Halloween. Is it evil? Should Christians celebrate it?

[SimpleSheep]

I still live at home and my mom hates Halloween and everything that has to do with it. This is because of a church she would attend who told her Halloween is the enemy's birthday. I don't know how that's true because it's definitely not in the bible. I respect her wishes as I live in her house but...

I secretly love it! I love the colors, pumpkins, bats, skeletons, costumes and of course the candy! I'm an October baby. My birthday is two weeks before Halloween. I grew up loving October, Fall, and Halloween. I associate the month with happiness and celebration. I should note that my family makes a bigger deal about birthdays than other families do. One year I had a cake with a pumpkin and a black cat coming out of the pumpkin. It was so pretty. I guess in a way when I think of myself, I think of Halloween too. So in a way, it kinda hurts me when mom says she hates everything about Halloween now.

Needless to say, the day I can afford to move out (which at this rate might never come haha) I would want to decorate for the holiday. But I also wonder if my mom and that church do have a point. Is Halloween evil? Should we as Christians celebrate it?

I understand some things like ghosts and witches are probably not the best thing to have in your house. But would it really be sinful to decorate with some jack o lanterns and give out candy to the neighborhood kids?

My priority is obviously to please God and if this holiday offends him, I know I shouldn't celebrate it.

 

[Subhumanoidal]

There's at least one, often two or three, new threads on this subject every October.

I always felt whether or not to celebrate holidays is up to your own conscience. If you feel it's wrong, don't do it. If you're ok with it, go for it.

But as always there are people who can't grasp the idea that there Are some things that are subjective to the individual and instead feel the need to force their view on everyone else.

 

[seoulsearch]

I personally think it's all about choice, intent, and action.

If something bothers someone's conscience, don't celebrate or participate in it -- easy peasy.

A church I was part of turned Halloween into an event they called the Hallow Him Fall Festival instead.

Members decorated their cars, set up a Trunk'O'Treat in the church parking lot, and all kids, whether part of the church or neighborhood, were invited to dress up, get candy at the various stations, and learn about Jesus at the same time.

 

[Lynx]

Interesting... Out of all the people on the forum, SimpleSheep is one of the last people I expected to kick off the annual "Evil Holiday" threads.

 

[HealthAndHappiness]

I still live at home and my mom hates Halloween and everything that has to do with it. This is because of a church she would attend who told her Halloween is the enemy's birthday. I don't know how that's true because it's definitely not in the bible. I respect her wishes as I live in her house but...

I secretly love it! I love the colors, pumpkins, bats, skeletons, costumes and of course the candy! I'm an October baby. My birthday is two weeks before Halloween. I grew up loving October, Fall, and Halloween. I associate the month with happiness and celebration. I should note that my family makes a bigger deal about birthdays than other families do. One year I had a cake with a pumpkin and a black cat coming out of the pumpkin. It was so pretty. I guess in a way when I think of myself, I think of Halloween too. So in a way, it kinda hurts me when mom says she hates everything about Halloween now.

Needless to say, the day I can afford to move out (which at this rate might never come haha) I would want to decorate for the holiday. But I also wonder if my mom and that church do have a point. Is Halloween evil? Should we as Christians celebrate it?

I understand some things like ghosts and witches are probably not the best thing to have in your house. But would it really be sinful to decorate with some jack o lanterns and give out candy to the neighborhood kids?

My priority is obviously to please God and if this holiday offends him, I know I shouldn't celebrate it.

I understand how you feel. You like to be reminded of your special month. That's ok and if you talked to your parents about it that way, they might make an acception to focus on the YOU part, while leaving Halloween out of it.

I used to enjoy dressing up and having fun on Halloween, but changed my mind after I got saved and learning about it more. You see, Halloween doesn't mean anything to many christians and isn't an issue that they think about, but with the association of your birthday connection, it's different for you. This is something I'd want to learn more about from a christian perspective, because the Satanists and devil worshippers take it seriously. It's one of their biggest unholy days for them. Pet stores and rescues don't usually sell or adopt out cats then or near the end of October. Why? They don't want them tortured and killed as a sacrificial ceremony. It happens every year. There are real demons that they summon and all kinds of harmful things they do. That's why there are so many warnings against it in the Bible. God was often judging His own people for getting involved with pagan practices. To answer your questions in detail, I'll look for a documentary on the subject. It covers Halloween and starts with a Hispanic holiday that's popular with Catholics in Mexico.
BTW, there's nothing wrong with bats. Jesus made bats for a special reason. More important, he made YOU for an even more special reason. I hope everything goes well with your parents and you.
☕😎👍
Here's to bats.
This one is precious.

 

[tourist]

Some of my favorite childhood memories centered around Halloween. I lived a mile from Detroit and there were literally hundreds of houses within short walking distance to Trick or Treat. Used to go out just before Sundown and stayed out for hours. There were hundreds of kids doing the same, most without parents. I see nothing wrong whatsoever about decorating for Halloween or taking the kids out to Trick or Treat. Allow the kids to have a little harmless fun.

 

[tourist]

Interesting... Out of all the people on the forum, SimpleSheep is one of the last people I expected to kick off the annual "Evil Holiday" threads.

