Written by Felicia Sanders
As the years go by, Halloween becomes an increasingly popular event to celebrate. So many people, especially among younger generations, look forward to Halloween as much as, or even more than, Christmas or Easter. I have heard many classmates claim that they enjoy it because they like the costumes and all things scary. But should we, as Adventists, celebrate Halloween?
Well, this may be an opinion piece, but I believe that all opinions should be formed from reading and understanding biblical truth. Therefore, the following perspective is given based on my understanding of what Scripture has to say about celebrating Halloween.
When we have the historical context for where Halloween comes from, it should be obvious that celebrating Halloween in any form is to be avoided as Christians. The Adventist Review has some excellent articles about Halloween, one stating that, “The origin of Halloween goes back to a festival of the Druids, a pre-Christian order of pagan priests in ancient Gaul and Britain.”
Halloween and all its traditions stem from paganism, and we don’t have to search the Bible to find that the Law of God prohibits us from practicing or partaking in paganism. Deuteronomy 18:9 states, “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.”
Other examples of Scripture that clearly speak against participation in paganism include Leviticus 20:6, Deuteronomy 18:10-12 and Jeremiah 10:2. That doesn’t even include the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, which state that you shall have no other gods before the Lord. The Lord is our God and He alone, so to partake in pagan celebrations is to partake in the worship of false gods and blatantly disregard the command of the Lord.
But what about “innocent” trick or treating? Surely there’s no harm in participating in dressing up for candy! Or what about jack-o-lanterns? Spooky decorations? Scary movies?
Proverbs 22:6 reads, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” The Adventist Review article states it best: “In the education of children, it is important not to plant false ideas in their minds … To teach them that there is no harm in imitating evil spirits is contrary to God’s will.”
Halloween may seem like innocent fun, but I would beseech you to look at the world and how far it has taken the holiday to the extreme. Look at the violence of horror movies, at the spirits, monsters and demons that we unthinkingly imitate with costumes. Look at the cults that use October 31 as a day of sacrifice to none other than Lucifer himself. Animal shelters close down for Halloween to prevent animal sacrifice; some don’t allow the adoption of black animals for the entirety of the month.
If you think that any participation in Halloween is not worship to the deceiver, think again. Any pagan practice is worship to the enemy. If we tell ourselves it is innocent fun, then Satan has been once again successful in his deceptive work.