I’m a Christian and I Celebrate Halloween

I typed the blog title, I’m a Christian and I Celebrate Halloween, and then my weirdly artistic brain pictured a room full of people in costumes, holding Bibles on their laps. “Hello, I’m Rob,” I said. “I’m a Christian and I celebrate Halloween,” to which everyone in the room replied…

“Hi Rob.”

Ok, all jokes aside, this is a subject that’s bugged me for a long time, and I’ve remained silent for many years, putting up with all the Halloween-haters. Some of you know of whom I speak: those Christians who feel it’s their responsibility to regulate the morality and convictions of others.

The same ones who see a Christ-follower drinking a glass of beer and whisper, “Oh that’s too bad, I thought they were a Christian.” Never mind the fact that it might be someone new to the faith, or, like many others, literally see no harm in having a drink now and again.

It’s the same ones who see what they dub a “supposed-Christian” watching a horror movie, and make it their life’s goal to convince the other of the “evils” of such forms of media.

Well, my mom raised me on horror movies, and I raised my son on them (my daughter’s not a fan), and I’m a Christian. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about today. Also, as an update and in response to one of the haters who wrote a post on their Facebook page about “people who feel the need to justify their sin” in celebrating Halloween (directed towards so-called “delusional believers” like me, hahaha), I’d like to say that this is not what this is at all. No offense but I answer to nobody but God. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I and all my family are Christians, and yet none of us have ever had a problem with Halloween. I justify myself to nobody but the Lord Almighty; this is simply to present my side of the story. The Halloween-haters present their side every single year, and this is written simply in response to that.

I know some will still think us all “heathens,” but…and again, no offense…I really don’t care.

Now, lest you think I’ve kept my head in the sand and am ignorant of all the stories, I know how Halloween began, and I know some think it’s “the devil’s day.” I’m aware of the rumors of heightened satanic activities and of kitty cats supposedly disappearing every October 31 so some block-head can sacrifice them to the devil.

When my and my wife’s daughter Jessica was a baby in the late 80s, I spent a whole year praying about whether or not to celebrate Halloween. I had been raised by parents and grandparents who not only encouraged us to dress up, but had dress-up parties of their own and passed out candy to all the neighborhood kids.

At the end of that year, I came to a very long-sought-after but simple conclusion:

For me, Halloween was about dressing up and taking my daughter (now it’s my grandchildren) around the neighborhood to jokingly beg candy from our friends. That’s it.

And that’s all it’ll ever be. Some think it’s “devil’s night,” and celebrating in any form or fashion is living in conjunction with evil.

That’s fine, you’re entitled to that opinion. If that fits your convictions, GREAT! Not a problem for me or my family at all.

Some will take their kids to church “fall festivals” and “trunk-or-treat” parties only.

That’s fine, you’re entitled to that opinion. If that fits your convictions, GREAT! Not a problem for me or my family at all.

Some see this as a day when they can buy Christian tracts and glow sticks with Bible verses, handing them out on Halloween night.

That’s fine, you’re entitled to that opinion. If that fits your convictions, GREAT! Not a problem for me or my family at all.

Some will stay at home the entire night of October 31, hiding in their bedroom with all the lights off, only the glow of the television flickering, (literally) hoping to God nobody knocks on their door that night.

That’s fine, you’re entitled to that opinion. If that fits your convictions, GREAT! Not a problem for me or my family at all.

But for my great-grandparents, my grandparents, my parents, my aunts, my uncles, my cousins, my nephews and nieces, my wife, my children and all my grandchildren, Halloween is nothing more than a fun night to get dressed up and walk around the neighborhood.

Back in the mid-80s I went to college with a fellow believer who said he couldn’t listen to Christian rock music. “I used to be in a gang,” he said, “and we’d always play really aggressive music before we went out and started trouble. So for me, the faster, harder music brings up very violent memories, but for others like you who are into it, that’s totally cool, man! The Bible says to work out your own salvation through fear and trembling.”

In case you don’t know what my buddy was referring to, here it is:

“(W)ork out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12b NKJV).

“Fear” in this case doesn’t mean to be scared; it means to follow Christ, but with a healthy fear of God. Healthy fear, not being scared to death of what He might do to us, but giving God the respect He deserves. It means to walk in respect, not engaging in behavior you feel is displeasing to the Lord. We believers call it “convictions,” and they’re different for everyone.

I have an aunt back in the 70s who was convicted of wearing red lipstick. Another was convicted of wearing pants. Sounds strange, but they didn’t feel comfortable with it, so they followed their hearts.

But you know what they didn’t do? They didn’t pull Bible verses and use them out of context to tell everyone else they were wrong for wearing lipstick or pants. They followed their heart and worked out their own salvation with respect to God and others. They didn’t use their own personal convictions as an excuse to rag on those who held different beliefs. They were respectful.

Below I have several pictures of my family celebrating Halloween through the years. The pictures include my Uncle Bill and Aunt Lynda, who have both passed on. They were amazing people, and Bill was very active in his little Baptist church. Nobody but nobody will ever convince me they were stubbornly living in rebellion against God because they liked to get dressed up on October 31.

In addition, included in these pics is my Aunt Sue (she’s the one at the bottom with all the funny costumes), who passed away last year. Her and her husband, my Uncle Jim, held a Halloween party every year. She retired from the Assemblies of God Headquarters, and he is a greeter in their church. To Aunt Sue, Halloween was one of the most fun days of the year, and she put a lot of effort into her parties.

Nobody but nobody will ever convince me she was stubbornly living in rebellion against God because she liked to host a Halloween party for her beloved family. The other pics are of me, my wife Laura, my daughter Jessica and son-in-law Josh, my son Trey and daughter-in-law Maria, and my grandkids: Joshua, Jenna, Davey and Jamison.

Ya see, this is the way I feel, after being a Christian for 50 years, and this is the way my entire family feels. It’s also the beliefs of a multitude of others; we just don’t say anything about it. We keep our beliefs to ourselves, and try not to regulate someone else’s morality or convictions.

Every year, some believers just can’t wait for Halloween so they can tell everyone else how evil it is. One Facebook friend even private messaged me once, trying to convince me of how “wrong” it is (like I haven’t done my own prayer and research). She literally said, “Well, every real Christian knows that things like kiddie porn and Halloween are evil.”

I was aghast. I said, “You’re literally comparing child pornography with me and my family dressing up every year and going out on Halloween?” She replied that, yes, indeed she WAS comparing the two.

Unbelievable.

I just said, “Then we have nothing more to talk about,” and haven’t messaged her since. Those were her beliefs, but they’re not mine. If you REALLY think we’re wrong, then start praying that God tells me, my family, my friends and millions of others.

Because the way it stands now, we see this as an amazing, exciting, yearly journey we get to take for one day. And that’s all it is for us. I just choose not to be rude about it, forcing my beliefs on others. DO celebrate, DON’T celebrate, I don’t really care.

The Apostle Paul had his haters, too. “I can’t believe you think it’s ok for some to eat meat offered to idols!” they probably whined. “I thought you were a follower of JESUS!” And I’m sure he did the same thing the rest of us have been doing for years: just smiled at the haters, kept on loving others, and living his life.

Please enjoy these Halloween pics of my family over the years.