Every year at this time, someone asks the question: ‘Should Christians participate in Halloween?’ It is an important question…one that demands thoughtful and biblical answers. But as we open the Bible, we discover that it does not contain any direct teaching on the subject of Halloween. And for good reason—Halloween was not celebrated in the ancient Bible lands!
We do find, however, that early Christians had to deal with similar non-Christian holidays, festivals, and cultural traditions. So, if we want to think biblically about Halloween, we should study biblical passages in which the early Christians dealt with the issues of how to practice Christianity in a pagan culture. One such passage is 1 Corinthians 10.14-31. In this passage, Paul gives instructions to the church at Corinth as to how to relate to the pagan rituals and celebrations that were part and parcel of their Greek culture. Specifically, Paul offers guidance as to what the Corinthian Christians should do with the idol feasts that were as much a part of their tradition as Halloween, football, and the 4th of July are part of ours. And I think there is great wisdom in Paul’s word to the Christians at Corinth!
We do find, however, that early Christians had to deal with similar non-Christian holidays, festivals, and cultural traditions. So, if we want to think biblically about Halloween, we should study biblical passages in which the early Christians dealt with the issues of how to practice Christianity in a pagan culture. One such passage is 1 Corinthians 10.14-31. In this passage, Paul gives instructions to the church at Corinth as to how to relate to the pagan rituals and celebrations that were part and parcel of their Greek culture. Specifically, Paul offers guidance as to what the Corinthian Christians should do with the idol feasts that were as much a part of their tradition as Halloween, football, and the 4th of July are part of ours. And I think there is great wisdom in Paul’s word to the Christians at Corinth!
So, let’s read Paul’s counsel together, then draw some parallels to our modern Halloween dilemma. Read the entire article:
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