Should Christians Celebrate Halloween? (Pagan roots and Christian origins)

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Topics discussed in this Video/Article:

What started the holiday tradition of Halloween?
- Pagan and Occult origins of Halloween from the Irish Celts and their Druidic festival of Samhain
- Christian origins of Halloween from the Roman Catholic’s All Saint’s Day / All Soul’s Day and All Hallow’s Eve
Modern-day Halloween and the Beliefs and Practices held by its proponents including Christians, Wiccans, and Satanists
How the Halloween tradition may be unintentionally contributing to the entitlement mentality in America
How Christians should interpret the practices of modern-day Halloween from a Biblical perspective
Whether or not Christians should celebrate Halloween, or at the very least certain aspects of it
Overview of the discussion about Halloween, the pros and the cons of celebrating
Practical Advice and several options about how best to glorify God during the holiday season

The content below is a written version very similar to the video.

The Origin of Halloween –

Pagan and Occult Origins of Halloween

I think the historic evidence for Halloween beginning over 3K years ago is pretty solid. I believe the majority of historians agree that the ancient Northern Celts (particularly in Ireland and Scotland) had a nighttime festival called Samhain on October 31st, which marked the mid-point between the fall equinox and the beginning of the winter solstice. Samhain is pronounced “sow-wen” with “sow” rhyming with “cow.”

The Celts, and their spiritist priests and mediums (called Druids) believed that on this night of the year the veil between the natural realm and the realm of the dead was the thinnest and the dead spirits roamed the earth. They would tell stories about loved ones who died in the past year and talk to them and pray to them.

In order to repel those dead spirits that were vengeful they would dress up and adorn grotesque facial masks and to repel them from their homes they would put on their doorsteps hallowed-out turnips with a grotesque face or scary things carved into it and a candle inside of it to light it up. People would gather around bonfires and tell scary or mythical stories about fairies, elves, spirits, monsters, ghosts, etc.

Many would do divination rituals about the following year, perform witchcraft or occult ceremonies, and celebrate other forms of pagan or Mother Earth or nature worship type spiritism.

This is continued to this day. In his ‘Satanic Bible’ the founder of The Church of Satan, Anton LaVey, said in the 20th century, that Halloween was their most important holiday of the year. This belief is held by a vast amount of pagan religions who consider the day their high holy day including Wicca, Santaria, and many others.

Many modern-day satanic cults with occult roots seek to do evil and mayhem on this day including murder, vandalism, and human and animal sacrifice. Of course any celebration of evil is absolutely prohibited, but even “relatively innocent” forms of divination (such as predicting future love interests), necromancy (talking to the dead) or witchcraft are strictly prohibited by the God of the Bible. (Bible Verses about Sorcery and Magic)

Christian Origins of Halloween —

I personally haven’t found this argument very convincing but for the sake of honesty and transparency I will let you know that it does exist and some scholars do hold to it. Either way, there are definitely Christian elements that have blended in with the Halloween tradition.

In this view, it is accepted that there were pagan folk religious celebrations at this time of the year going back 1,500 years by the Northern Celts but since there were no written records among the people until their Christianization in the fifth century we cannot know about the holiday with any certainty. These scholars assert that most of what we know about Samhain comes from Northern Celtic folklore in the tenth century onwards.

This second argument goes that Halloween is a blending of the words All Hallows’ Eve or Evening (referring to the evening before the Roman Catholic Church’s All Saints’ Day on November 1). “Hallow” means “holy”. This day was set aside to commemorate all Christian saints and martyrs who had lost their lives for the faith. This is why people think about the dead on this day(s) of the year. Originally on May 13, 610 it was moved to November 1st by AD 741 and formally added to the church calendar in AD 835.

Some scholars assert that this Catholic holiday already existed and then pagans added spiritism and paganism beliefs to it. Other scholars say the pagan holiday existed much longer and then the Catholic Church attempted to “Christianize” the holiday of their pagan citizens (as they did with every pagan thing in society), but they never fully gave up their pagan beliefs.

In looking for a non-pagan reason for costumes on this day the best I’ve found is pre-Reformation British Isles, where poor people would go door to door “souling”, which was praying for the souls of loved ones in purgatory in exchange for food or gifts. In some regions they would dress up in costumes such as saints, angels, or demon,s and perform a mini-play for homeowners.

Of course I can see the word Halloween is a blending of both of these origin stories. “Hallow” comes from the Catholic All Saints’ Day tradition whereas “ween” comes from the latter half of Samhain. (Note that it is pronounced “Sow-ween”) I think it is apparent that both of these ancient traditions have had an influence on modern-day Halloween.

16-page pamphlet – Christian Origins of Halloween, ROSE Publishing

Modern Day Halloween and Dressing Up –

When it comes to determining whether or not participating in Halloween and/or dressing up is bad it really depends upon which of these two origins you believe is true. It also depends on what you think modern-day Halloween is celebrating in the context of the larger culture, and also what you personally intend to celebrate with it.

I think a strong argument can be made that Halloween does nothing more than glorify and celebrate evil. Think about the symbolism: haunted houses, witches, black cats, Satan, demons, ghosts, goblins, zombies, vampires, axe murderers, serial killers, mummies, etc. This is a celebration of, and a joking around about, death and things that cause death, in order to mock death. Many are dying now, and many have died apart from the Lord. This isn’t a laughing matter.

Also, ghosts aren’t real. There is one death and then the Judgment. And Hell is a real destination people will go to. People fear death so they mock it, just as we cartoonize Satan with the red outfit, horns and pitchfork. We make fun of it in order to take the seriousness and anxiety and fear out of it, but in the end, if we don’t take it serious enough to protect ourselves from it, it will ultimately destroy us.

