Christians and Halloween

Grace to You :: Unleashing God's Truth, One Verse at a Time
Christians and Halloween
Scripture: Selected Scriptures

Halloween. It's a time of year when the air gets crisper, the days get shorter, and for many young
Americans the excitement grows in anticipation of the darkest, spookiest holiday of the year. Retailers
also rejoice as they warm up their cash registers to receive an average of $79.82 per household in
decorations, costumes, candy, and greeting cards. Halloween will bring in approximately $8 billion
this year.
It's a good bet retailers won't entertain high expectations of getting $79.82 per household from the
Christian market. Many Christians refuse to participate in Halloween. Some are wary of its pagan
origins; others of its dark, ghoulish imagery; still others are concerned for the safety of their children.
But other Christians choose to partake of the festivities, whether participating in school activities,
neighborhood trick-or-treating, or a Halloween alternative at their church.
The question is, How should Christians respond to Halloween? Is it irresponsible for parents to let
their children trick-or-treat? What about Christians who refuse any kind of celebration during the
season—are they overreacting?
The Pagan Origin of Halloween
The name "Halloween" comes from the All Saints Day celebration of the early Christian church, a day
set aside for the solemn remembrance of the martyrs. All Hallows Eve, the evening before All Saints
Day, began the time of remembrance. "All Hallows Eve" was eventually contracted to "Hallow-e'en,"
which became "Halloween."
As Christianity moved through Europe it collided with indigenous pagan cultures and confronted
established customs. Pagan holidays and festivals were so entrenched that new converts found them
to be a stumbling block to their faith. To deal with the problem, the organized church would commonly
move a distinctively Christian holiday to a spot on the calendar that would directly challenge a pagan
holiday. The intent was to counter pagan influences and provide a Christian alternative. But most
often the church only succeeded in "Christianizing" a pagan ritual—the ritual was still pagan, but
mixed with Christian symbolism. That's what happened to All Saints Eve—it was the original
Halloween alternative!
The Celtic people of Europe and Britain were pagan Druids whose major celebrations were marked
by the seasons. At the end of the year in northern Europe, people made preparations to ensure winter
survival by harvesting the crops and culling the herds, slaughtering animals that wouldn't make it. Life
slowed down as winter brought darkness (shortened days and longer nights), fallow ground, and
death. The imagery of death, symbolized by skeletons, skulls, and the color black, remains prominent
in today's Halloween celebrations.
The pagan Samhain festival (pronounced "sow" "en") celebrated the final harvest, death, and the
onset of winter, for three days—October 31 to November 2. The Celts believed the curtain dividing
the living and the dead lifted during Samhain to allow the spirits of the dead to walk among the
living—ghosts haunting the earth.
Some embraced the season of haunting by engaging in occult practices such as divination and
communication with the dead. They sought "divine" spirits (demons) and the spirits of their ancestors
regarding weather forecasts for the coming year, crop expectations, and even romantic prospects.
Bobbing for apples was one practice the pagans used to divine the spiritual world's "blessings" on a
couple's romance.
For others the focus on death, occultism, divination, and the thought of spirits returning to haunt the
living, fueled ignorant superstitions and fears. They believed spirits were earthbound until they
received a proper sendoff with treats—possessions, wealth, food, and drink. Spirits who were not
suitably "treated" would "trick" those who had neglected them. The fear of haunting only multiplied if
that spirit had been offended during its natural lifetime.
Trick-bent spirits were believed to assume grotesque appearances. Some traditions developed, which
believed wearing a costume to look like a spirit would fool the wandering spirits. Others believed the
spirits could be warded off by carving a grotesque face into a gourd or root vegetable (the Scottish
used turnips) and setting a candle inside it—the jack-o-lantern.
Into that dark, superstitious, pagan world, God mercifully shined the light of the gospel. Newly
converted Christians armed themselves with the truth and no longer feared a haunting from departed
spirits returning to earth. In fact, they denounced their former pagan spiritism in accord with
Deuteronomy 18:
There shall not be found among you anyone...who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or
one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one
who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord (vv. 10-13).
Nonetheless, Christian converts found family and cultural influence hard to withstand; they were
tempted to rejoin the pagan festivals, especially Samhain. Pope Gregory IV reacted to the pagan
challenge by moving the celebration of All Saints Day in the ninth century—he set the date at
November 1, right in the middle of Samhain.
As the centuries passed, Samhain and All Hallows Eve mixed together. On the one hand, pagan
superstitions gave way to "Christianized" superstitions and provided more fodder for fear. People
began to understand that the pagan ancestral spirits were demons and the diviners were practicing
witchcraft and necromancy. On the other hand, the festival time provided greater opportunity for
revelry. Trick-or-treat became a time when roving bands of young hooligans would go house-to-house
gathering food and drink for their parties. Stingy householders ran the risk of a "trick" being played on
their property from drunken young people.
Halloween didn't become an American holiday until the immigration of the working classes from the
British Isles in the late nineteenth century. While early immigrants may have believed the
superstitious traditions, it was the mischievous aspects of the holiday that attracted American young
people. Younger generations borrowed or adapted many customs without reference to their pagan
origins.
Hollywood has added to the "fun" a wide assortment of fictional characters—demons, monsters,
