As Bowen Baptist Church we stand on our convictions of faith which are firmly rooted in scripture. When it comes to celebrating Halloween, simply we don’t and we don’t encourage our church family to celebrate it either. However, there is a little more to it than just that. To understand our reasoning, please read on.
History of Halloween
Halloween began as a Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The festival marked the end of summer and the beginning of the cold winter which was often a time associated with death. The belief was that the night before the new year the boundary between the living and the dead became blurred and the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.
For the Celts this was a highly spiritualised season with priests and druids believed to use the power of these other worldly spirits to predict the future. The festival was a time of worship to the Celtic deities which were often identified as specific plants or animals in nature.
Common practice of homogenising different cultural practices
Throughout history when two or more cultures merged it was common for the festivals or celebrations of one culture to be adopted and homogenised into another. Halloween, like Easter and Christmas are both examples of this. While sometimes there were already existing festivals at the same time of year, others brought these traditions together. Halloween was one of those. During the Roman empire we see that the Romans incorporated their own traditions and worship into Samhain.
It wasn’t until 609 AD that Christianity sought to make the celebration of Samhain something that could reflect their own values. Instead of celebrating a time when the dead roamed the earth, they celebrated a feast of All Saints, commemorating Christian martyrs. Instead of merging with Samhain, this was intended to replace it. All Saints day was also called All-hallows from the middle English meaning the same and the night before was All Hallows-eve which has since been shortened Hallowe’en.
When we look at the modern-day celebration, while keeping with the name given by the church, the celebration reflects more of a recognition of the fantasy of the dead partially revived and come to life. For some, Halloween remains a spiritual time, for others they see it as a bit of fun, dress-ups and lollies.
A Christian Response and understanding of God and Halloween
Having looked at the history of Halloween, I’d like to look at scripture to see how we should approach this as Christians.
One God – Creator and Saviour.
As Christians we believe in one God who is the creator of the heavens (that is the sky, space, the stars, planets and galaxies that make up our universe) and the earth and everything in it. We believe that God loves us, and despite our wickedness he desires a loving and intimate relationship with us. So much so that he sent his son Jesus to pay the penalty for our wickedness on our behalf.
Like any healthy relationship, once we enter into it there is an expectation of exclusivity and respect. This means our hearts belong exclusively to God, we are called to worship him alone. We are expressly called to not worship anything that has been created or the image or likeness of anything that is created. (Exodus 20:3-4; Deuteronomy 6:13-15; Mark 12:29-31; Luke 4:8)
As Halloween is centred around the Celtic worship of nature and created things, and the Romans have added into it their worship of gods in the image of men and women. This also includes the practices of witchcraft and the like which at their core focus their worship on nature or spirits other that God. Any aspects of Halloween that revolve around paying homage to or worshipping things in this way, at this time of year or indeed any time of year should not form a part of our lives or faith as Christians.
Another aspect of Halloween that leaves us falling well short of our biblical obligations is the celebration of reanimated people into zombies and mummies etc. A core aspect of the Gospel is the hope we have in the resurrection. The resurrection we are promised in scripture is not in part, like we see at Halloween, but in perfect wholeness. It restores completely without fault to the point where there is no decay, no sickness, no pain and no weeping. It is the resurrection we have witnessed in Jesus, and in Jesus we also have this promise and hope of a final resurrection. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 21:3-7)
A final word on engaging in Halloween as a Christian:
With all this being said, it is very easy as a Christian to withdraw ourselves away. To feel more informed and “right” than other people who get involved in Halloween. But God never desires that we separate ourselves away from the world. Instead, his desire for us is this: remaining set-apart in our thinking, our attitudes and actions towards God, to actively engage with the world to show them patiently and graciously how God loves them. (Philippians 2:3-11; Galatians 5; Matthew 5:13-16; Acts 17:22-34)
We don’t do that by being proud or arrogant; we do it as Jesus did, lovingly with a servant heart. As Christians we don’t celebrate Halloween, we celebrate Christmas and Easter. The present and promise of our redemption and the living example of our complete and perfect resurrection.
If you’re so inclined to be involved with Halloween this year, might I suggest you find ways to serve and shine the hope of our faith instead of conforming to the patterns of tradition that settle for far less than what Jesus offers. This is our conviction, this is our hope – Jesus the everlasting God!
Pastor Nick
Pastor Bowen Baptist Church