Additionally, many young people are confused about the reality of death. There is a rise of atheism, agnosticism, and pagan humanism. Our liberal culture of celebrating any and every idea, even ones that we (as Christians) know to be lies, such as ghosts, zombies, false gods, etc only gives more doubts to young minds as they are developing.

Not to mention the other worldly things that are celebrated on Halloween like blatant sexuality, partial or near full nudity, promiscuity, fornication, hedonism, drunkenness, carousing, drug use, vandalism, mischief, wild parties, and orgies. Many of our youth begin with innocent costumes as children and then remembering how Halloween was fun as a child, continue this “fun” as a teenager or young adult later in not-so-innocent ways. So, that which doesn’t explicitly glorify death and evil, still glorifies sinfulness and ungodliness.

Even cute “Casper the friendly ghost” costumes celebrate a demonic lie that has and does send people to Hell. Even people who call themselves Christians fall prey to this cultural seduction. The fact that our 70+% “Christian nation” spends over 8 Billion dollars every year on Halloween (the 2nd highest amount in spending after Christmas) speaks volumes about the impact the holiday has on us. We should not underestimate the influence that cultural seduction and fun has on the beliefs we form.

What about the Halloween costume and trick-or-treating for children? I can see how it can be very innocent and fun. I can see how it can give homeowners an opportunity to serve and bless others with treats. However, I can also see problems coming out of a society that brings forth children thinking “all I have to do is show up and you’ll give me something.” Our society does show symptoms that children are becoming entitled adults who think that the world “owes them something.”

I wonder if some of the entitlement mentality comes from adults who were former children, who, on every one of our materialistic holidays, expected people to give them something they didn’t have to work for, and the houses whose lights weren’t on where the “jerk houses.”

Christian Conclusions About Halloween –

I think it is safe to conclude that any form of dressing up and celebrating in and participation of evil, death, haunted houses, magic, or demonic costumes should be avoided. These things do not honor or glorify God, and, in fact, have contributed to the decay of society and increased godlessness.

In today’s culture we celebrate sinful ideas without even thinking about it. Many children “loved” shows like Bewitched or Harry Potter, etc. Do we think these kids will grow up and know that “real witchcraft” is actually real and demonic? Christians are to walk in the light, not revel in the darkness. Yes, we are to be the light of the world, and to go into darkness, but, that does not mean we are to participate in the darkness. We are first and foremost to be holy, i.e. “Set apart” from the world. (Ephesians 5)

(Ephesians 5:8, 11, 15-17) 8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 15Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

But what if we know that we are conquerors of death, and have no reason to fear it, and do not believe in the lies of Satan such as ghosts, Hell not existing, etc? What if we know that humans only die once and Christian’s souls will go to be with the Lord upon death until Christ returns to make all things new and clothe us with glorious eternal bodies? (1 Corinthians 15:54, Philippians 1:23, 2 Peter 3:13, Philippians 3:20–21, 1 Thessalonians 4:13)

What if we trust our Bible and we know that witches are real, and magic is real, and evil spirits are real, and these things really give worship and access to demons? Should we pretend that they aren’t real? What if we know that all these things are in the world and glorified by the world, but that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world? Does that mean we can use our liberty to do whatever we want? NO. We have to realize that our witness to the world reflects Jesus to the world and God’s Truth to the world. If we participate in the same activities that spread lies and celebrate and glorify evil and sin then we communicate to the world that there is nothing wrong with thinking and doing these things. And just because we know the truth ourselves doesn’t mean that everyone else does. In fact, our bad witness may lead others astray, and God plainly tells us that if we do this we are committing a sin. We need to learn from Paul’s lesson about eating meat sacrificed to idols here. (1 Corinthians 8)

1 Corinthians 8:11-13 – So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

So, does this mean that you cannot celebrate Halloween in a godly way? Perhaps not. Many Christians have used this holiday as an opportunity to talk about spiritual things with people who are already thinking about it and open to it at this time of year. Many carve crosses into their pumpkins, hand out gospel tracts in baggies along with the best candy, dress up like saints or other godly figures, play worship music so that their visitors can hear it, or ask to pray over people who visit. They see this as an opportunity to bring some Jesus to those who come to their homes who may not have any experiences with godly Christians before.

Some Christians will have godly parties and celebrate All Saint’s Day and/or All Hallows’ Eve and invite their neighbors giving them a fun night out with music, dancing, and candy—without all the demonic symbolism. Some Christians will decide to instead celebrate “Reformation Day” on Halloween because October 31st, 1517 was the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the Roman cathedral door, which ultimately led to the Protestant Reformation.

Some devout “spiritual warfare” Christians will silently pray over individuals who pass them in the streets or come to their door, or drive around and pray over neighborhoods to offset and fend off any Occultic or satanic prayers and sacrifices that may being offered on Halloween night in those neighborhoods. Other Christians will avoid the holiday altogether and have nothing to do with any of it wanting to be fully sanctified and apart from everything it stands for.

Ultimately it is up to you. Learn about the holiday and give serious thought to these things. Pray about them. Listen to the conviction of your own conscience. Listen to the prompting and conviction of the Holy Spirit. In all things, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness..”

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)

Other Key Bible Verses:

reject every kind of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:22)

“Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:36)

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. (1 Peter 1:14-17)

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES TO LEARN MORE:

BIBLE VERSES ABOUT THE REALITY OF DEATH:

BIBLE VERSES ABOUT OCCULTISM (LISTS):

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Brian S. Holmes

Founder, Lead Pastor at MPowered Christian Ministries