Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

From the Pulpit & Pen:

I am writing this for my church. I think it might be helpful for others, and so I will make it available here.

Clearly, certain questions are a matter of adiaphora, and no one should deny the reality that certain ethical questions fall into that category.

Adiaphora is a term developed by stoic philosophers and adopted by Christians to describe decisions that are neither inherently moral or immoral, right or wrong, or necessarily good or bad. As a category or framework to understand ethical conundrums the concept of adiaphora is often helpful.

However, not every ethical question can be answered by categorizing the matter adiaphora. There are also questions with answers that do not echo sentiments of Christian liberty, but can rather be clearly categorized as moral or immoral, right or wrong, righteousness or sin. Christians seem all-too-eager today to silence the collective conscience by putting every issue in the pigeon hole of adiaphora, shrugging their shoulders and mumbling something about floating your boat. In reality, even if something is adiaphora – meaning that it is neither explicitly forbidden or explicitly commanded – it doesn’t necessarily mean that there isn’t a wise or unwise, helpful or unhelpful, healthy or unhealthy decision to be made regarding that ethical decision. In short, even if something is adiaphora, it doesn’t mean you’re off the hook of thinking out the costs and benefits, implications and consequences of ethical decisions.

Paul references this notion in 1 Corinthians 10:23, “‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up.” Clearly for the Apostle, even those things that may not necessarily be wrong, may still be unwise, unhelpful or unedifying. It would be foolish of the Christian to embrace “all things are lawful” while neglecting his admonition, “but not all things are helpful.”

First, we need to ask if it is sinful for a Christian to celebrate Halloween. Then, we must ask – if it is not sinful – if it is wise, helpful or edifying to celebrate Halloween.

In order to answer the first question, I need to explain the holiday known as “Halloween.”

Do Atheists Complain About Halloween?

I love the autumn and the things that go with it; the leaves changing colors, the smell of the dry leaves (or the damp leaves on a rainy day), the bite of frost, the sound of a college football game on a distant radio as leaves are being raked... I so miss the smell of burning leaves. I think a few handfuls are going to 'accidentally' drop into my firepit this weekend. Ages ago I lived near a cider mill and the smell of those crisp tart apples being juiced as I walked past the mill can only be described as heavenly.

Autumn traditionally is a time of plenty - down on the farm the harvest is in and the critters were frisky so there's too many animals to support during the winter. So we can the fruit and vegetables and feast on what we didn't have jars to hold, along with feasting on the surplus critters. Autumn is the perfect time for the Thanksgiving holiday because God's plenty abounds. It's also when Atheism shows its true colors

We know about Atheist's allergy to Christmas, the day we choose to celebrate the birth of our Savior and Lord, Christ Jesus. If you pay attention they also have a big issue with Thanksgiving, the day we annually set aside solely to give thanks to our Lord for His abundance. I've heard several atheist screeds verging on the hysterical about giving thanks to God on a day we set aside to give thanks to God. But what about Halloween? 

The Most Demonic Thing In Your House.

If I were to market a toy for older kids, ages 10 - 16 would you buy one for your kids? If I made such a toy I would call it a "Magic Disappearing Kit" which is guaranteed to make anything disappear, now would you consider buying it? It's very simple to use: pour some magic powder into the magic tube, screw on the magic end cap, place the magic tube under the object you want to make disappear, light the magic fuse, cover your ears, and watch the fun! I mean, it has to be safe for your kids to use because I'm selling it as a toy, right? Ok, if you haven't guessed, my "Magic Disappearing Kit" is a bomb-making kit guaranteed to make anything disappear, including your hand, and possibly much more than that. 

Naturally you wouldn't want to have your children blowing themselves up, so if you in your God given role as a parent wouldn't buy your children a 'toy' designed to make highly explosive weapons, why would you considering giving them a 'toy' designed to communicate with satanic entities opening yourself and your family to demonic oppression? I'm talking about the Ouija board.

What Should a Christian Do On Halloween?

