Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth for the Colson Center. I'm John Stone Street. Every single Halloween. Resurrects an annual debate among Christians. Should we celebrate this holiday?
Well, this year's no different. For some, Halloween is harmless fun. For others, it's an excuse to dabble in darkness and sketchy costumes while celebrating evil and even death. For Christians, the essential questions about Halloween is whether or not we're loving God and our neighbors and whether we're proclaiming what is true about Christ's victory over evil. A very helpful video in the What Would You Say series gives three things that every single Christian should know and also what your kids need to know about Halloween.
Here's a clip from the video. First, what is often claimed about the history of Halloween? is wrong.
Some people claim that Halloween comes from a pagan festival called Sawin. when druids of old would commit human sacrifice under a full moon. But according to historians and even many modern pagans, most of that story is made up. In fact, no detailed records of Sawin or other Celtic festivals survived, so we know very little about it. And what modern pagans practice is more of an imaginative reconstruction that has little in common with Halloween historically.
other than occurring at harvest time. A more accurate explanation for the date and name of Halloween, and even its emphasis on the dead, is the Christian feast All Saints' Day, which was celebrated on November 1st. This day was also known as All Hollows, so the night before, October 31st. came to be known as All Hollows Eve. or Hollow En.
At some point, traditions like dressing up and going door to door to collect treats developed. In England, the idea of a knight of mischief probably came not from Halloween, but from Guy Fawkes Day on November 5th. It wasn't until the late 1700s that Halloween lost its Christian associations and took more of the ghoulish, plastic, teeth-rotting form we know today. It's not a coincidence that most of the day's transformation happened in America. And like what we now think of as Santa Claus, that it had so much to do with selling merchandise.
As it turns out, All of the witches and jack-o'-lanterns and spider webs and skeletons have commercial, not historical, origins. Halloween has more to do with department stores than druids. Second, The love of God and neighbor should guide all of our celebrations, including Halloween. Even if Halloween isn't a revival of an ancient paganism, that doesn't mean it's morally innocent. Many sinful and destructive practices have become associated with Halloween over the years, including sexually provocative costumes, drunkenness, drug abuse, and vandalism.
These are as wrong on October 31st as any other night, and Christians are right to avoid them. There's also the general ugliness that's often present on Halloween. Imitations of murder and mutilation are disgusting and rude, and those are not things to decorate with. We age restrict those kinds of images on television, but for some reason, it's culturally acceptable to display the same images on front porches. Halloween is no excuse to engage in destructive and sinful activities.
Christians aren't granted a day off from the great commandment to, quote, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, end quote. And gross, gory, or excessively scary imagery is not a way to love your neighbor as yourself. No matter what we do or how we celebrate, Jesus was clear that these two commandments should govern all of our behavior. Halloween is not a valid excuse to ignore them. And third, Evil is a defeated foe.
In Colossians 2, Paul proclaims that Christ has disarmed the powers and authorities. In fact, he made a public spectacle of them. Triumphing over them by the cross. In his crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus has defeated Satan and his hosts.
Now there are real forces of spiritual darkness, but according to the Bible, They're in retreat. their power was permanently broken when Christ rose from the dead. We need no longer fear death because Christ has destroyed the one who has the power of death. That is the devil. His fate is sealed.
and life has the last word. Any message that Christians send, including with our celebrations, should proclaim the victory of Jesus rather than glorify evil, death, or darkness. Paul offered guidance on the right way to celebrate when he wrote to the Philippians, quote, Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Christians should always consider what our celebrations say about evil. and the Savior who triumphed over it.
This doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong to enjoy Halloween, or even perhaps to mock the forces of evil.
However, it does mean that the love of God and neighbor should guide our fun. and that we should do everything we can to tell the truth about who has won. That was a segment of Should Christians Celebrate Halloween? A terrific and helpful video in the What Would You Say series. You can find the full video on the What Would You Say channel on YouTube, or just visit WhatWouldYou Say.
org. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co-authored with Shane Morris. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download your podcast. And for more videos like this that answer tough questions with clear and compelling answers, go to whatwouldyusay.org.
My name is Billy Hutchinson, head of the Colson Educators Program. I'm excited to announce a special educator's edition of Truth Rising the Study. If you work with students, you know this is a challenging time in culture. From AI and social media to identity and the basic questions of meaning and purpose, the classroom can be a confusing place right now. But what if you had clarity to understand this cultural moment in light of God's story?
Know how to live in light of truth and equip your students to do the same? That's where Truth Rising the Study Educators Edition can help. In this free digital course available for CEUs in partnership with ACSI, John Stone Street summarizes God's game plan for this civilizational moment using four essential concepts. Hope, truth, identity, and calling. Then, I follow up each lesson with practical tips for classroom application.
Through the study, you'll be grounded in the authentic hope of Christ's resurrection and understand God's grand story of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. You'll learn how our identity is anchored in the relationships we have as image bearers. and you'll learn what questions to ask to discern your calling where God has placed you, including your classroom, and then go and help your students do the same. You can access Truth Rising the Study Educators Edition and the full course library at ColsonEducators.org. That's colsoneducators.org.
