Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

Good thoughts, Kara, and thanks for rounding up all those resources! I especially like your point about “giving grace to those with differing viewpoints.” It’s easy to have a strong opinion about halloween, and think every other opinion is just plain wrong. But we all have to seek God’s glory in our OWN lives, not in each other’s lives.

Also, if you’re interested, here’s what I wrote about the subject last year: Rethinking Halloween.

ooo, wow what a challenging and informative post!

Thought provoking post.

We celebrate Halloween, just not mean/”scary stuff”. Growing up we wouldn’t and my husband and I said we wouldn’t. Then it hit me–If I do “Harvest” parties or whatever name they called it where kids would dress-up and collect candy, what is different? Changing a name but celebrating the same way isn’t really different. I don’t condemn those who do or don’t celebrate, I just have fun dressing my 2 y/o son. Be blessed:)

Random addendum response to a Facebook comment:

I ♥ your heart to follow how He’s clearly directed your family and I so appreciate you sharing your wrestling…the process of laying this down before Him.

I clicked on over to your profile before replying and your verse in the header is one of my favorites…it’s written right now on the white board by my kitchen table…and that is my prayer…that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my ♥ would be pleasing and acceptable in His sight.

For us, it’s less about enjoying the costumes/candy etc. (though of course that is fun) and it’s more about the opportunity it provides to connect with people in our neighborhood. And I truly mean that.

In Oregon, especially with our rainy weather (and maybe it’s not like that everywhere)…people typically drive in their garages and close the doors and aren’t seen much for 9 months out of the year.

This is one of those strange times when it isn’t at all awkward to grab the kiddos, go knock on doors and talk with our neighbors…we met several of them for the first time on our trick-or-treating adventures.

I have read through much of the history of Halloween and some of it is horrible and scary and repulsive…but at least at this point in our lives…we feel like God has give us the freedom to “redeem” it in our own, small way.

And I guess I’m just convinced that it isn’t totally clear-cut-black-and-white because there are godly men and women I respect and admire who hold differing views when it comes to Halloween…all of them solid Christ followers, who are willing to submit to His leading. That’s why in the list of resources I shared…I shared all different perspectives.

I do appreciate what you wrote though about the wrestling and if He doesn’t give peace…then my ♥ would lean towards thinking it best to avoid any participation.

I guess my prayer is that Christ followers would be intentional and willing to ask Him for wisdom and that then, we’d approach each other with grace…

(not its shallow-wishy-washy-easily-swayed-by-the-wind-counterfeit), but with true grace.

Not a lack of conviction–
For when God convicts, obedience is a must.
Not unity at the expense of the true gospel–
But a love that says-

“My soul find yourself in Jesus and be free.” ~Andree Seu

I guess that reading your comment just makes me feel this even more deeply…because I can tell you love Him and want to please Him…and I do as well. Hope all this comes across as intended and with ♥

Wonderful advice and list of resources. My younger brother’s birthday is on Halloween, so we always celebrated that growing up…. So far our tradition as a new family (one whole year! lol) has been to go to our church’s party. Last year they did Trunk or Treat. I’m not sure what they are doing this year, but that’s where we will be.

Thanks for sharing these links! Thankful for the input. We’ve been back and forth about this and I’ve never been satisfied with our decision. Need to put more thought and prayer into it!

Hey guys. Thanks for your blog on this. Although I have come to a different conclusion to you and your husband, I did like you approach to this and I trust that it will serve you well in other areas.

Just a couple of things (if you don’t mind). WE LOOK TO GOD’s WORD; Have you read Thessalonians 5:21-22? It’s a small book and many people miss it.

Also,I was a little confused by “We choose humility over pride (knowing that we are a work-in-progress and God often convicts and changes hearts in His own timing)”. What does this mean? I’m not sure how you’re applying it… But I take it as you saying “Hey, it might be wrong to you, but not for us because God hasn’t told us directly yet” – perhaps this is the part where I re-direct you to Thessalonians?

I see Halloween this way:
1) God hates it. It celebrates evil. We should therefore hate it too.
2) Rather than celebrating evil spirits and their dominion over us, what if Halloween celebrated abortion. Would we still feel comfortable celebrating it
with the world?
3) We (the church) are called to be different to the world. We are called to be the salt. We are supposed to be ridiculed and hated. We can’t try and “fit in” with the world and please God, it just doesn’t work – and the Word of God reaffirms that.

Anyway, I really appreciated your openness and honesty. I hope that this perhaps encourages you to reevaluate your position?

Love in Christ, Craig.

We choose humility over pride (knowing that we are a work-in-progress and God often convicts and changes hearts in His own timing).

Mine and my husband’s family are of Jewish descent, and we were raised with the understanding that both Easter and Christmas (as we celebrate and recognize them) are rooted in pagan rituals early Christians sought to “transform” as a way of luring pagans away from their belief systems. Knowing this, if you think about it, Christians shouldn’t be celebrating any of the big “Christian” holidays because they aren’t rooted in true Christian beliefs.

However, what is the intent? The intent of Easter and Christmas is not to honor the pagan holidays of old. For us it doesn’t matter how it started: it matters only how we choose to live. So, my husband, my daughter, myself, and our families celebrate Easter, Christmas, and Halloween. On Halloween we make it a point to host a party with our friends and neighbors, complete with a fire pit, impromptu jam sessions (my parents are folk musicians), food galore, and costumed children running hither and yon. I love our Halloween activities. For us we do not feel that God would be ashamed of our choosing to celebrate in our way. Each family is different, and we may in time change our tunes. But you made a good point in one of your comments: in the grand scheme of things, we personally do not believe that our choosing to celebrate Halloween will tarnish our witness or deny us access to salvation. To each his own, of course. But those are our thoughts.