Why You Shouldn’t Celebrate Halloween
I originally published a version of this article on my Instagram a couple years ago.
The Irony
Five hundred four years ago today, Martin Luther pounded his ninety-five theses to the door of the Wittenberg's Castle Church in Germany in an effort to challenge heretical traditions. These days, people dress up and pound on doors for candy, or pass candy out, in adherence to pagan and heretical traditions—albeit, a sanitized version of them.
The History
The history of Halloween (as of many modern holidays) is too little understood by most of those who celebrate it. The holiday is traced back to the ancient Celtic pagan festival called Samhain, which marked the end of the season of harvest. During this time, the Celts believed the veil between the living and the dead was the thinnest, and so spirits were expected to visit. The pagans therefore left out food as a service to welcome spirits, and disguised themselves to avoid unwelcome ones—a false hope.
As Christianity spread, it unfortunately adopted and adapted these practices, and made it into a day for the dead. In Medieval days, the poor would put on costumes and go to homes of the wealthy, offering to pray for their deceased loved ones in exchange for gifts. The belief was, the more prayers for a dead person, the more likely that dead person would be saved from purgatory—a false gospel.
The Reformation that Luther started is remarkably relevant to this. It restored the public understanding that no one can do anything to save themselves or anyone else. Only faith in Jesus can do that, because Jesus’ death paid the penalty for the sins of those who believe in Him, and His resurrection secured the hope of new life.
Today, Halloween is a strange amalgamation of the macabre and the cute. It betrays a cultural fascination with the occult—and, indeed, in modern occultism (like ancient paganism) it’s believed to be the day when the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest, a day for practicing witchcraft. As different as that may seem from dressing up and trick-or-treating, it’s simple enough to see that it’s all connected, historically, thematically, and spiritually. In fact, the stark difference between these two aspects of the holiday should be alarming: there’s something off about a night of horror that is also a night for children. That’s just the kind of thing Satan would like. It’s worth noting, as many have, that Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, is quoted as saying, “I am glad that Christian parents let their children worship the devil at least one night out of the year.” His assessment is not far off.
The Conclusion
We still need reformation. We can promote it in small ways, such as NOT trick-or-treating, NOT handing out candy, and NOT throwing Fall festivals... but instead sharing the gospel in creative and winsome ways that don’t include buying into traditions that have wicked origins and that make us seem like everybody else. If we even start playing the world’s game, we’ve already lost it.
Would this offend some people? Yes, and so did Luther. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have done any good for the Kingdom.
If you love this post (or if you hate it enough to tell all your friends), share the link on your social media! And be sure to tag me: