Halloween 2017 News: Bible Expert Explains Why It Is Okay For Christians To Celebrate Halloween
While some Christians refuse to take part in Halloween celebrations, Answers in Genesis (AiG) president Ken Ham suggests that the occasion can be used to spread the gospel.
Based on the study of LifeWay Research in 2015, 54 percent of Christians in America see nothing wrong about celebrating Halloween "all in good fun" while 18 percent avoid taking part in the celebrations for the sole reason of its pagan origins, and 23 percent refuse to celebrate for the combined reasons of its pagan origins and other factors.
However, in an exclusive interview with Gospel Herald, Ham said that Halloween can be an opportunity for Christians to spread God's word and that parents should take it upon themselves to decide if they allow their children to take part in the celebrations or not.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"I think parents should make their own decision before God as to what they're going to allow their kids to participate in and why. More and more Christians are recognizing that this is an opportunity to use this time to witness to others," Ham said.
Ham also pointed out that many churches these days have come up with an alternative to Halloween by adding a religious twist to it, such as the "reverse trick-or-treat" where Christians dress up in costumes, knock on their neighbors' doors, and give them candy or home-baked goodies together with Bible Tracts.
Nonetheless, even if Christians opt to stick to the traditional trick-or-treat practice, Ham said that it can still be an opportunity to spread the gospel. According to Ham, who is also the president of the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter, he and his wife have made it a practice to give away not only candies to trick-or-treaters on Halloween but Bible Tracts, too.
"We have big bucket of candy and we also have some special gospel tracts that we give to them with the candy. We believe we are doing our best to get the message of God's truth to people," Ham said.
