Should Christians celebrate Halloween?

Answer 1

Depends on how you look at it. Yes, it is a pagan holiday based on spirits and ghost tales. I dont mind my daughter dressing up because she always wants to be a princess or something sparkly like that. My church does an alternative nite where kids get to play games and win candy, jump in bouncers, they have food and all kinds of stuff. they tell people to not dress up which is much more comfy when it is freezing outside. But they dont turn people away if they do...

Answer 2

Yes, it's their holiday. Samhain is the Pagan holiday and doesn't necessarily fall on Oct 31 every year (since it is based on the lunar calendar). Oct 31 is the Christian holiday of Halloween (All Saints Eve) and Nov 1 is All Saints Day (Hallowmas) on the Christian calendar. I see no reason that Christians should change their holidays because the misidentify Pagan holidays (which while yes they predate Halloween and some of the customs attributed to Halloween came form Pagan traditions, that doesn't mean it isn't a Christian holiday). Not celebrating Halloween as a Christian because it's a Pagan holiday would mean that, logically, Christians cannot celebrate Easter, Candlemas, or Christmas because those were Pagan holidays, too (and the celebrations are full of pagan customs and symbols). Although, again, I restate that the exact date of those holidays would change on the Pagan calendar because they are based on the lunar calendar not the Gregorian calendar. (Easter being the exception because even it moves according to Christian calendrical customs).

How they celebrate is for the Christian to decide, but I see no reason that they should celebrate All Saints Eve.

Answer 3

Nobody 'celebrates' Halloween - kids dress up in silly costumes and use it as a way to make money for Guy Fawkes night in the UK. Now that's a thought 'Come back Guy Fawkes - all is forgiven!' Oh dear, we're not allowed to write that any more - it might get misinterpreted as a point on the axis of medieval.

Answer 4

If this is a sincere question, then please do some research on the origins of Halloween and u will find it is originally a pagan holiday. Why did some christian churches burn and persecute people they claimed were witches and now those same churches encourage their members to have parties and festivals around that period? It's food for thought. This article out of a watchtower explains the beginnings of all hallow's eve and samhain.

"Such an awesome catastrophe, if it really happened, would never have been completely forgotten. Hence, in many nations there are reminders of that destruction. Consider, for example, the precise date recorded in the Scriptures. The second month of the ancient calendar ran from what we now call mid-October to mid-November. So the 17th day corresponds approximately to the first of November. It may not be a coincidence, then, that in many lands, festivals for the dead are celebrated at that time of year"

Answer 5

Haloween has nothing to do with Christianity, directly*, but that's no reason for any person of any religion not to celbrate haloween if they want to. Especially if you mean the totaly empty-of-meaning farce called 'haloween' perpetrated on the world by Americans? An excuse for some kids to dress up and role play and knock on doors to ask strangers for sweets. Where's the harm in that?
I'm sure all the local pedophiles love it.

*Indirectly, modern Christianity has taken up many Pagan beliefs and celebrates a few Pagan festivals, like Christmas, so why not Haloween too?

Answer 6

I think they should, because traditions are important in society. They bring people together and the kids just love to dress up.

Unfortunately there are very few people who stop and think, what the holidays are actually about. Guy Fawkes, who was he? Pagan celebrations, what are they? Why do we have Pancake Day? In England, many people don't even know any more, why they are having a Bank Holiday. It's just another Monday off to do more shopping and DIY. And the industry just LOVES to make a good, old profit from commercialising it all!

Sad, very sad....

Answer 7

Halloween, yes. Samhain, no.

Halloween is a contraction of All Hallow's Eve. Hallow being an archaic word for Holy. Traditionally it's a vigil. That is staying up all night to worship.

Let's get over the "who stole who's holiday" bit, please. It's an honest question and deserves a polite answer.

Fearful Christians look down on what people call a pagan celebration. But that would be Samhain. Not Halloween. Christians have been celebrating the deaths of martyrs since the earliest of Christian days. The "hallowed" ones being those who died as martyrs. Martyrs for Christ get a free pass to Heaven.

So celebrate on! Even if your child wants to dress up as a skeleton. Many saints are depicted with skulls. Death is prevalent in Christianity. Jesus tells us to hold our eventual entrance into Heaven always in our minds. Which means meditating on our own mortality.

It also makes it very easy to forgive the transgressions of others, and ask for forgiveness ourselves, if we realize none of us is promised a tomorrow. Or even 5 minutes from now.

Answer 8

What the Bible teaches us is that we should be fully persuaded in our own minds about these things—either pro or con. But we should not judge or condemn others who are of a different persuasion. The apostle Paul’s advice in Romans 14(The Weak and the Strong) can be applied to the question of Halloween activities.

Answer 9

depends on what your idea of celebration is. There is nothing wrong with imagination and trick or treating. There are people who take it too far and those who celebrate a pagan holiday that i dont think we should participate in. However to me halloween is just another day god is in charge of and I dont see any reason why if you are raising your children properly that they cant tell the difference between truth and fantasy....why be afraid of just another day...let your kids have fun, if your raising them in christs love there is no reason to fear.

Romans 8:15
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

Answer 10

Yes, they should open their minds and realize it's not an evil holiday, nor was it ever an evil holiday. Christmas was, like Halloween, a pagan holiday (Winter Solstice) & Christians just created their own holiday from that. They could do the same with Halloween. If they don't agree with celebrating the final Harvest, etc..., Christians could honor the dead, give thanks for thier blessings & RELAX & HAVE FUN with the rest of the world!