Growing up, my family never celebrated Halloween. While I doubt many Christians would say that they “celebrated” Halloween, my family was definitely in the minority. I’ve never been Trick or Treating, and our family didn’t participate in any of the regular Halloween activities. Instead of venturing out in costumes, my family would always snuggle in to watch a move, and the next day my mom would go buy discounted candy.

I’ve wrestled through how Christians should handle the topic of Halloween. I’ve thought through things such as:

“Is it wrong to dress up?”

“Is it wrong to take kids trick or treating?”

“What’s the most appropriate way for a Christian to think through Halloween?”

Let’s start with a brief history of Halloween

History

The Ancient Celts had a yearly festival entitled Samhain, and believed that during that time, the dead could visit the living. On November 1, the Celts celebrated their new year, which marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter, a time of year which was often associated with death. The Celts thought that the night before the new year, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead would be blurred and that ghosts would visit the earth.

Fast forward a few hundred years to Pope Gregory III (700s), who designated November 1 as a time to honor the Christian saints and martyrs. The holiday became known as “All Saints’ Day”, and the evening before was known as “All Hallows’ Eve”, and later “Halloween”.

How Should Christians Handle Halloween?

While I believe that Christian freedom applies, I think Christians should be careful in how they approach and handle Halloween, especially in regards to children. As a Christian parent, your main responsibilities are to ensure the spiritual, emotional and physical well-being of your child. You must guard your child’s mind against lies, and speak truth into your child’s life. While I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with taking your child out Trick or Treating, I think you have to be careful what you’re communicating. If your words say one thing, “We don’t believe that the devil has ultimate authority over the world, we don’t believe in ghosts, superstitions, etc.“, yet your actions are communicating and enforcing the opposite, your child would naturally be confused about whether to believe your words or your actions. As children get older, obviously they are able to discern the differences, however I think Christians should strive for consistency with their words and actions.

Christians have something must more significant to focus on and celebrate on October 31st.

Reformation Day

It was on October 31, 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany , sparking the Protestant Revolution. This action lead to perhaps the greatest move of God’s Spirit since the days of the Apostles. May our children long to hear the story of Martin Luther told again and again, instead of being enraptured with ghosts and goblins.