Happy Halloween! I know that in many ways, this day offers a unique brand of fun. There are costumes to wear, pumpkins to carve, and my very favorite—fun-sized candy to eat by the handful. There’s no doubt that Halloween has some good things to offer (especially to us chocolate fans!) but this Halloween, I’d like to give you a little something more than candy to chew on-God’s truth! Let’s take a minute to put this ghostly holiday through the filter of God’s Word and see if we can come up with some answers for how, as women committed to living out God’s truth, we should respond to this holiday.
I am sure you are aware that when it comes to Halloween, not everyone is a fan. I used to think of Halloween non-participators as the ultimate spoilsports. It seemed that they were being awfully judgmental to me. But when we look at the big picture, I think they may have a point.
I’m sure you’ve heard that Halloween is based in some not so holy traditions. That’s true. In fact, here’s a brief history lesson.
- Halloween began as a Druid festival of the dead in Northern Europe.
- The Druids did not know about Jesus.
- Because they had not been exposed to biblical truth, they mistakenly thought that the souls of the dead came and mingled among the living.
- This was a scary thought, and so they dressed in costumes to disguise themselves from evil spirits.
- They also carved turnips and potatoes and put candles inside to symbolize ghostly spirits.
- When the holiday came to America, participants found that pumpkins were easier to carve than turnips, and viola, the Jack-o-lantern was born.
Don’t worry, there won’t be a quiz over Halloween history at the end of this post, but knowing how Halloween began, I have to ask you a couple of questions?
Q. Does knowing that Halloween started as a pagan festival of the dead impact how we should respond to it as Christians?
I would answer yes, mostly because of verses like these:
“There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God” (Deut. 18:10–13).
“‘Do not turn to mediums or seek out necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God” (Lev. 19:31).
That’s just one of the reasons, I am starting to think that Halloween is best avoided all together. For my other two reasons, be sure to hop back on the blog tomorrow. I know that Halloween will have come and gone, but since there will still be plenty of candy to eat, it’s a subject I think we should keep talking about. Until then, I’d love to hear from you. Do you celebrate Halloween? Why or why not? Do you have any ideas for Halloween alternatives that are God-glorifying?
