Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look, and 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 Hallows, so the night before, October 31st, came to be known

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