re going to spend the evening having a good time with our friends and family. Like I said before, we will not participate in anything evil or sinful. Just like any other day, we will strive to glorify God in all that we do.
See What Trunk or Treating is All About
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Mullins Square Peacock Baby Costume, Royal - 6-18 Months
Price: $17.83
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Rubies Costume Co. EZ-On Romper Costume, Cozy Cow, 6 to 12 Months
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Mullins Square Lobster Baby Costume
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Rubies EZ-On Romper Costume, Monkey See Monkey Do, 6 to 12 Months
Price: $11.99
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Comments
Thanks for your comment DarleneMarie. I think it will be a really fun event!
Halloween was originally meant to chase away evil spirits; it is not for celebrating them or witchcraft.
I think it was Richard Foster who wrote that Christmas has become way too commercialized to redeem, but there's still hope in Halloween. Because the commercialization of this day hasn't hit full-force yet, this holiday can still be used for outreach.
I read that more than 10 years ago and totally forgot about it until I read your hub. Hey, go for it! :)
In my life there has always been trunk or treat; fun, safe, loot!! "No masks, no gore please."
Thanks for your comments everyone.
PC Study Bible Data
Shawna,
First, let me apologize for taking so long to get to your hub.
I think you already know your answer, but since you asked…
To answer your question, I would simply ask two important questions.
First, does your God condemn you in going? He is the most important person to have a clear conscience with.
Second, is your husband as the head of the household in agreement with you in going? If so he is the next most important person to be in agreement with.
Make those three important questions. Are your pastor and church leaders in agreement with you going?
As I said before, I think you already know the answer and my opinion doesn’t count anyway.
Thanks for the question. ~ eddie
I agree with you. I was raised in the church and always dressed up and went to friends and family's houses. It was just fun to dress up. It all comes down to the intent because I know many that use Christmas in a somewhat evil way. If you use Halloween as a fun and innocent time, it can't be called evil.
Nicely done Shawna - thanks for sharing what you did, the way you did. Many churches do an alternative such as Trunk or Treat or a Harvest Festival and it is as you pointed out, a good way to allow the kids to participate in the fun and shine His light to the community.
Thumbs up!
In my opinion, there is nothing wrong in allowing the children to dress up and go to a party and be given candy. It is all in how they dress up. Some trick or treaters I have seen lately would scare Freddy to death. I am a Christian and my grandkids like to celebrate halloween. I try to encourage them to dress like David who slew the giant, or a pumpkin and once one of them dressed like cinderella. The thing that has made halloween so weird is the weird costumes that are not Godly at all.
As a former Jehovah's Witness I stayed far away from Halloween. I became a Christian in 1978 and I met many a Christian that ran away from ghoulies and ghosties as well. I myself agree with you to shun evil and take away the fun of Halloween. It is fun for the kids and gives many opportunities to witness. Many a witnessing tract has been given out by churches as candy is given a tract is given in exchange. My wife and I were married 11 Halloweens ago. It was a small ceremony on the assistant pastor's daughter's birthday. Now Halloween has even a more fun connotation. We can dress up and party!
No body-I agree that Halloween is really what you make of it. It can be a fun day or an evil day, whichever you choose. Thanks for reading!
interesting answers
In the Old Testament of the Bible (in Deuteronomy 18), God’s people, the Jews, were given stringent warnings about participating in anything related to witchcraft, paganism, or the occult. The New Testament tells us that anyone can become a child of God if they accept the testimony concerning Jesus Christ and verbally confess Him as their Savior. We are then to follow God’s instructions for our lives as written in the Bible, so because of the following reasons, I came to believe that Christians should celebrate Halloween.
I remember once in my childhood going to a staged haunted building for Halloween. The children were very scared and began running. I got cut which caused blood to run. Although not all of my Halloween experiences were negative, after that time I had to overcome a spirit of fear in my life. After I studied the history of Halloween, I came to believe that we can cause our children to be open to evil spirits that are around at that time, even though we are thinking that it is a time of fun for our children. For myself however, I like the idea of church’s having harvest festivals where children (and others) can come to hear about the Lord and fellowship, and it is also good when Christian tracts are passed out during this time period.
New Testament Bible passages:
Ephesians 5: 11 - Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
I Thessalonians 5:22 - Abstain from all appearance of evil.
