Halloween

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Halloween

As a Christian, what are your views on Halloween?

Do you allow your children to "celebrate" it? If so, what costumes are they allowed to wear and where do they trick or treat (neighborhood, shopping mall...)?

If not, how do you explain it to them? Do you provide an alternative or skip it altogether?
 
This one is a touchy subject amongst Christians.
Most of the churches have "Autumn" parties here and allow costumes. Nothing scary or monster-like~
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Well, as an Aussie, this 'holiday' is not really celebrated. Business has cottoned on to the marketing side of it a bit, but I don't know anyone who celebrates this day. Personally, and please don't take offense, I could never understand why any christian would go out and celebrate a pagan day like this one.
I have heard other christians say they don't celebrate jewish holidays, buddist holidays, etc, so why celebrate a wiccan holiday either.
 
Perhaps scripture can give us the answer on this topic. Please review the chapters and verses listed below and read several verses above and below these, for the full impact of just how much these practices are admonished by God as an ABOMINATION. These practices are glorified by commercialism and by unknowing and uncaring parents. The children are the victims because they follow the lead of their parents and it is the PARENTS who are leading their children into deception and an anti-Christian mindset.

Ephesians 6:11-12

Isaiah 47:10-14

Revelation 21:8

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 ( verse 12 is especially telling )

2 Kings 21:6

Micah 5:12

Acts 8:11-24

Leviticus 20:27

Exodus 7:11

There are several "so-called" Christian denominations that actually promote 'all saints day'. This practice is a tradition of MAN... not a tradition of God.
 
I've always liked Halloween, one way or another. As a kid and a teen, I just really loved the idea of dressing up. There was never any thought about pagans or Wiccans. In my mind, they were just long dead religions that died out hundreds of years ago. I knew there were still some around, but figured they were very rare.

But, I've always like dressing up. At one point, I even did my internship with a Special Effects company, and later in theatre working on makeup.

I haven't dressed up for Halloween much in the past few years. Last year, I went caroling with a local church just to be different. Prior years, I've been part of Fall Festivals. Say what you will about them, they very clearly AREN'T Halloween. At least, they usually aren't. Most are just mini-carnivals, but they give parents an option to allow their kids to do something fun WITHOUT actually celebrating Halloween. Since it's the usage of the symbol that gives it meaning, not necessarily it's past, then I think the same goes for Holidays. You can "celebrate" magick, wizardry, whatever and make it a very unChristian event, or you can choose to Sanctify the day in Christ and not celebrate the day, but enjoy fellowship together.

As it happens, this year I am going to dress up for work on principle alone because my boss said nothing I do could surprise her anymore. Sounded like a challenge to me, but even so, I'm not celebrating Samhain in any way, just taking advantage of an opportunity to shock my coworkers.
 
Halloween has become a commercial holiday, just like the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus. People only celebrate it for to reasons:
1-To buy costumes and dress up for fun
2-So they/their children can have fun.;)
 
Fear is often most Christians reason for shying away from Halloween...that and missinformation.
It is fine to avoid it for legitimate reasons, but if our reasoning is based in fear or ignorance...not so good.

Halloween is not a wiccan holiday for example, wiccans certainly celebrate it...but historically it was a druidic festival(samhain), and later a catholic holiday (all saints day). Neither of these have much in common with the way it is celebrated in the U.S. though...that is quite a modern phenomena. Modern wiccans are impossible to pin down as there are almost as many belief systems as there are wiccans.

I agree we should not celebrate a pagan holiday, but lets not over state the issue either. There is NO evidence the druids practiced anything beyond the usual superstitions expected in such a culture. The only evidence of human sacrifice was an accusation by the Romans...and since they wanted to conquor the druids we can pretty much write that off as blatant propaganda (never mind that the Romans DID practice human sacrifice).
The big bad evil druids were actually one of the few peoples who converted to Christianity very peacefully...so why would we look back to their past in fear as though there was some awful power there?
 
It indeed has its roots in pagan traditons- I choose not to participate but that is my personal conviction- ask God and He will direct you.
 
I used to love Halloween...but I read those Chick Comics and it scared me into not observing it this year.

I don't really think that razor blades in apples and poisonous candy are meant to turn children into sacrifices to satan, tho. But I really disagree that our culture should be celebrating terrible things like witches and demons and zombies and the such.

Baby Jessie isn't going to learn from me that these things are "cool".
 
My girls are small now, but I don't believe we will be "celebrating" Halloween with them when they grow up. Halloween is nothing to celebrate! One year when I was still working, just for laughs, I put on some heavy make-up and dressed all in black. I was trying to be Elvira, but I ended up saying I was a vampire. The people at my office actually kind of laughed because they said I was anything but scary; in fact one of them said I looked like Trinity from the Matrix movies.:D Anyway, my point is this: That year I started looking up Halloween on the internet just so I can read up a little on it because I really didn't know anything concrete about it. What I found stopped my heart. I'm not one to be afraid or to think that evil spirits are stronger than our Lord, but this is one scary "holiday". I never knew, but it actually celebrates satan himself and all his minions and demons. I have no intention to participate in such things. The origins of this thing are so macabre and so evil that I realized I had no reason to take part in it, even if it was just for laughs. For me personally it would be like condoning and taking part in witchcraft. Some friends from my church were discussing this, and we were trying to come up with something to do when people come knocking at our door, maybe hand out track with candy, I don't know. I haven't come up with anything I like yet, so until God directs me in what to do, this is one "celebration" my family will skip! Those are my convictions, anyway!:D

laura:)
 
