What do you think of, when you think of Halloween?  Fall, cold weather, candy, costumes, parties? Did you know that a quarter of all annual candy sales occur during the Halloween season in the United States?  

What is it about Halloween that makes October 31 so popular?  

Whatever the draw, Halloween is here to stay.  

What does the Bible say about it?  Is Halloween wrong or evil? Are there any clues in the Bible as to whether a Christian should celebrate Halloween?  

I have always felt it’s what you know in your heart to be true.  

Paul states that eating food offered to idols is not wrong because idols are not real.  They aren’t alive and can’t do anything for you, so eat away.  

But he adds a caveat to that; if it offends your brother to the point of him stumbling, then you shouldn’t do it.  So, as a logical thinking person, can we consider for a moment what we are celebrating, and what Halloween is all about.  

Is the holiday uplifting?  Is Halloween pure? Is it lovely, praiseworthy, or of good report?  

Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”  

Is Halloween based on Godly themes such as salvation, helping the oppressed, etc., or does it bring to mind feelings of fear, oppression?  

Today, costumes take the place of disguises, and candy has replaced fruits and other fancy foods, as children go door-to-door trick-or-treating.  

Originally trick-or-treating began as “souling,” (which is asking for donations of food).  Children would go door-to-door on Halloween, with soul cakes, singing and saying prayers for the dead.  Over the course of history, Halloween’s visible practices have changed with the culture of the day, but the purpose of honoring the dead veiled in fun and festivities, has remained the same.  

So, the question remains, is celebrating Halloween bad or unbiblical?  

Let’s look at Ephesians 5:11, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.”  

This text is calling us to not only have no association with any type of dark activity but to shed light on this topic to those around us.  

Additionally, does the Bible sanction witchcraft, witches, and sorcery?  On the contrary, the Bible makes it clear that these practices are an abomination to the Lord.  

In Leviticus 20:27 it states that anyone who practiced witchcraft, soothsaying, sorcery should be killed.  Oh, my! Maybe that is the scripture they used to burn all the witches in the 1600’s.  

Deuteronomy 18:9-13 adds, “When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.  There shall not be found among you … one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.  For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord.”  

On one hand, I think it is innocent fun because that is how I was raised.  But is that what God wants me to believe and accept?  

Maybe we should all ask ourselves that question; not just on Halloween, but on all subjects.

Karen Y. Stevens is the founder of Orange County Christian Writers Guild