Photo by Łukasz Nieścioruk on Unsplash
Fall has arrived, and that means it is time for theological experts on Facegram and Instabook to lecture their Christian friends on the evils of Halloween. The evils warned against are not what you might imagine. Who thought it was a good idea to send young children to the doors of strangers to ask for gifts? “Don’t talk to strangers, kids, unless you are randomly knocking on doors in the neighborhood and asking them to give you things to eat!” But I digress. The dangers are neither gastronomic nor endocrinological. The dangers are, evidently, demonic. I have been reliably informed that Halloween is the Devil’s holiday, and Christians whose children dress up like superheroes or princesses and consume large amounts of candy are agents of Satan, participating in the glorification of evil.
The discussion around Halloween each year demonstrates how reactionary, undiscerning, and historically ignorant many Christians are. The Lord knew what he was doing when he characterized us as sheep. We are not praised for our wisdom or discernment in the Bible, and our behavior tends to justify the Lord’s illustration.
On one hand we have Christians who think any participation in Halloween is of the Devil, that even vocalizing the term is a hat tip to occultism. Concerns about the propriety of such customs easily (and frequently) become judgments against believers whose consciences are not as strict as one’s own. On the other hand there are Christians whose participation in worldly recreation and holidays is never distinctly Christian. At Halloween their costumes glorify, rather than mock and deride, the evil over which Christ has triumphed. Their celebrations take the form of carnal carousing more than Christian thanksgiving. Is it godly and proper for those who worship the risen Savior and delight in the Law of God to dress up like a hooker or serial killer simply because such costumes are socially acceptable on one night each year?
No doubt there are many pagan associations that have been created between Halloween and occultism—some of my neighbors practically build shrines to evil on their property in the month of October—and believers should be careful not to compromise with or condone that which is wicked and idolatrous, even if we know that “an idol is nothing” (1Cor. 8:4-6; 10:19-22). But the claim of Halloween’s pagan origins may be one of the greatest gaslighting successes against the modern Church, along with similar tales regarding the pagan origin of Christmas. The idea that Halloween was a day to promote occultism and glorify devilry is a piece of historical revision, the soiling of what was originally and explicitly a Christian holiday for celebrating the triumph of Christ over evil.[1] Fundamentalists embraced a lie and unwittingly gave the Devil a holiday he never had.
The historical debate over Halloween’s origins is interesting, but it really does not settle the question, and preoccupation with it can cause us to miss the point. The controversy demonstrates that many Christians do not know how to exercise godly dominion in the midst of an ungodly society. Some think the best response is to abstain, boycott, and completely withdraw from anything and everything in society which is associated with evil. Others think it is perfectly appropriate to dress up and behave like a demon on Saturday before putting on their Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes and singing Christ Shall Have Dominion the next day. In neither case are we truly thinking christianly about how to be salt, light, and leaven in our current social context.
The Church is the visible manifestation of the kingdom of Christ. It is advancing through the preaching of the gospel, and eventually it will overcome, overthrow, and overshadow everything else that the enemy has done. If some Christians remain convinced that Halloween is a pagan holiday, so be it. Christians are free to take it over and purge it of all its devilish elements. Most Christians who think Halloween is irreparably evil have no objection to using names and customs that may have once honored false gods but have lost such religious significance. Objecting to Halloween strictly on historical grounds is a genetic fallacy. The question is, what do these traditions say today, and to what extent and how may Christians participate in them as cultural artifacts without religious implications? This is exactly what Paul is discussing in First Corinthians 8-10, and a careful study of that passage can be helpful in navigating our own environment.
There need not be any objection to Christians playing dress up, getting together for fellowship, eating candy, and singing boisterously about the fall of Satan’s kingdom on Halloween. But we should remember that, as we do so, we must do so as Christians. Even if Halloween did not originally have occult significance, such connections have been made in more recent times, and many of our unbelieving neighbors really do glorify rather than scorn the evil characters they portray in costumes and yard art. Christians should think carefully about how they present themselves and be wary of inadvertent hypocrisy by celebrating Halloween in the opposing team’s uniforms. In our household, we allowed our children to dress up and trade cuteness for candy each year, but we never allowed them to dress up as anything contrary to the Christian faith: no devils, no vampires, no witches, no ghosts, no axe murderers, no zombies, etc. Christian liberty means freedom to glorify Christ in all things, not freedom to glorify the Devil and get away with it.
Halloween does not belong to the pagans, and if they seem to have conquered it, we should cheerfully and unapologetically take it back. It can be an occasion of holy celebration and wholesome fun, without any guilt or fear in it. Parties, candy, and costumes can be an enjoyable part of living in God’s world, but all of them should be explicitly and joyously Christian. I’ve attended many Halloween parties with saints from the churches I have pastored over the years, and I have never understood why some came dressed up as if they play for the other side. But I am happy to attribute this to a lack of discernment rather than malice. Likewise those who stayed home and missed the opportunity to enjoy fellowship with their brethren may be understood to have done so out of sincere, even if misguided, zeal and a desire not to be associated with evil. But Christ is King, the Devil’s works have been and are being destroyed, and the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet (Rom. 16:20). Therefore, whether you eat or drink, trick or treat, consume candy or suck on a sugar-free cough drop, do all that you do to the glory of God. –JME
[1] Steven Wedgeworth, “What Should Christians Think About Halloween?” The Calvinist International (October 3, 2018) <https://calvinistinternational.com/2018/10/03/what-should-christians-think-about-halloween/>.
