Trick or treat? It seems to be a harmless phrase that accompanies what has become one of the most celebrated holidays in America: Halloween. This is the time of year when we “celebrate” ghosts, witches, death, gore, and “good ole’ American” fun-----as long as nobody gets hurt. After all, we celebrated it as kids and why should we deprive our children and grandchildren the beautiful, lifelong precious memories that come from this wonderful celebration? I’m sure you can detect a sense of sarcasm in the tone of my writing as over the years, I have developed a very strong opinion (which that opinion is based upon what God’s Word says) about the notion of Christians participating in this celebration.
To begin with, you must ask yourself, “Does the Bible have anything to say about participating in Halloween?” The typical answer is, “No, it does not specifically say anything about Halloween.” The Bible does however, have much to say about God’s people in regards to participating in pagan celebrations. The origins of Halloween began with the pre-Christian druids of Gaul and Great Britain who believed that “ghosts and witches” would most likely to manifest during this night. The pagans of Western Europe believed their “god” whom the Christians called “the devil” became “incarnate in human or animal form” and they celebrated the presence of their “god.”[i] This is the essence of “Halloween.” It is based upon honoring some other “god” than the One True God. Even in the symbolism which we now associate with Halloween (jack-o-lanterns, black cats, “trick or treat,” etc.), it refers back to the roots of pagan beliefs and celebration practices. The Roman Catholic Church however, did attempt to rectify the celebration by instituting the “Festival of the Dead” and “All Saints Day” in the hopes to bring a redeeming value to the festival. Consequently, this attempt failed at changing the nature of the holiday as the entire historical context of Halloween is still centered upon the idea of being a “worship celebration” that has no Biblical basis.
As it stands now, as people celebrate the holiday, they carry on the “traditions” which origins began in the worship of demons. I find it interesting that many Christians attempt to convince themselves that they can “make” Halloween mean something other than what it truly represents (a sure sign of postmodern thinking). But imagine a “Christian making this claim: “Just because the cross of Christ stands at the foundation of salvation in history, to me, I think that its okay to choose to be a Mormon in order to be saved.” As Christians, we would argue that you would be in error if you adopted that particular belief as it is contrary to the claims of the Bible. We cannot change the “truth” about something because of what we choose to “believe.” In 1 Corinthians 10:14-11:1, Paul refers to the idea of “origins” and the willingness to participate in something which has its origins in the demonic. He uses it in the context of the Lord’s Table and in essence, is promoting the idea that as God’s people, we cannot mix the “holy” and the “unholy.” He states, “No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s Table and the table of demons” (1 Corinthians 10:20-21). In other words, our lives as God’s people cannot represent the participation of both the godly and ungodly. We can attempt to dismiss the celebration of Halloween as being something “harmless” but is that thought in the context of God’s mind or ours? It’s much like taking a rotting piece of meat out of a dumpster, brushing it off, and presenting it to our children and saying “Here’s a gourmet meal for you to enjoy.” The truth is however, no matter how much you attempt to make the meat appetizing and appealing, it is still a rotten piece of meat from a dumpster. For some reason, many believers feel as Halloween can be “dressed up” and celebrated in a “Christian” manner; however nothing we can do will ever change the truth that it is still a celebration of the kingdom of darkness.
This Bible does give us some very sound advice. Ephesians 5:11 tells us to “have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” As the apostle Paul wrote the Ephesians, he had a great concern for them in how they conducted themselves in their culture---especially when it came to the influence of paganism and the temple cult of Diana. He encouraged the Ephesians to be “imitators of Christ” not under the guise of blending in with the cultural norm but in standing against the things that were contrary to the Christian life. The things we “participate” in are the things we become “identified” with; thus, this was the reason Paul admonished the Ephesians to be “imitators” of Christ rather then being imitators of the pagan culture. Ignorance does not negate the truth and the truth about Halloween is what it is: the worshiping at the table of demons and for the Christian, to participate would be to place a costume over Christ and pretend that you are someone who worships at the table of demons.
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