Looking forward to the pagan Christmas threads too. Maybe Thanksgiving is pagan too. Gobble, gobble.

 

[JohnDB]

All Hallowed Eve is the day before All Saints Day.

All Saints Day is usually one of the most boring holidays in the Catholic Church (who used to rule the world)

So scary things were invented to scare people into church. But people like fun....so candy and food gifts and children were employed to help scare people into church.

Now all kinds of things to feed people's fears have been added and things added to the myths to make them all sound reasonable as worshipping Satan....

It's just a bunch of myths and legends....
None of it is true...God is Sovereign every day of the week, year, and month.

So....
As I am surrounded by real zombies. People who are dead inside because they have hearts of stone and have not been renewed by the Holy Spirit...they want to infect me with their sin. But I'm armored with the truth.

 

[RodB651]

Interesting... Out of all the people on the forum, SimpleSheep is one of the last people I expected to kick off the annual "Evil Holiday" threads.

well, we are past due for a new soulmate thread.

 

[HealthAndHappiness]

Here's a documentary on the Day of the Dead Roman Catholic holiday. It's very closely related to Halloween. I've watched it a couple times and think it was pretty good.
If you have questions let me know.

 

[Lynx]

Looking forward to the pagan Christmas threads too. Maybe Thanksgiving is pagan too. Gobble, gobble.

Oh Thanksgiving is an easy one. Gluttony y'know.

When they start ripping on St. Patrick's Day, THAT'S when it gets interesting.

 

[cinder]

I shall Bible Bomb this thread. From Romans 14:4ff

Who are you to condemn someone else’s servants? Their own master will judge whether they stand or fall. And with the Lord’s help, they will stand and receive his approval.
5 In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. 6 Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him. Those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating. And those who refuse to eat certain foods also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God.

 

[HealthAndHappiness]

I shall Bible Bomb this thread. From Romans 14:4ff

Who are you to condemn someone else’s servants? Their own master will judge whether they stand or fall. And with the Lord’s help, they will stand and receive his approval.
5 In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. 6 Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him. Those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating. And those who refuse to eat certain foods also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God.

Cinder,

It is a good thing to look to God's Word for answers. One thing to keep in mind is applying it the right way. 🙂
Asking yourself questions always helps.
How is Halloween a "holy day?"

Who sets aside Halloween to "worship the Lord and to honor Him?"
I know what the Catholics think about it. There are details in my video posted above.

I believe that many set aside Halloween as an UNholy day to worship the devils and summon them. I can pull up over half a dozen "Bible B's" that describes how much it displeases the Lord for His children to take part in pagan practices if you wish.
I wasn't jumping all over Simple Sheep for her question. I was kindly answering it.

After reconsidering, do you really want to defend Halloween? You don't have to answer me, but you might want to reconsider after reading the Old Testament or at least watching my video.
Ok?
Good night

 

[zeroturbulence]

John is right, it started as All Hallows Eve, the eve before All Saints Day. I used to love halloween as a kid when it was all about kids trick or treating in cute costumes, but I don't like what it's turned into. Now people try to make themselves look really gory and scary, and the amusement parks where I live have these haunted house attractions where people go inside to be scared by actors hiding in corners and stuff all made up to look like zombies and monsters. But I like how halloween signals the coming of fall and cooler weather. And I like all the pumpkins and pumpkin spice and all the cute decorations and candy. Hope you have a nice birthday!!

 

[Deuteronomy]

I also wonder if my mom and that church do have a point. Is Halloween evil? Should we as Christians celebrate it?

Hello SimpleSheep, I always celebrated Halloween as a kid, and I enjoyed doing so (the free candy more than anything else, I suppose ).

When I finally became a Christian at age 30 however, I decided to take another, closer look at things that I had been doing in my life outside of Christ, even the fun and seemingly harmless things, which included Halloween.

Also, one of the groups of people that I have been able to communicate with online over the last 25+ years (at other Christian forums) has been witches/Wiccan. We've talked about Halloween from time to time, and a number of them have told me that they were very surprised to learn that many Christians continue to choose to celebrate their highest holy day, Halloween, along with them.

Personally, I celebrate the 'other' holiday that happens on October 31st instead, "Reformation Day", the day that the Protestant Reformation began (officially anyway), October 31, 1517 AD (the day the Martin Luther nailed a copy of his 95 Theses to the church door in Whittenburg, Germany).

Finally, my church has something that we call a "Harvest Party" on October 31st each year for our children, as a replacement for Halloween (as many in my church believe that it is wrong for Christians to celebrate Halloween). The great thing is, our kids have told us that they prefer it over their former/secular Halloween activities as they simply have more fun getting together and having fun than they used to have dressing up and going house to house (we have food, candy, games, campfires, hayrides, etc. for them to enjoy that night).

That said, the choice is yours about what to do (and/or about how far to go .. or about what you might begin to do differently in the future, if you feel the Holy Spirit is leading you to do something else ).

God bless you!

