Bible Justification Halloween 2025

[Justmerach]

Hi everyone, Halloween is rapidly approching us and last year the Anglican church that I attend as a non demontional Christian-they had a service which was about halloween day. I know that hallowwen has been controversial and but we all make up our own minds about things and that is for you to do. I was those surpised to see it used as church knowing the controversy and it made feel more justifed to watch my one year spooky movie a year. I like things like Ghost trains. My favourite ride at a fair..good for my senses.

So this might be news to some of you. The forum was created after this event last year so there was not a thread last year. I think this may be seen as a pagan event usually, but interesting how some church's cover it now and if you wish to put this on at home...may be here is some justification and I will attach what was we used in the church last year and the scripture it is mentioned in.

The reading came from Isaiah 25: 6-9

"On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
In that day they will say,
“Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

So firstly she is celebrating All Saints rather than All Souls / Halloween. I lived in a Catholic country and Halloween wasn't much of a thing but All Saints was - it was even a bank holiday. So it seems she's really talking about All Saints and conflating that with the heavenly feast which I guess All Saints is kind of remembering as it's thinking of the Saints who have gone before us to heaven.

She seems to be suggesting using Halloween as a way to witness to the light but it's quite vague and not something I would encourage.

Her main preaching is using the pumpkin as a symbol of different truths like being in the vine, having sin in us that needs cleaning out. It's not a style of preaching I'm used to - we take a Bible passage and focus on that for a sermon to look at what it means, what it says about God etc and what does it mean for us.

I think her bit about Halloween is an attempt to bring Christianity into something dark but I don't really agree with her suggestion.

Remember just because someone somewhere preaches something, doesn't mean it's right or godly, even if that person is a Christian.

I agree. Her intentions and clearly meant to be good but I still don't feel that the halloween stuff is appropriate. There is a very fine line between living in the world and being of the world and I think this sermon crosses the line in a couple of places for me. I really disagree with a church /Christian putting a pumpkin out for trick or treaters. Fine to put lights and welcome people with sweets but it's the connection to Halloween which concerns me.

Agree with the PPs.

I think had she wanted to talk about Halloween at all she could have taken the verses from Isaiah about the future everlasting Heavenly Kingdom and contrasted that with the temporary, dark things of this world and made the point that although Halloween might seem exciting and enticing, it doesn't lead to anything lasting nor is it a celebration of the light, Christ and the life to come, that we need to turn our eyes from the things of this world and keep them focused on Jesus.

I did appreciate her point about the pumpkin containing seeds that need to be cleared out and equating that with our sins (I feel like she started out with pumpkins and tried to make a sermon out of that), but I do think it would have been better to include more Bible verses along the way, for example those relating to Jesus being the light of the world (John 8:12), and believers being lights to the world (Matt.5:14-16) and maybe finishing again with Isaiah 60:19 where we see how the sun and moon won't be needed any longer as the Lord will be our everlasting light.

Unless one is very clear I do think trying to make anything concerning Halloween somehow connected to Christianity is dangerous ground.

This has been a really lovely discussion with lots of helpful points raised. Thanks everyone. It's nice to have somewhere to chat about stuff like this.

I wouldn’t touch anything to do with Halloween with a barge pole! It’s not of God, not celebratory of His Kingdom! Quite the opposite.

I’m Irish. Halloween aka Oíche Shamhna (the night before Samhain) originated in Ireland. It’s still massively celebrated here. The spiritual oppression in the days leading up to it is palpable.

I’d seriously counsel any Christian to avoid Halloween and anything to do with it.

This is under 12 minutes

Very interesting, and I do agree with him that so many Christians lack any discernment. Thank you!

That ex-satanist from South Africa has been doing a bunch of videos lately, I highly recommend them if you want to understand spiritual warfare more

I came across this as I sometimes listen to this channel on YT, and they are doing something I think is a great idea for Halloween. They're going to read through the entirety of the New Testament. You can listen along, make comments and generally just soak in the Lord's wisdom and the Word.

I think this is a great way to spend Halloween!

@GentleSheep I love this idea SO much! Thank you for sharing 😍

There is some Christian comedy on TicTok and it wouldn't surprise me if Halloween was on there as well.

I posted though to share an article that I saw Halloween on Premeir website today. If you can put it on Micorsoft you can often read their articles for free on weekend if you are not a member.
I haven't read this yet fully myself, so it doesn't mean I agree with it. It is just for others to read if they want to and make their own mind up. It is what another church does during this time.

https://www.premierchristianity.com/real-life/we-got-tired-of-halloween-darkness-so-our-church-created-a-light-beacon/20287.article

They're not actually celebrating Halloween in the article. They're doing what loads of churches and many people on here have talked about - a light party celebrating light and drawing people away from the darkness of Halloween.

Our church is having an all age party on 31st October, called "The Light". Food, drink, music, fun, love.

And nothing about Hallowe'en. I'm very glad. I'd far rather celebrate the love of Jesus than mullock about with the dark stuff.

Halloween is a celtic (pagan) festival and as a christian you should not celebrate it. It is the same as if you celebrated Diwali or Eid. All saints day is not a celebration in the bible, there is no need for you to take part in that either. Ignore it all and move onto thinking about Christmas.

We are doing this! 😁

Livestream of reading the entire New Testament