Does the history of Halloween really matter compared to what it is today? Can Christians Celebrate Halloween if It’s Origins Aren’t Pagan?
I wasn’t planning on writing another Halloween post. However, over the past week or so, I’ve read and listened to a few people saying that the origins of Halloween aren’t actually pagan. You can read my post on the history of Halloween here. From my research, every historical account of Halloween dated it back to the Celtic holiday of Samhain.
But now, a few Christians I follow and greatly respect, have come out saying that Halloween originally started as a Christian holiday. According to their studies, the Christian holiday All Hallows’ Eve came before Samhain. They claim that the Celts deliberately put Samhain on the date of All Hallows’ Eve to defile the Christian holiday with pagan spirits. I’m not entirely sure how true this is because everything I’ve read (and I read quite a few things in preparation for my post) said it’s original origins are in Samhain.
After those posts were shared in defense of Halloween, a few other people have made comments about them. The most common comment is that Christians shouldn’t have a problem with Halloween since it’s origins aren’t pagan. More specifically, that Christians shouldn’t share posts on social media about their convictions in regards to Halloween or encouraging others to rethink celebrating the holiday since it was originally a Christian holiday. I also heard Christians say that those of us who are convicted about Halloween are scared of evil and the devil because we don’t see God as being big enough to conquer those things on Halloween. One person called Christians who speak out about their convictions “Frankenweenies.” Seriously? Boy, do I have a lot to say about those comments.
my response
All of this controversy got me thinking. Can Christians celebrate Halloween if it’s origins aren’t pagan? Does it really matter whether or not it started as a Christian holiday? My answer to both of those questions is no. Let me tell you why.
can christians celebrate halloween if it’s origins aren’t pagan?
Maybe the first celebrations on October 31st were for All Hallows’ Eve. Maybe they were for Samhain. Neither of those truths change my convictions and opinions surrounding Halloween. Of course the seemingly pagan origins of Halloween play a part in my dislike of the holiday. However, what I dislike more, and where the majority of my conviction falls, is Halloween as it is today.
No matter which historical account is true, everyone knows that Halloween is associated with gore, and evil and spooky things. I don’t care if it started as a Christian holiday celebrating the Saints. That’s obviously not at all what it’s about now. You can’t tell me that you’re celebrating All Saint’s Day by dressing up and going trick-or-treating.
In my opinion, the version of Halloween we celebrate right now has no redeeming qualities. Nothing about it is rooted in Christianity or Biblical truth. If anything, it’s the complete opposite. Paul says in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” To me, there is nothing true, honorable, just, pure, commendable, excellent, or praise-worthy about Halloween.
halloween is a celebration of spiritual darkness and worldly sin
Halloween is a celebration of spiritual darkness and worldly sin. To me, celebrating a holiday that celebrates those things is not honoring the Lord. It is also walking the fine line between good and evil. For mature Christians, celebrating Halloween probably does not tempt us at all to explore evil any further. But what about our children who are definitely not mature in their faith yet? Satan is after our children, and I think Halloween is a great way to entice them to explore spiritual darkness and sin before they have a firm understanding and faith of what truth and goodness are.
Maybe other Christians feel differently and feel as though the holiday has qualities that can be redeemed by Christians. But I don’t. And that’s okay. We’re allowed to have different convictions about things that aren’t explicitly talked about in Scripture.
I titled this post, “Can Christians Celebrate Halloween if It’s Origins Aren’t Pagan?” My answer to that question is yes. Christians can do whatever the heck they want. But that doesn’t always mean that what they’re doing is right or not sinful. I’m not saying that celebrating Halloween is a sin. However, it is a sin if you are personally convicted not to celebrate it and do it anyway. Romans 14:23 says, “But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”
“But Christians have freedom in christ”
One of the biggest defenses of Halloween I’ve seen is that Christians have freedom in Christ. Yes, this is true. But the freedom we have through Christ is freedom from our sins and the punishment we deserve for our depravity. It’s not the type of freedom that let’s us do whatever we want. We still need to follow God’s law and design for His creation. There are a lot of worldly (and oftentimes fun and desirable) things Christians abstain from despite having Christian freedom. Sure, abstaining from those things doesn’t make us any more holy. And participating in those things doesn’t make us any less saved. But we should want to abstain from them because of how much we honor and love our Lord. We should also abstain from them to separate ourselves from the world to point it to Christ.
“your kids will miss out if you don’t celebrate halloween”
This is another defense I’ve seen from a lot of Christians. But, as they said on this episode of the Now That We’re a Family podcast, since when is that a good excuse for anything? There are a lot of “fun” things Christians parents don’t (or at least shouldn’t) let their kids do even though everyone else is doing it. Their faith and salvation are way more important than giving them fun experiences so they don’t miss out on something that their friends all do.
Like I said earlier, Halloween probably won’t tempt you to stray from God if you’re mature in your faith. But for kids who are at the beginning of their faith journey, they don’t have a great understanding of what is good and evil yet. Kids learn the most through observing, especially observing their parents. If you participate in Halloween, you’re giving them the message that the things it condones are good. They’ll become desensitized and accept those things so much more easily than if you were to tell them upfront that you aren’t celebrating it because it glorifies things that God abhors.
all hallows’ eve is a catholic holiday
What makes this whole debacle ironic is that all of these people claiming that Christians should celebrate Halloween are Protestants. All Hallows’ Eve, a celebration of the Christian Saints by the Roman Church, is obviously a Catholic holiday. Protestants don’t believe in or worship Saints in the way that Catholics do. So, even if Halloween celebrations reflected that of All Hallows’ Eve, I highly doubt Protestants would be celebrating it because we don’t celebrate Saints. To me, that just seems like a way to Christianize modern Halloween celebrations and make them seem okay.
If Protestants want to take back control of a once-Christian holiday, they should celebrate the Reformation on October 31st. That was the day that Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses onto the door of the Catholic Church in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517. If you want to make October 31 a Christian holiday again, celebrate something that truly honors God and aligns with your Protestant faith.
we shouldn’t celebrate or accept something just because it was founded by christians
Saying Christians should celebrate Halloween because it originated from Christianity is a very weak argument. First of all, we can’t blindly follow the things of man. Maybe Halloween originated as a Christian holiday, but it was formed by men who are prone to misunderstanding and false preaching of the gospel. Secondly, there are a lot of things that were born through the Christian Church that are not at all Christian now. The Ivy League institutions in America are just one example. These universities were originally created by the Puritans as Seminaries. Nothing about them is godly anymore. They are now some of the most secular and ungodly things in this country.
We can’t participate in something just because its origins are Christian. We have to look at what they are now and, more importantly, to the Word of God to determine if they still meet the criteria needed in order to deem them “Christian.”