How Should Christians Approach Halloween?
How should you approach Halloween? Do it according to your conscience. If your conscience tells you, “This is a celebration of darkness and wickedness, and I don’t want anything to do with it,” then you need to follow your conscience for you and your family. If your conscience says, “Hey, it’s a day when the kids dress up in fun or silly costumes and get a lot of candy, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” then fine, you can do that as well. I’m not ready to pass a universal approval or disapproval on Halloween.
I will mention that, as many people have noted recently, it seems like the celebration of Halloween seems to get darker and darker as the years go by. I’ve noticed this with house decorations that you see in the neighborhood. It used to be that nobody would decorate their house for Halloween. But now, you find that more than a few people decorate their house for Halloween, and sometimes it’s really grotesque or terrible stuff that they put out there. So, I want to acknowledge that that there does seem to be a rising tide of wickedness associated with it.
How would I mark or commemorate Halloween? I am like many people my age. I think of the relative innocence with which Halloween was celebrated when we were young, and how that was. But this is a decision up to each individual’s conscience. As the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians, “We don’t have dominion over your faith.” But remember what the Bible says: “Whatever is not of faith is sin.” If you feel that you have the liberty in Christ to really celebrate something like that, or have a party around it, then do it. Most importantly, be open and sensitive the Lord. If God convicts you that it’s wrong, then you certainly shouldn’t do it. If that’s the case, listen to your conviction and try not to judge another brother or sister who sees it differently than you.