Pumpkins are a beloved fall fruit. Everything is pumpkin spice for the fall season, even air freshener. Another beloved usage of pumpkins this time of year is carving them into Jack O’ Lanterns. Many Christians carve pumpkins this time of year with Scriptures or images of Jesus or just fun kid things like unicorns or puppies. If Christians aren’t carving pumpkins to be scary Jack’ O Lanterns but instead as a fun family night or a way of witnessing to the world, then is it really the same thing? Is it still wrong to carve pumpkins if it isn’t for Halloween? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he searches through Scripture for the answer to these questions and more in his video, Should Christians Carve Pumpkins?
Exodus 32:2–6
John 10
Isaiah 5:20
Should Christians Carve Pumpkins?
The Origin of Jack’ O Lanterns
The legend of Stingy Jack
The Devil heard about Stingy Jack, and one night he went looking for him to see if the stories were true. When Jack saw Satan, he realized that Satan had come to claim his unredeemed soul. So, Jack asked for one final request before Satan took his soul to Hades. His request was to have one last drink of ale at the pub.
Satan, seeing no reason why he shouldn’t, took Jack to the local pub and gave him some drinks. To Satan’s surprise, when the drinks were finished and it came time to pay, Jack asked Satan to pick up the tab. Jack, being the sly cheat he was, talked Satan into turning himself into a silver coin so that they could rip off the pub. Impressed, Satan agreed. Jack then took Satan, who was now a silver coin and put him in his pocket next to a silver crucifix, preventing him from changing back into his original form. Unable to change back, Satan had no choice but to agree to Jack’s demands that he would not bother him for 10 years.
When the 10 years were up, Satan went looking for Jack again. As Satan was preparing to take Jack to Hades, Jack asked for one last apple to eat to satisfy his hunger before his eternal damnation. Once again, Satan obliged and climbed up the apple tree. Jack then quickly carved a crucifix into the trunk of the tree, once again trapping Satan. Unable to go free, Satan once more agreed to Jack’s terms; this time, Satan had to agree that he would never be able to take Jack to Hades.
Eventually, Jack died from alcoholism. As his soul was preparing to enter Heaven through St. Peter’s Gates, God stopped him and would not let him in. His deceit, lies, drunkenness, and wickedness had finally caught up with him, and Jack was unable to enter Heaven. So, Jack, now without an eternal home, went to the Gates of Hades begging to enter, but Satan refused, honoring the promise he had made those many years ago.
Now without a final resting place, Jack was doomed to roam the Earth, becoming a permanent citizen of the Netherworld. Stuck in the darkness of the Spirit Realm, Jack asked Satan how he would be able to see where he was going, as he had no light. So, mockingly, Satan threw him a burning coal to light his way. Going back up to Earth, Jack took a turnip (his favorite food), carved it, and then placed the burning coal inside of it. He began his eternal punishment to endlessly walk the Earth, never finding a resting place. The once Stingy Jack soon became known as “Jack of the Lantern” or “Jack O’ Lantern.”
People In Ireland and Scotland began to make their own versions of Jack’s lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them in windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. In England, large beets are used. Immigrants from these countries brought the Jack O’ Lantern tradition with them when they came to the United States. They soon found that pumpkins, a fruit native to America, make the perfect Jack O’ Lanterns.
Carving Pumpkins (Jack O’ Lanterns) Today
The origins of carving pumpkins (Jack O’ Lanterns) is in the occult. In other words, it’s not of God. That which is not of God is evil, and we, Christians, should take no part in it.
14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,
“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore go out from their midst,
and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you,
and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
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