This is a re-post.
God saves sinners by causing them to become born-again. In their new life with God, they will develop convictions about gray areas where allegedly the Bible is silent. For example, Christians, who grew up trick-or-treating, will learn biblical convictions to govern how they view Halloween. The aim of this Bible study is to highlight biblical principles for Christians to apply so that they can discern how to respond to the question of participating in Halloween. Here are some ways Christians have responded to the question, “How should a believer think about Halloween?”
God saves sinners by causing them to become born-again. In their new life with God, they will develop convictions about gray areas where allegedly the Bible is silent. For example, Christians, who grew up trick-or-treating, will learn biblical convictions to govern how they view Halloween. The aim of this Bible study is to highlight biblical principles for Christians to apply so that they can discern how to respond to the question of participating in Halloween. Here are some ways Christians have responded to the question, “How should a believer think about Halloween?”
- “I don’t see anything wrong with it, if you do it just to have fun.”
- The Old Testament condemns participating in anything involving the occult, therefore, God hates it and so should Christians.
- Well, Halloween does have occult roots, but if you take those out (e.g., Jack-O-Lanterns, scary costumes, etc.) then it’s okay to participate in it.
- Numerous NT passages such as 2 Cor 6:17; Rev 21:8 apply the OT command to Christians to avoid pagan practices, so Christians should avoid it altogether.
Clearly,
the first response, “I don’t see anything wrong with it, if you do it just to
have fun,” is a wrong answer. Truth isn’t determined by our motives. Stealing
doesn’t become okay because it’s done to feed one’s family. Relativistic thinking
has eroded away the conviction that the Bible, not the Christian’s feeling, is
the determinative authority for what believers can and cannot do. Christians
have to judge all things biblically because Satan, who is very real and very
evil, has a strategy to deceive us. He blurs the lines between right and wrong
so that when people are doing wrong they believe they are doing what’s right or
what’s morally acceptable. We have to test all things and be biblically
discerning. Hopefully, answering the following questions biblically will help
you determine a wise response to Halloween.
1st What is Halloween?
Although we don’t get the day off,
Halloween is a real holiday. Holidays
are dates recognized as having spiritual, cultural or religious significance and
whose observation warrants celebration because of the achievement of some
special person, group, or because of the significance of an event. Halloween
became a holiday in Western culture through the influence of the Catholic Church.
The term Halloween is a contraction
of the phrase “All Hallows (as in saints) Evening,” also known as “All Hallows
Eve.” It is a time when Catholics are called to celebrate/remember the dead,
including martyred saints (hallows), and all faithful departed believers. Protestants
refused to participate in Halloween. It was
considered to be so evil that it was banned. However, as more and more Catholic Europeans came to the US,
in the mid-19th century American culture incorporated the practice
of celebrating Halloween and many Protestants eventually followed.
2nd Does Halloween have roots
in paganism and the occult?
Although the historical accuracy of the
details is vigorously debated, it appears that it does. Celebrations involving
the dead around October 31st didn’t begin with the Catholics. It
rather appears that they Christianized the ancient Celtic/Gaelic holy day
of Samhain (sa-wain). Samhain, which in Irish meant the end of summer and the
Harvest season in the Celtic calendar. Some allege that Samhain refers to “The
Lord of the Dead.” Originally, the celebration of “Halloween, All Hallows Eve,
Samhain, was about the death of summer; it is the funeral party for the end of
the long, warm months,” Halloween's Irish history: Samhain Harvest
Festival, Washington Times by Conor Higgins, Oct 29th
2013. Another name associated with Halloween is the Druids. They were the sorcerers,
philosophers,
scientists, theologians, and intellectuals of Celtic culture.
According
to Higgins, “The Celts believed that on Samhain the veil between the living and
the dead was dropped for one day, and the spirits of the living could
intermingle with the spirits of the dead. It also has been speculated, that
this feast was a celebration of the dead they had lost since the last Samhain.
This would include warriors lost in battle, children lost at birth, the old,
and the sick. All of the years’ dead would be celebrated. In hopes of guiding
the spirits of their loved ones to their resting place, large bonfires would be
lit to draw the spirits and provide them a path to the “other side.”
This
Celtic celebration was converted to a Catholic celebration in the 7th
Century AD. Many of the traditions we celebrate on Halloween come from
that pagan celebration. Today, Wiccan, or modern-day witches, warlocks, and
pagans, consider Samhain, or Halloween a high day of great importance. And as
opposed to Christmas, they consider Halloween their holiday.