First of all, taking your kids trick-or-treating door to door will not condemn you to hell. Nor will gathering with your friends in costume on October 31. BUT... are you doing it for the Glory of God?

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

I really like the autumn, the changing leaves, the smells, fresh apple cider, harvest time... and I like Jack O' Lanterns. Well, maybe I like the candle light from inside the Jack O' Lantern the most, (I love candle light, it's my primary house decoration around Christmas) followed by the roasted pumpkin seeds and my (so far unsuccessful) attempts to make pie from the giant fruit (yes, a pumpkin is a fruit). But other than hacking up a pumpkin (if I carve anything into it, it's an Ichthys)  and pouring an ice cold glass of apple cider or two and a powder sugar covered donut (which I don't like, but it's traditional) that's pretty much my revelry, I don't celebrate Halloween. 

I'm not going to sit here and tell you not to celebrate Halloween or you'll roast in hell, that's legalism, and I get enough of that in tribulation 'discussions'. But since it's my blog, I'm going to explain why I don't celebrate Halloween and invite you along for the ride. To begin with, Halloween has always been and always will be a pagan festival: 

How I'm Spending Halloween

Many Christians wonder how to handle Halloween, the secular celebration of all things occult and satanic. I suggest to handle it biblically:

Come, my people, enter into your rooms And close your doors behind you; Hide for a little while until indignation runs its course. (Isaiah 26:20)

Bible Verses for Halloween

¹³ For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ¹⁵ Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds. (2 Cor. 11:13-15)

 ¹¹ Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them (Eph. 5:11)

¹⁰ There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, ¹¹ or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. ¹² For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you. (Deut. 18:10-12)

Lets Just Skip Halloween This Year

I may just be "chasing after the wind" but I'm really not happy with Halloween and our national orgy of satanic ritual. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good sugar rush as much as the next seven year old, and my favorite shopping day is November 1st when all the halloween size Kit-Kat's and Almond Joys are 75% off at the local Piggly Wiggly, but what at price are we selling our souls just for a party?

If the words "Everyone's doing it" come to your lips then shame on you. We're Christians! When we see that everyone's doing it we should instinctively turn away! Or at least instinctively find out exactly what is going on. While the whole world was sacrificing their children to Moloch and Baal our theological ancestors were railing against that. While all of the known world reeling in drunken orgies our theological ancestors were burned at the stake for their faith to illuminate those parties. While papistry ran rampant throughout Europe usurping governments and selling indulgences our theological ancestors were hunted down like dogs by the inquisition for the sin of reading the true word of God in the holy scriptures. We Christians are the original rugged individuals putting our faith and trust in Jesus, not in society. Here's my reason why you won't find me unless you know where I'm studying my bible come October 31: 

Can A Christian Celebrate Halloween?

The easy answer to the question 'Can a Christian celebrate Halloween' is "It depends" Unfortunately that's also the hard answer. 

The word Halloween comes from "All Hallows Eve", it was the night before All Saints Day (All Hallows Day)  where the man-made saints of the Catholic church were worshiped. At some point the tradition of going door to door requesting small cakes in exchange for prayers for the dead relatives of the house became part of the ritual and eventually became today's 'Trick or Treat'.

Of course an already pre-existing holiday was hijacked by the Catholic church, the Irish holiday of Samhain (pronounced sow-en because that's what it was originally called (Sauin). As for the spelling? Got me, I'm not Irish). Samhain is the shortened version of the Irish word Mí na Samhna which quite literally means "November" and is the celebration of the end of summer, which was a popular celebration among the Gaelic peoples. Samhain marks the end of summer, flocks are brought down from the hills and a great many animals are killed - you can store meat, but live animals have to be fed and winter is a time of near famine for the Irish. Strong breeding stock is separated from the flocks/herds and the rest are slaughtered. When this is complete it's party time. Samhain was celebrated with bonfires (because bonfires and parties always go well together) called samhnagan and religious ceremonies grew up around the celebrations. One of the many ancient Celtic religions beliefs during the time of Samhain is that the doorways to the Otherworld opened enough for fairies and the dead to communicate with us.