Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

A family decorating oranges as jackolanterns for Halloween. — Halloween fun as a Christian family. Daisy Anderson/ Pexels

Today I want to talk about something that this time of year can get a little controversial: Halloween. Should Christians celebrate Halloween?

Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

First, I don’t think this is the right question to ask. I am not a fan of the word “should” or its negative, “shouldn’t.” “Can we” is probably a more appropriate question. But, that question still doesn’t have a simple answer.

I believe the Holy Spirit can and will guide your family if you seek his wisdom. If you have convictions, strong convictions about Halloween, that is your number one thing to listen to. But I think that there is so much freedom in the Spirit and in our faith that I encourage you to not judge other Christian families based on their Halloween choices.

How My Christian Family Celebrates Halloween

My girls love spooky, silly things and we love driving around looking at spooky houses. We’ve even sent thank you postcards to our favorite decorations. We stay away from scary and keep it fun, light, and say spooky.

We do the costumes and the trick-or-treating and my girls love Halloween music, especially the older music like Monster Mash and Purple People Eater. And I have absolutely no conviction in that at all.

I think it is just a fun way for us to be neighborly, to get to know our community, to be a part of our community, to celebrate and enjoy life with our friends and my kids’ friends and their classrooms for us. We have no convictions whatsoever and I understand that other people do. And please follow those convictions.

If you don’t feel like Halloween is right for your family, then that is a fair and valid choice. But please, lovingly embrace and allow those people in your life who do celebrate Halloween to do so without your judgment. The division of Christians at Halloween does far more damage than costumes and candy.

What does the Bible say about Halloween?

Halloween is not in the Bible.Trick or treating is not in the Bible. Yes, I recognize that there may be some historical elements of evil and demons and whatnot from Halloween, but that’s not what I’m celebrating. That’s not what my kids are celebrating. That’s not what we are recognizing.

Most are simply celebrating fun and an opportunity for communities to make each other smile and to love each other while dressing up and eating candy.

There are some things in our faith that I think we are required to stand up and share our convictions with others. Honestly, I don’t think Halloween was one of them.

I listened to the Bible recap podcast and I love where she says, don’t shout where the Bible whispers and don’t whisper where the Bible shouts.

The Bible doesn’t say anything about Halloween, about trick or treating, about getting your kids in costumes. So why are we shouting when the Bible doesn’t say, “don’t dress your kids in costumes and go ask neighbors for candy, don’t decorate pumpkins”?

Halloween and Jesus

I allow it to be a playful holiday. But, can still intentionally disciple my children. There are so many ways that people have included Christ in this holiday. In our family, we love a little board book called Let’s Shine Jesus’s Light on Halloween. There’s also The Pumpkin Patch Parable that we love.

Redeeming Halloween Celebrations

There’s so many great ways to love Jesus through Halloween. And to me, my biggest thing is that God is a God of redemption. He takes the gross broken, sinful things of the world and he brings light into those dark places.

Why can’t we allow God to do the same thing with Halloween? And so for me and for my family, that is the direction that we have gone is we embrace the fun part. We don’t worship Satan, do witchcraft, or any of those things that I know happen, but those things happen every day. And my kids putting on a costume and eating candy is not encouraging or discouraging the people who want to follow Satan. My kids not putting on a costume and not eating the candy that they get from neighbors or not getting candy from neighbors is not going to discourage or encourage those people. They are making their choices.

God is Sovereign Over Halloween Celebrations

I just want us to not limit God. And I don’t want to cut off abundance out of fear. And I don’t want to make my kids feel like they can’t enjoy non-Christian things and that God is only sovereign over certain parts of the world.

God is sovereign over all of it. He is in control. God is he has the power. And so I think sometimes we try to out of fear of being too worldly, we don’t allow God the power in the world that he really already has.

I want my kids to know that God is in all of it and that he gives us grace and he gives us freedom and he gives us room to enjoy the world. That’s why I celebrate Halloween, because God can redeem things. It may have a broken history, but so do I. So do you. So did God’s. People. Broken history, broken and broken again and again. And he keeps redeeming.

I think if we allowed Him to use us in our communities at Halloween, there could be some redemption, some love getting us a little step closer to his kingdom.

We don’t need to fight against it, fight through it. Shine Jesus’s light on Halloween. Follow your convictions, but trust other Christians to listen to the Holy Spirit well in their lives and trust God to be God over Halloween. He is God on October 31, the same way he is God on all the other days of the year, and I am so thankful and so grateful for that.

Christian Halloween Costume Ideas

If you do decide to participate in costumes and candy, here are a few ways to use it as a conversation starter for your faith.

What Do You Think, Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

So, do you have strong convictions? Are you still confused? Should Christians celebrate Halloween? Let’s look at a verse:

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31 NLT

This really is between you, your family, and the Lord. Spend some time in prayer and conversation. Ask your family these questions:

How can you help to shine Jesus’s light?
Are your kids able to enjoy it and keep it playful?
What message are you sharing with your neighbors?
What is God telling your family?
Are you doing it to glorify the Lord?

And no matter what Halloween choices you make, I pray that you would just let God be seen that day through you, your parenting, your kids, your play.