2. Are
some Halloween practices linked to the occult?
Have you ever wondered why people wear
demonic/evil customs on Halloween? Because Halloween was considered to be the
night when the line between the living and the dead was suspended and the
spirits roamed the earth, to protect themselves, people would put on an evil
mask/costume, put witches up on their doors in order to make the spirits think
that they were one of them so they would pass by their houses. If the evil
spirits stopped at your house, you’d have to pay them off with a treat or you
would get tricked.
Discuss the following ways Halloween is
celebrated today through a biblical lens:
- Trick or Treating (parents let their kids go up to strangers’ houses and get food from them, not knowing what they are getting.)
- Going to Halloween Parties
- Visiting Haunted House/or Haunted Amusement Attractions
- Carving pumpkins and putting them out in front of your house
- Lighting Jack-O-Lanterns (this practice grew out of a legend of an evil man named Jack. It is purported that Jack met the Devil, got him drunk, and tricked him into giving him 10 more years. 10 years later, Jack tricked the Devil again into never taking his soul to Hell. Jack died, Heaven refused to take him, and when Jack went down to Hell to try to gain entrance, the Devil politely reminded him of their deal. Instead, the Devil gave Jack an ember of Hell, and a hallow gourd for a lantern to illuminate a pathway through the Netherworld. And so w,hen the veil between the living and the dead is dropped on Samhain, we can see Stingy Jack of the Lantern (Jack O’ Lantern) trying to get into Heaven or Hell (Higgins).
- Bobbing for Apples was a fortune-telling divination game that came from the Celtics, cf., W. H. Davenport Adams, Curiosities of Superstition: written in 1902.
- Churches have hell houses where Christian leaders try to scare kids out of wanting to go to hell.
- Animal sacrifices (Although no concrete evidence can substantiate this claim, many animal shelters around the country prohibit the adoption of black cats during the month of October in fear that they will be sacrificed in Halloween rituals (Snopes.com).
3. What
should we think about the occult?
In both the Old and New Testament the
Bible explicitly prohibits Christians from participating in the occult. Read
the following verses:
- Be Children of light, not darkness (1 Th. 5:5)
- What communion has light with darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14)
- Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. (Rom. 12:9)
- “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isa 5:20).
- The Lord equates Spiritual maturity with the ability to discern good and evil. “Stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults” (1 Cor 14:20). Also see, “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14).
- Thus says the LORD, “ Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens,” Jer 10:2
- “And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone” (Acts 19:19).
- “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Rev 21:8, cp. Gal 5:20)
- Deuteronomy 18:9-12, “When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you.
4.
How is the occult influencing our
families and churches?
Due to the influence of Hollywood and its increase
of occult movies targeted at teens, many Christians have accepted the lie that
the occult isn’t evil; it’s merely entertaining fantasy. What has been the
result of Hollywood’s unabashed promotion of the occult? According to MTV News,
it’s this: “Wicca is one of the fastest growing religions in America.”
In 1Cor. 10:19-20 the apostle Paul warns, "What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons." What happens when people view occult movies, listen to music artist who are dabbling in the occult, play around with the dark side of Halloween? Why avoid all of that? Paul's answer is that demons are real and that by so-called just having fun, undiscerning participates can become partners with demons!
In 1Cor. 10:19-20 the apostle Paul warns, "What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons." What happens when people view occult movies, listen to music artist who are dabbling in the occult, play around with the dark side of Halloween? Why avoid all of that? Paul's answer is that demons are real and that by so-called just having fun, undiscerning participates can become partners with demons!
5.
How should Christians respond to
Halloween?
a) Avoid it altogether.
b) But don’t
tell yourself, “It’s not a big deal if you are not intentionally worshipping
demons,” and do it just to have fun. Satan and demons are real, and they don't give people a pass just because their intention is to have fun.
c) Try to Christianize the non-cultic parts of it and
use it evangelistically.
d) Perhaps the best answer is all of the above! a) Avoid
all of Halloweens occult symbols and practices. b) Don’t compromise with
darkness. Fun is the worst excuse. c) Shine your light where Satan tries to
cast darkness. Christians can thank God for the Fall too. Why would Christians
pass on an opportunity to reach millions of kids knocking on their doors? Don't
trick them but give them the treat of the Gospel with a little candy.
I borrowed heavily from the below
excellent resources:
3. http://www.goodfight.org/a_co_halloween.htmlhttp://www.goodfight.org/a_co_halloween.html
Joe Schimmel
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