CHRISTINITY AND HALLOWEEN

I have a brother who is born on the 31st of October, so that day in our family has always been just his birthday, and not a celebration of any hallows. It also meant we still got lots of sweet treats despite not taking part in any Trick-or-Treating.

Collecting sweets from strangers is crazy to me!

I have attended a couple of Halloween parties in my university days ("college" for my Americans) and I had a good time getting dressed up with my friends, but as I grew older I started to wonder how many people actually knew what it was they were celebrating so emphatically, and where the line between "participating in the fun" and "celebrating hallows" really lay.

"²⁰ No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. ²¹ 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 (NIV)

At no point did I ever intend to take part in any pagan holidays or rituals, but Halloween got so heavily commercialised in the USA and UK that my young brain didn't see my donning a costume and going to the club as a celebration of the holiday, it was just an excuse to go out in an unusual outfit! 😅

My advise to my younger self would be simple - follow the teachings of your Christian parents and avoid taking part, in any form, in events and celebrations you have no deep understanding of. Can you imagine my conversation with God on Judgement Day had the world ended while I was at that Halloween party, dressed as a sexy cat???

The origins of Halloween are quite foggy and I didn't bother to research too deeply as I have already made my mind up about never participating again, but as Halloween 2025 approaches, I urge you all to make up your own minds about how you feel about it and be very intentional about what you take part in. There is no judgement to those who have or will participate in Halloween, I just admitted to doing so myself, the point of the post is to highlight intentionality in our actions.

My philosophy is simple, make sure you are confident being fully accountable for all of your actions.