“Should Christians celebrate Halloween?” is a question that pops up every year. And it’s a valid question. We should always strive to live a life that glorifies God.
Do our daily choices glorify Him? Are we participating in activities that point to God? And are we living as Jesus instructed us to?
The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
Proverbs 8:13 (ESV)
The Bible tells us that the fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. And let’s face it. In a lot of ways, “celebrating” Halloween is the opposite of hating evil. A large part of Halloween is celebrating and glorifying the very evil things we should hate.
Halloween takes those things (witchcraft, evil spirits, graphic horror films, etc.) and makes them playful and innocent. Which, I might add, could be very confusing and dangerous for our children.
So the answer seems clear, right? If you’re a Christian, you shouldn’t celebrate such a dark, pagan holiday.
EVERY DAY BELONGS TO THE LORD
But hold on…hold on. Pump the breaks.
Do we really need to reject everything about the day? I mean…candy is not evil. Pumpkins are God’s creations. And every day belongs to the Lord.
In the end, every day we live is God’s day because only He is the author of all days. So, let’s not let the enemy claim and taint any of God’s days. October 31st is not Satan’s day. That day, like all other days, belongs to the Lord.
Additionally, if we’re going to reject everything about Halloween, we should take a closer look at some of the other holidays and traditions that we acknowledge and participate in. We might be surprised by what we find. Here is a YouTube video that highlights 25 surprising holidays & traditions that have Pagan roots (which includes Christmas guys).
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Remember, what the enemy intends for evil, Christians can turn around to glorify God. And the same can be said of a day like Halloween.
EVERYTHING IS PERMISSABLE
I have the right to do anything,” you say–but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”–but not everything is constructive.
1 Corinthians 10:23
The Bible tells us that everything is permissible, although not everything is helpful. So, we should be evaluating everything in our lives to make sure nothing is hindering our growth or setting us back spiritually.
And Halloween is no different. We need to ask ourselves how participating in Halloween could possibly be harmful or even disrespectful to God.
Most things are permissible in and of themselves. Pumpkins are not demonic. Dressing up as a cartoon character does not mean you worship the devil. It’s okay. You are not going to be thrown into the fiery pits of hell. Neither will your kids.
But the biggest thing to remember as Christians is that if we want to grow spiritually and become closer to God, we do have to make some sacrifices.
And although watching a demonic horror film won’t get you a direct ticket to hell, it could certainly hinder your connection with God, and possibly make you susceptible to demonic influence. And we certainly don’t want that!
When we’re on a serious walk with God, we must ask ourselves these questions. Everything is not a heaven or hell issue. But is it a spiritual growth issue? Is it bringing you closer or farther away from God?
So, Christians and Halloween…can they coexist? To Halloween or not to Halloween?
Well, if you take the day and turn it into a day of innocent, evil-free fun that glorifies God, go for it. Dress your kids up as Snoopy, or Winnie the Pooh, or a Ketchup bottle. That is certainly permissible.
However, if you are still uncertain about it, guess what? You can go to God directly for guidance. You have grace, and the Holy Spirit inside you will lead you on the right path. All you have to do is ask.
Should Christian’s Allow Their Kids to Dress Up for Halloween?
One of the main reasons I wanted to write this post is because I am a mother. And one of the things I want to avoid is over-restricting my son. When he is finally out of the house and free to do as he pleases, I don’t want him to run to everything we taught him to stay away from.
You know what they say. Telling someone not to do something usually just makes them want to do it more.
When it comes to a holiday like Halloween, from a child’s perspective, it’s innocent fun.
They don’t understand or care about the origins of the day. And one day my toddler will be in school and all his classmates will be doing fun Halloween stuff while he sulks in the corner not understanding why his mom won’t let him dress up as batman and eat skittles. (One reason I’ve been considering homeschooling…)
Yes, it is our jobs as parents to teach them what is right. But it is my opinion that we can do that without stripping them of little joys and isolating them completely from their friends. Additionally, our job is to teach our kids to be a light, to be salt upon the earth. How can we do that if we completely shelter them from the world?