vampires, werewolves, mummies, and psychopaths. That certainly isn't improving the American mind,
but it sure is making someone a lot of money.
The Christian Response to Halloween
Today Halloween is almost exclusively an American secular holiday, but many who celebrate have no
concept of its religious origins or pagan heritage. That's not to say Halloween has become more
wholesome. Children dress up in entertaining costumes, wander the neighborhood in search of
candy, and tell each other scary ghost stories; but adults often engage in shameful acts of
drunkenness and debauchery.
So, how should Christians respond?
First, Christians should not respond to Halloween like superstitious pagans. Pagans are superstitious;
Christians are enlightened by the truth of God's Word. Evil spirits are no more active and sinister on
Halloween than they are on any other day of the year; in fact, any day is a good day for Satan to
prowl about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). But "greater is He who is in you than he who
is in the world" (1 John 4:4). God has forever "disarmed principalities and powers" through the cross
Christ and "made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them through [Christ]" (Colossians
2:15).
Second, Christians should respond to Halloween with cautionary wisdom. Some people fear the
activity of Satanists or pagan witches, but the actual incidents of satanic-associated crime are very
low. The real threat on Halloween is from the social problems that attend sinful behavior—drunk
driving, pranksters and vandals, and unsupervised children.
Like any other day of the year, Christians should exercise caution as wise stewards of their
possessions and protectors of their families. Christian young people should stay away from secular
Halloween parties since those are breeding grounds for trouble. Christian parents can protect their
children by keeping them well-supervised and restricting treat consumption to those goodies received
from trusted sources.
Third, Christians should respond to Halloween with gospel compassion. The unbelieving, Christrejecting
world lives in perpetual fear of death. It isn't just the experience of death, but rather what the
Bible calls "a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume
[God's] adversaries" (Hebrews 10:27). Witches, ghosts, and evil spirits are not terrifying; God's wrath
unleashed on the unforgiven sinner—now that is truly terrifying.
Christians should use Halloween and all that it brings to the imagination—death imagery, superstition,
expressions of debauched revelry—as an opportunity to engage the unbelieving world with the gospel
of Jesus Christ. God has given everyone a conscience that responds to His truth (Romans 2:14-16),
and the conscience is the Christian's ally in the evangelistic enterprise. Christians should take time to
inform the consciences of friends and family with biblical truth regarding God, the Bible, sin, Christ,
future judgment, and the hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ for the repentant sinner.
There are several different ways Christians will engage in Halloween evangelism. Some will adopt a
"No Participation" policy. As Christian parents, they don't want their kids participating in spiritually
compromising activities—listening to ghost stories and coloring pictures of witches. They don't want
their kids to dress up in costumes for trick-or-treating or even attending Halloween alternatives.
That response naturally raises eyebrows and provides a good opportunity to share the gospel to
those who ask. It's also important that parents explain their stand to their children and prepare them
to face the teasing or ridicule of their peers and the disapproval or scorn of their teachers.
Other Christians will opt for Halloween alternatives called "Harvest Festivals" or "Reformation
Festivals"—the kids dress up as farmers, Bible characters, or Reformation heroes. It's ironic when
you consider Halloween's beginning as an alternative, but it can be an effective means of reaching
out to neighborhood families with the gospel. Some churches leave the church building behind and
take acts of mercy into their community, "treating" needy families with food baskets, gift cards, and
the gospel message.
Those are good alternatives; there are others that are not so good. Some churches are using "Hell
House" evangelism to shock young people and scare them into becoming Christians. They walk
people through rooms patterned after carnival-style haunted houses and put sin on display—women
undergoing abortions, people sacrificed in a satanic ritual, consequences of premarital sex, dangers
of rave parties, demon possession, and other tragedies.
Here's the problem with so-called Hell House evangelism: To shock an unshockable culture, you
have to get pretty graphic. Graphic exhibits of sin and its consequences are
unnecessary—unbelieving minds are already full of such images. What they need to see is a life truly
transformed by the power of God, and what they need to hear is the truth of God in an accurate
presentation of the gospel. Cheap gimmickry is unfitting for Christ's ambassadors.
There's another option open to Christians: limited, non-compromising participation in Halloween.
There's nothing inherently evil about candy, costumes, or trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. In fact,
all of that can provide a unique gospel opportunity with neighbors. Even handing out candy to
neighborhood children—provided you're not stingy—can improve your reputation among the kids. As
long as the costumes are innocent and the behavior does not dishonor Christ, trick-or-treating can be
used to further gospel interests.

Ultimately, Christian participation in Halloween is a matter of conscience before God. Whatever level
of Halloween participation you choose, you must honor God by keeping yourself separate from the
world and by showing mercy to those who are perishing. Halloween provides the Christian with the
opportunity to accomplish both of those things in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's a message that is
holy, set apart from the world; it's a message that is the very mercy of a forgiving God. What better
time of the year is there to share such a message than Halloween?

Travis Allen
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