I need to point out that kids aren't worshipping the devil just because they put on a costume and go out and get free candy.
Halloween isn't an evil, satanic holiday unless you teach your kids to believe that.
To them it is a time to have fun, use their imaginations to dress up, and go get free candy. I guarantee thats all kids think of it.
Is their anyone in here who celebrates christmas?? Does anyone put up a christmas tree, hang lights and give and receive presents? If you're going to shun halloween, then you need to not celebrate christmas as well because it's roots are just as pagan.
Jesus wasn't born on december 25th, in all likely hood he was born in the late september/early october area.
The christmas that most people celebrate on december 25th, is just as pagan as halloween.
Quit trying to sound spiritual, praise God for our awesome imaginations that He created, and let your kids dress up and get free candy.
I personally am going as SpongeBob.
(I should also mention that I don't really agree with dressing up as evil, bloody, horrific things related to death and demons, so on and so forth you get the idea. but I think it's perfectly fine to dress up as fun imaginative stuff like Dinosaurs, Super-Heros, Cartoon Characters, Robots or anything else you can think of that is fun and creative.)
I made my own costume out of cardboard and different colored felt paper and I had a blast doing it.
 
With all due respect, I know what Christmas is and I also know the true story of St Nicholas that started the Christmas idea anyway. That true story is anything but evil. There is a big difference between "pagan" and evil. Halloween is about celebrating satan, his demons and all hell stands for. To compare Christmas to Halloween, I personally think it's a little silly. Not to mention the fact that I never said that dressing up for Halloween means anyone is worshiping the devil. All I said was that after reading about Halloween, I had no desire to participate in it again on principle because of what it celebrates. Everyone is free to do whatever they want! The truth is, just like Paul talking about eating meat offered to idols or the drinking of wine, we all have to follow what we feel the Holy Spirit is telling us personally! When I red the story of Halloween, I was personally convicted and I decided in my heart to never participate in it again, but that is MY conviction and I am not trying to impose it on anyone else! I would suggest to anyone that wants to, before they "celebrate" Halloween again, to read about it! It's quite an eye opener!

Laura:)
 
I agree, Adoptive...

BTW: One Halloween I was dressing up as a ghoul. I laid down some red face paint and then did the shadows with darker paint. I thought it looked pretty awesome. At the church Halloween party (which they don't have anymore), someone said my costume was excellent! They thought that I was a man choking on a chicken bone. I went into the bathroom and looked...they were right! I looked like a man choking on a chicken bone!

hysterical.gif
 
I personally think it's just more genuine to celebrate something based on what it means to you not based on it's history.
For example.... I just returned from a Halloween costume party that was thrown by my family. Some are christians, some are not, but to us it's all about getting together, having a great time, eating food, listening to music, having a fire and enjoying each others company all while being dressed up in various costumes.
A Halloween party to my family has nothing to do with devil worship or pagan rituals, we've basically turned it into a new holiday. To us, Halloween is much like Thanksgiving, the 4th of July, and Christmas, only with a creative costume theme.
My point simply is, Halloween will become what you turn it into.... My family has taken it and turned it into something fun....
Others teach their kids that it's an evil, satan worshipping holiday, and to those kids thats what it becomes, because thats what it was turned into for them.
 
JeremiahD84 said:
I personally think it's just more genuine to celebrate something based on what it means to you not based on it's history.
For example.... I just returned from a Halloween costume party that was thrown by my family. Some are christians, some are not, but to us it's all about getting together, having a great time, eating food, listening to music, having a fire and enjoying each others company all while being dressed up in various costumes.
A Halloween party to my family has nothing to do with devil worship or pagan rituals, we've basically turned it into a new holiday. To us, Halloween is much like Thanksgiving, the 4th of July, and Christmas, only with a creative costume theme.
My point simply is, Halloween will become what you turn it into.... My family has taken it and turned it into something fun....
Others teach their kids that it's an evil, satan worshipping holiday, and to those kids thats what it becomes, because thats what it was turned into for them.
Click to expand...

:)Let it not be said that I am not the pliable kind:D... I see your point friend, and I am OK with it. Actually, it sounds like fun... Maybe I've let myself be influenced by what I red...

Laura:)
 
Whirlwind said:
I agree, Adoptive...

BTW: One Halloween I was dressing up as a ghoul. I laid down some red face paint and then did the shadows with darker paint. I thought it looked pretty awesome. At the church Halloween party (which they don't have anymore), someone said my costume was excellent! They thought that I was a man choking on a chicken bone. I went into the bathroom and looked...they were right! I looked like a man choking on a chicken bone!

hysterical.gif
Click to expand...

Thanks Whirlwind... That's funny!:)

Laura:)
 
Here's some Halloween History for all you ghouls and goblins!

(bwah-haw-haw-haw-haw-haaaa!)

http://www.history.com/minisite.do?...tent_type_id=713&display_order=1&mini_id=1076

http://www.theholidayspot.com/halloween/history.htm

http://www.neopagan.net/Halloween-Origins.html

http://urbanlegends.about.com/gi/dy...wp-srv/national/horizon/oct98/hallo101498.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

One from a "Christian" point of view...

http://www.new-life.net/halowen1.htm

and a few more from a "Christian" point of view (these are the ones that freaked me out and scared me...)

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0058/0058_01.asp
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1053/1053_01.asp
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0032/0032_01.asp

I don't know...after reading the Christian point of view (not the Chick Comics) I might talk to my spiritual leaders for more guidance on this.
 
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