There’s great disagreement on this within the Christian community. But there’s no real harm in letting our kids dress up as their favorite characters. As long as those characters aren’t evil (no witches or devil horns), what’s the harm?
Wearing a Pooh Bear costume is not going to get the family tossed into the fiery pits.
I’d like to think that God has bigger things to be concerned about.
However! I know that a lot of Christians don’t agree with this. They don’t want to have anything to do with the festivities of that day. And that’s totally okay too.
A Christian Alternative to Halloween
So, if after much deliberation, we ultimately decide to take the day away from our kids, we should replace it with something equally as appealing. Give our children something else to look forward to that will compete with what they think they lost.
An alternative to celebrating Halloween is celebrating Fall with a Fall Fest! No dressing up as evil characters or scary decorations. No demonic horror films or toying around with Ouija boards (I don’t even like writing that word).
Just celebrating God’s season of Fall with family and friends. And your kids will love it!
My in-laws throw an annual Fall Fest where they invite family and friends over for a big pitch in. There’s good food, candy, caramel apples, pie, and other treats. And as it starts to get late, we all gather outside around a bonfire and play games, listen to music, and just chit chat.
It’s such a good time. Everyone enjoys themselves without the need for dark activities!
You could even have a kid version of this. Decorate the house in fall colors, sit out some pumpkins, and any Fall decor you can think of. (Michaels is a great place for this type of thing.)
Sit out some candy and treats and let the kids play some games. I’m willing to bet they won’t even think about missing out on Halloween.
This will be their version of Halloween and it does not have to include anything that does not glorify God.
In Conclusion
So…Christians and Halloween…what should we do? I’ll end with this. God is so much bigger than the boxes that we put Him in. Salvation comes by believing and accepting Jesus as our Lord and savior, period. And once saved, you can ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in all your ways. And that includes what to do about Halloween.
It is my personal opinion that God is more concerned with our relationship with Him than He is about whether or not we dress our kids up in costumes.
Am I saying go out and dress up as Satan and pour demonic horror films down our eyes? No, not at all.
But as long as we’re clearing everything with Him, making sure we do everything to the glory of God, purging our life of all things that dishonor God and push us further from Him, we’re are on the right track.
“Should Christians celebrate Halloween” is a good question. But let’s not get so caught up in the rules of what we can and can’t do that we miss out on who God truly is.
What do you think? Should Christians celebrate Halloween?
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Loved reading this. And I agree with your perspective. I didn’t grow up celebrating Halloween. We did do hallelujah night though. Heehee.
Thanks! And I love that. That’s a good example of taking the day and turning it around to glorify the Lord. Yasss to Hallelujah Night! lol
Thank you so much for this. I agree completely!
Thanks for your comment! 🙂
No, I do not think Christians should celebrate Halloween. As you say, I do believe that it should be replaced with something equally fun. At the Christian school where I taught, we had Angels and Saints Day on Halloween. The kids got to dress up as a saint or an angel from the Bible. We had fall harvest parties in our classrooms. My students painted their pumpkins that they picked out from our field trip to the pumpkin patch and had contests to guess whose was heaviest, tallest, fattest, etc., and how many seeds were inside. We had a taco bar and they made caramel apples, and took home goodie bags of candy. At church, we held a carnival on Halloween. The kids played carnival games and took home huge goodie bags of candy. As Christians, we should be showing the world the right way to celebrate fall. 😊🙏🏽
That sounds like fun. I love a good fall party. It’s such a great way to replace all the ugliness of Halloween. Yes, it’s an opportunity for Christians to display Christ. I know some people don’t even agree with having Fall Fests or doing anything on that day. But I just feel that every day belongs to God, and if we can take what Satan is using for evil and use it for good, then why not. Thanks so much for your comment Robyn!