--Deut
p.s. - passages, like the one below, are always good to consider when trying to decide which way to do (about Halloween, and everything else for that matter )

1 Corinthians 10​

31 So then, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you may do, do all to the glory of God. ​

32 Give no offense [no reason for stumbling] to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God, ​

33 Just as I myself strive to please all men in everything that I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of the many, in order that they may be saved. ​

​

 

[Live4Him3]

My priority is obviously to please God and if this holiday offends him, I know I shouldn't celebrate it.

It does offend him because it is a totally pagan celebration...no matter how many professing "Christians" here or elsewhere tell you otherwise.

Here's a brief history on its origins and how it morphed into "Halloween" today:

 

[Live4Him3]

I secretly love it! I love the colors, pumpkins, bats, skeletons, costumes and of course the candy! I'm an October baby. My birthday is two weeks before Halloween. I grew up loving October, Fall, and Halloween. I associate the month with happiness and celebration. I should note that my family makes a bigger deal about birthdays than other families do. One year I had a cake with a pumpkin and a black cat coming out of the pumpkin. It was so pretty. I guess in a way when I think of myself, I think of Halloween too. So in a way, it kinda hurts me when mom says she hates everything about Halloween now.

I just wanted to add that I understand how you feel.

My birthday is one week before Christmas (Christ Mass), and I grew up loving the Fall and Winter months (and I still do) and the holidays (holy days) that fell during that time of the year. However, when I became a Christian, I did some research on these alleged "holy days" (Halloween and Christmas) and easily determined that they were totally pagan celebrations. With such being the case, I had to choose between that which I previously loved and honoring the Lord himself. For me, the choice was very easy. I haven't celebrated either of these two pagan festivals for many, many years now, and I haven't missed a thing.

 

[Mel85]

I still live at home and my mom hates Halloween and everything that has to do with it. This is because of a church she would attend who told her Halloween is the enemy's birthday. I don't know how that's true because it's definitely not in the bible. I respect her wishes as I live in her house but...

I secretly love it! I love the colors, pumpkins, bats, skeletons, costumes and of course the candy! I'm an October baby. My birthday is two weeks before Halloween. I grew up loving October, Fall, and Halloween. I associate the month with happiness and celebration. I should note that my family makes a bigger deal about birthdays than other families do. One year I had a cake with a pumpkin and a black cat coming out of the pumpkin. It was so pretty. I guess in a way when I think of myself, I think of Halloween too. So in a way, it kinda hurts me when mom says she hates everything about Halloween now.

Needless to say, the day I can afford to move out (which at this rate might never come haha) I would want to decorate for the holiday. But I also wonder if my mom and that church do have a point. Is Halloween evil? Should we as Christians celebrate it?

I understand some things like ghosts and witches are probably not the best thing to have in your house. But would it really be sinful to decorate with some jack o lanterns and give out candy to the neighborhood kids?

My priority is obviously to please God and if this holiday offends him, I know I shouldn't celebrate it.

Personally to answer your question, should we as Christians celebrate it?

For me, no. Here the Halloween celebrations are associated with Satan, Witches, Warlocks, spells, skeletons, everything that represents death but covered up with candy, pumpkins etc etc

when I was living in the world, I thought there was nothing wrong with the holiday and accepted it as something fun and just another holiday to celebrate. When I found Christ, He filtered a lot of things in my life including not celebrating or associating with Halloween. After discovering this, I looked into this further and have found some sinister things that @HealthAndHappiness has already mentioned.

I think if you are questioning this, ask God for discernment and wisdom and He will show you for yourself.

All the best .

 

[Lanolin]

@SimpleSheep do you not belong to the same church as your mum just wondering.

I personally dont like it. And not because Im grown up and hate fun things lol

I think its wrong and I didnt really like giving out lollies to children when the mall made us do it when they came in scary costumes because the boss would complain they never bought anything and were basically begging. They didnt actually trick or treat. Though it was probably safer they do it at the mall than in the neighbourhood.

Id just say oh in mock horror you look so scary, get out of here and my boss would say the opposite oh you look so cute, like he was a suck up hoping they would buy something.

If they came in with no costume I'd go no lollies or you have to tell me a joke or something. I dont know what the point of it was, cos its not autumn, its spring and its not getting dark, its lighter. Its not even scary but there would be no way most parents would let their kids go out at night alone around my area.

In the richer suburbs people would get robbed and windows smashed. You would be constantly interupted and annoyed if your house looked like the rich house. On halloween we locked the gate and most christians would just give unwelcome visitors a gospel tract or an apple lol. if you wanna worship the devil, make it fun for little kids and give them a toothache?

 

[Lanolin]

all saints day is november the 1st so, the demons only get one day and all the rest of the year has. a saint associated with it according to the catholic calendar. BTW a, not catholic so its not something I observe.

I do recognise Pentecost and Passover though. Also sometimes mothers day falls on my birthday. But I heard theres an International Carrot Day ....and I confess, Jesus Birthday is something I celebrate though I prefer His Resurrection day because Ive been born again and its special to me. Also its the one thing Jesus taught us to remember always what happened after his crucifixtion.

And basically Jesus commanded those demons to leave, so not sure why some Christians seem to think its no big deal to invite them back in for Halloween?! You dont want to be doing that if you are a believer. It would be stupid and foolish