Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?
The month of October brings a time for pumpkin flavored everything and the changing of the leaves here in Virginia. October is one of my favorite times of the year because I can finally get my pumpkin cold brew coffee. The fall season brings cooler temperatures and comfortable sweatpants. It brings the celebration of Halloween and with that the question of… should Christians partake in Halloween? It seems that this question comes up every year and people will give you a wide range of answers. There are many churches that condemn the celebration and there are many that hold “trunk N treats” in their parking lots.
In order to fully understand the question, we need to get one thing out of the way at the start: Halloween does have pagan roots. There are some people that take the celebration of Halloween way past simple “trick or treating” with their kids in their local neighborhoods and there are plenty of dangers that will be out on Halloween night.
The central question that you need to search your heart with, is “does this night cause me to stumble?”
Galatians 5:1(NLT) So Christ has truly set us free. Now Make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
One of the most interesting aspects of following Jesus is that He set you free from slavery to the law. This is a true freedom, in that we no longer have condemnation from the law. Now does this mean that we can do anything we want? Of course not, but it means that we need to let the Holy Spirit live in our lives. Freedom means that, for some people, the celebration of Halloween is nothing more than fun costumes. While there are also many others that this night will become a stumbling block because of excessive partying or pagan worship.
Galatians 5:16(NLT): So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.
There are so many aspects to Halloween. For those of us who take kids trick or treating Halloween is not a big deal. My son chooses his own costume but he knows that he cannot be anything from the enemy’s realm. So there are no demons or devils in the house. The Holy Spirit guides us in determining what is appropriate for my son to partake in and what types of Halloween shows he can watch. He must also give away part of his candy every year to troops that are stationed overseas. In my house we have a fun family evening and we are back inside the house by 8:30 at night. There is no confusion on what we are doing in terms of worshipping false idols. It is a time for a kid to dress up with his friends and get candy.
Now as adults or teenagers the celebration can be much different. If you go to any Halloween store you can see how different the adult costumes are. In many cases there is very little left to the imagination and for women it is tough to find a decently covering costume. Parties are also much different than just simple trick or treating. In these cases you will need to listen to the Holy Spirit and follow what He is telling you. The sinful inclination is to indulge in this type of celebration and this can cause you to stumble in your walk with Christ. It is important to go against the cultural norm in these situations and follow Jesus, just like on any other night.
Ultimately, Jesus has granted you freedom from the Law. However He did send the Holy Spirit to help us discern situations and choose when to step away from different aspects of society. There are many churches that put on great Halloween or Fall activities that praise Jesus and are family friendly. The opposite is also true. You can find yourself at a celebration that is full of immorality. We must pray and listen to the Holy Spirit to guide us during these times. We must resist the notion to become legalistic or give up completely and join in the immorality. There is a happy medium where we can enjoy costumes, candy and of course… pumpkin cold brew!