2 Corinthians 6:17 - Come out from among them and be separate.
2 Timothy 3:1 & 13 tells us that in the last days evil men and imposters will wax worse. (The last days is prior to Jesus Christ’s return)
In reference to the last Bible passage, have you not noticed that there has now been an increase of evil in these last days, and that Satan has been increasingly showing his true colors around Halloween? (Such as in some areas candy being tainted – causing some to just go to people they know for trick-or-treat purposes.) In some cities, Halloween is now known as “Devil’s night”, where violence reigns. Recently, there has also been an increase in the occult which includes the followers of Wicca and other Satanic groups who are active around Halloween. Now as a note, God has not given us a spirit of fear in thinking on this, but we should at least know as Christians that there are things we need to avoid in these times not only so we don’t cause destruction to come into our families’ lives unaware, but also so we can please God. Whether you know it or not as Christians, we are in spiritual warfare while on this Earth. (Ephesians 6) We are not to conduct ourselves like the world does. We are new creatures in Christ. AS CHRISTIANS WE NEED TO WAKE UP AND ATTEND TO WHAT GOD’S WORD SAYS – not by what we think or see others do. God bless and keep looking up.
MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL
(This is a correction to the last message I sent. In the first paragraph I meant to say that I came to believe that Christians should not celebrate halloween.)
In the Old Testament (in Deuteronomy 18), God’s people, the Jews, were given stringent warnings about participating in anything related to witchcraft, paganism, or the occult. The New Testament tells us that anyone can become a child of God if they accept the testimony concerning Jesus Christ and verbally confess Him as their Savior. We are then to follow God’s instructions for our lives as written in the Bible, so because of the following reasons, I came to believe that Christians should not celebrate Halloween.
I remember once in my childhood going to a staged haunted building for Halloween. The children were very scared and began running. I got cut which caused blood to run. Although not all of my Halloween experiences were negative, after that time I had to overcome a spirit of fear in my life. After I studied the history of Halloween, I came to believe that we can cause our children to be open to evil spirits that are around at that time, even though we are thinking that it is a time of fun for our children. For myself however, I like the idea of using it as a time of witness to the World, where some church’s having harvest festivals where children (and others) can come to hear about the Lord and fellowship. It is also good when Christian tracts are passed out during this time period.
New Testament Bible passages:
Ephesians 5: 11 - Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
I Thessalonians 5:22 - Abstain from all appearance of evil.
2 Corinthians 6:17 - Come out from among them and be separate.
2 Timothy 3:1 & 13 tells us that in the last days evil men and imposters will wax worse. (The last days is prior to Jesus Christ’s return)
In reference to the last Bible passage, have you not noticed that there has now been an increase of evil in these last days, and that Satan has been increasingly showing his true colors around Halloween? (Such as in some areas candy being tainted – causing some to just go to people they know for trick-or-treat purposes.) In some cities, Halloween is now known as “Devil’s night”, where violence reigns. Recently, there has also been an increase in the occult which includes the followers of Wicca and other Satanic groups who are active around Halloween. Now as a note, God has not given us a spirit of fear in thinking on this, but we should at least know as Christians that there are things we need to avoid in these times not only so we don’t cause destruction to come into our families’ lives unaware, but also so we can please God. Whether you know it or not as Christians, we are in spiritual warfare while on this Earth. (Ephesians 6) We are not to conduct ourselves like the world does. We are new creatures in Christ. AS CHRISTIANS WE NEED TO WAKE UP AND ATTEND TO WHAT GOD’S WORD SAYS – not by what we think or see others do. God bless and keep looking up.
MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL
As with everything, God knows our heart! He knows what our intentions are. We have to look in the mirror that is Christ and see if we are projecting a similar image. We will not be perfect, but we will know where to make our adjustments!
The 'true' meaning of the word 'Halloween':
Halloween is an abreviation of the words 'Hallws Eve'. In the Anglican/Episcopalian calender it's the evening of 'All Saints Day'. A time to remember and celebrate the lives of the saints many of whom died as martyrs. Hence the connection to blood death, grim reaper and demons who oposed these saints. In the calender the day following 'All Saints Eve' is 'All Souls Day'.
Christians should not allow evil enterprises to highjack this day but should use it profitably to share the message of Jesus recalling the experience of his faithful martyr's.
In Acts ch 1 Jesus told the disciples 'you will recieve power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be My witnesses'. The Greek word for witnesses is the word from which we get the English 'MARTYR' as the witness of the early Christians often cost their lives; as it does today (look up some web sites on the persecuted church of today.
I'm not an an Anglican/Episcopalian but a Charismatic initiating & establishing new churches in the Carribbean.
So What are we doing about it - We are putting on a 'Halloween' event title 'Souls and Saints - When two worlds collide'. It will lok verry gory with sets depicting the martyrdom of the saints and plenty of good music and atracting hundreds of 'unchurched youth'. There's a separate presentation for those who want to know what the sets are all about - they will learn of the lives of the martyrs - and what led them to such a commitment of their lives (See Website - Club Xtreme Barbados)
Barbados Bob
DarleneMarie says:
16 months ago
I agree w/ you Shawna. Life is what you make it and I do not see anything wrong with your church's event. It is a chance to socialize with your fellowship and the kids can have a little bit of fun in the process.