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We know Christians should stay away from any kind of evil. That’s a no-brainer. But what about innocent costume parties and trick-or-treating? Is playing dress-up and eating candy really all that bad? What are Halloween’s true origins and does that matter for how we engage the holiday today?
I gave some biblical context for these questions in my blog Should Christians Celebrate Halloween. With today’s blog, I want to highlight some blogs and videos to help you think biblically about Halloween and process how God is asking you personally to handle this cultural holiday.
These are Christian voices online whom I trust and respect (some of them personal friends), and they address the nuanced “Christians and Halloween” conversation from a variety of angles and perspectives with a firm foundation in Scripture.
8 Blogs & Videos for Christians Deciding What to Do About Halloween
1. Josh Howerton
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This is a quick read that has a lot of practical content about Christians and Halloween. I’m impressed by how much balanced, biblical truth Pastor Josh fits into a short Instagram post, and I fully agree with his thoughts. He covers all the big topics related to our engagement in Halloween: abstaining from evil, whether Halloween as practiced today is actually evil, following your conscience, not passing judgment on other Christians with a different view on a personal conscience issue, and reaching out to your community.
2. Keni Kirkwood
Here’s another quick read from a personal friend of mine! In her blog on Halloween, she goes beyond the surface and gets to the deeper issues of the heart, and ends the blog with a few really helpful questions she asks herself when discerning what entertainment/content to consume. I think you’ll find the questions helpful also as you pray and process what to do about Halloween and any other form of entertainment.
3. Ruslan
Every word of this video is PURE GOLD; it’s a must-watch! Ruslan always keeps it real and points us back to the Scriptures. Ruslan debunks the idea that practicing Halloween today is inherently demonic simply because of its origins. He shares some humble, thoughtful critique of the popular John Ramirez video on Halloween circulating amongst Christians.
In the last bit of the talk, he dives into what the Bible says about legalism and personal conviction issues, warning us not to add man-made commandments and standards to God’s Word or condemn another believer for holding a different standard than you on a matter of Christian freedom/personal conviction, like Halloween. I wholeheartedly agree with Ruslan’s perspective and I highly recommend this video.
4. Phylicia Masonheimer
In this short Facebook live video and this episode of her podcast, blogger and Bible teacher, Phylicia Masonheimer talks about Halloween’s origins in both Church history (All Saints Day) and paganism (Samhain), how those respective holidays were practiced in history, and how they’re practiced in present day.
I really appreciated Phylicia’s unique perspective as someone who happens to live in a region where there’s actively a strong culture of Wiccan/occult practice (as Christian apologist Jeremy Jenkins explains in this episode of the All Things All People podcast).
She acknowledges that innocent costumes and candy aren’t inherently a bad thing, but adds the perspective that a believer’s cultural context may impact how they personally evaluate whether casual participation in Halloween could be a burden on their Christian conscience and/or Christian witness. Her reasons for why a Christian might wisely choose not to celebrate Halloween are humbly presented and compelling.
Check out Phylicia’s e-book about Halloween called Death Has Lost Its Sting, where she dives deeper into those topics.
5. Remnant Radio
Remnant Radio is my favorite theology show on YouTube! In this episode, the hosts do a great job of acknowledging that the historical roots of Halloween are a little confusing to nail down with certainty, as the holiday in its original forms was derived from a variety of both pagan and Christian influences.
The guys discuss how the Bible’s teaching on personal conscience issues applies to Halloween and the importance of not participating with spiritual darkness. They share their thoughts on where they agree and disagree with one another on Halloween participation, and share advice for what other Christians might do.
6. Mike Winger
Pastor Mike Winger is amazing at diving into research and historical facts and explaining it in a simple way. Once again, he does a phenomenal job with this on the topic of Halloween. He makes a distinction between the roots of Halloween and how it has largely (although not entirely) evolved into something different when it’s practiced in present-day, while still warning of the dangers of engaging with wickedness.
He wisely calls us to hold each other accountable in how we engage with Halloween without going so far as to question each other’s salvation over differing personal convictions about Halloween.
7. Allen Parr
Allen Parr shares similar thoughts to the videos by Ruslan, Remnant Radio and Mike Winger, but I especially appreciated his exhortation that Christians not use Halloween as an excuse to abandon our Christian character for one day a year and his insight that Halloween can be used as form of evangelistic outreach. He talks about whether trick-or-treating and dressing up is permissible for Christians and addresses the genetic fallacy (or fallacy of origins).
I loved his gracious challenge to Christians that the pagan roots of Halloween may not be as convincing a reason to reject the holiday altogether as some Christians might think. Many aspects of culture we engage with daily initially had pagan roots (the names of the days of the week for example) and we understandably don’t give them a second thought, because they don’t have the same connotation now. This one’s another short-watch with great content.
8. Kingdom Thinking – JUCE TV
Josh Carman is a fellow Christian content creator who I’ve had the privilege to get to know online a bit via social media. Josh and his co-host, Hansel Flores, respond to Pastor Matt Chandler’s comments on Halloween. They discuss their honest thoughts about where they find Pastor Matt’s answers incomplete, their own personal wrestle with what to believe about Halloween, and leveraging Halloween to engage culture.
Now It’s Your Turn
I hope this gives you something to think and pray about. Seek God and obey what He is telling you and your family to do. If you want to learn more about what the Bible would say about Halloween, with some Scriptures you can study, read my blogs, Should Christians Celebrate Halloween and How Christians Should Handle Personal Convictions and Gray Areas.
***Watch all these vides on my Christians & Halloween YouTube playlist:
Let’s Talk: How did these blogs and videos challenge you to think differently about Halloween than you have before? How did they encourage you in what you already believe about Halloween? Discuss this post in the comments below.
