A Closer Look: Halloween

Flood Zone Recap
10.29.2006

If you weren't at the Flood Zone Sunday night then you missed an opportunity to talk about this question:

Is it OK for Christians to Celebrate Halloween?

While we may not have come to a final decision, we did discuss some points about Halloween's past and some truths from scripture about things we should avoid.

Here's a quick (controversial) history of Halloween. (You can find a more detailed version at www.jeremiahproject.com/halloween.html)

Halloween can be traced by to the Celtic (the Celts are a people group in England) holdiay called Samhain.

Their new year was celebrated on November 1. This marked the change in seasons from life (summer) to death (winter).

They believed that the dead from the previous year (and possibly other times) would wander from this life to the next.

As Christianity spread, they looked to put away the pagan practices of Samhain.

In 834 AD, Gregory III moved a Christian holidy, All Saint's Day (a time to honor all the Saint's that didn't have a day of their own...kind of like President's day) which was normally celebrated on May 13 to November 1.

This made October 31 All Hallow's Eve (Hallow means Saint), which was shortened to Hallow's Evening and then Halloween.

Some of our customs of Halloween can be possibly traced back to the traditions of Samhain:

Costumes-presumably, the celtic people, out of fear of what the bad spirit's would do to them, would dress as the spirits, demons, etc to keep the spirits from playing tricks on them.

Bonfires-comes from the phrase "bone fire" which represents the priestly sacrificial fires that the druids (the celtic priests) would burn to encourage the God's to bring back the light of the sun.

Handing out Candy-The people of the celtic villages would leave fruit, nuts, and meats out to appease the spirits that were coming to their houses (apparently dead people get hungry)

The actual american practice of Trick-or-Treating probably didn't start until the 1930's or 1940's as a response to all of the vandalism and mischief that was going on during Halloween night. Communities were looking for ways to get kids out of chaos and into organized clean fun, and halloween costume parties with trick-or-treating was the way they did it.

What does the Bible have to say about Halloween?

Since Halloween as we know it has not been around for very long, the Bible doesn't say anyting specific about it. But what it does talk about are specific practices that sometimes take place on Halloween.

Deuteronomy 18:9-13 warns us not to IMITATE the evil ways of the people, including but not limited to: human sacrifice, sorcery, witchcraft, mediums, calling on the dead, casting spells, etc. So, if this is a normal part of Halloween practice, Christians should not be a part of it...not even imitating it (with costumes or decorations of devils, demons, witches, etc.)

3 John 1:11 warns us not to imitate in action these evil things, but to seek to do good. This means that we should not be involved in the "mischief" that goes on during Halloween (egging, smashing pumpkins, bashing mailboxes, stealing candy, etc.)

2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that God has not given us a spirit of timid fear. We also should not be instilling in others a spirit of timid fear. So, if scary movies give you nightmares, or haunted houses make you scared to go into a dark room, stay away from it! Satan wants us to be afraid, but we have no reason to fear anything that he can do (because God is ultimately in control!)

So, the bottom line: Should Christians celebrate Halloween.

It depends. Halloween can be a night of great fun, great evil, or a mix of both. As Christians, we should be taking whatever opportunity there is to minister to our neighbors, and Halloween is one night we can do that. We must, however, be certain to present the light, love, and truth of Christ in the midst of this historically dark night. We should not be involved in anything that imitates evil or anything that instills fear. Those are definites...the rest, for now, is up to you.

I'll close with a quote from John Fischer, a Christian columnist. This is just food for thought...I am not taking sides!

"Why allow those [darker elements] to drive me away from my home on a night I am guaranteed to have visitors? Which is more of a victory for Satan, I wonder--a shinign Jack-o-lantern and five costumed kids at my door, or a dark house where the light should be?"

Wherever you come down on the halloween debate, know this: Satan wants us to hide from the culture so that we have no influence. God wants us engaged in the culture, WITHOUT COMPROMISE, leading them out of darkness and into the marvelous light of Christ.