Halloween

KitsapGirl said:
Thank you1 I couldn't remember where to find these verses. This is how I view Christians participating in halloween.
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The context of the passage is Idol worship...Halloween as a secular phenomenon is not idol worship. If we take this passage to mean having no contact with anyone or anything not overtly Christian we will have a hard time evangelising people we refuse to interact with:eek:
 
seekinghokmah said:
The context of the passage is Idol worship...Halloween as a secular phenomenon is not idol worship. If we take this passage to mean having no contact with anyone or anything not overtly Christian we will have a hard time evangelising people we refuse to interact with:eek:
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From what I've seen & heard lately, it is idolatry...heaven forbid someone refuse to participate in this secular holiday...I'd get less of a reaction if I decided not to eat meat, or not watch TV...

People are genuinely offended when they hear that my family as a whole does not participate in halloween.
 
Halloween is a holiday both important to Pagans and Christians.

October 31st is not only a harvest festival and new year for the pagans, but the day when Martian Luther broke off from the Catholic Church and started alot of the stuff we practive today. the ten hammer strikes heard world round. i love it :D:jesus-cross:
 
Does the fact that some people get offended at your choice make it idolotry?
I agree their reaction is unfortunate...but I wouldn't define idolotry based soley on the degree of dedication on their part.
Halloween is not a god alternative...it is a secular festival. If they do not associate it with religious devotion it is not literally idolotry...just obsession.
 
seekinghokmah said:
Does the fact that some people get offended at your choice make it idolotry?
I agree their reaction is unfortunate...but I wouldn't define idolotry based soley on the degree of dedication on their part.
Halloween is not a god alternative...it is a secular festival. If they do not associate it with religious devotion it is not literally idolotry...just obsession.
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I can't judge their hearts...so I don't know where their devotion/obsession comes from. But if I put anything before God it is idolatry. I don't need to put it on a pedestle, or bow down to it for it to be idol worship.
 
When we use a passage from scripture, we have to be careful to view it in it's precise context...too broad an application extends it beyond the intended meaning, from exogesis to isogesis.

The fact that we cannot judge peoples hearts and gauge the degree of their devotion to Halloween should prohibit us from broad stroking it into idolotry.
 
Vikingsrule said:
i go through Halloween night for a free bag of candy. does that make me an idolator?
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No. I never meant to insinuate that someone who is a candy forager is an idolator. What I did mean to insinuate is that if something is not of God, why do people passionately defend their participation in said event?
 
seekinghokmah said:
The context of the passage is Idol worship...Halloween as a secular phenomenon is not idol worship. If we take this passage to mean having no contact with anyone or anything not overtly Christian we will have a hard time evangelising people we refuse to interact with:eek:
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A very good point in witnessing!
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KitsapGirl said:
I can't judge their hearts...so I don't know where their devotion/obsession comes from. But if I put anything before God it is idolatry. I don't need to put it on a pedestle, or bow down to it for it to be idol worship.
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I agree with you that many people have idols that they do not even realize or would deny.
Such things as football, a weekly tv show they can't miss, collecting too much of something and paying high dollar for them such as a doll collection, a minister or Pastor, clubs and organizations that have nothing to do with God, a new beautiful car that we treat like an irreplaceable item of utmost value in our life, and so on and so on ......
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violet said:
I agree with you that many people have idols that they do not even realize or would deny.

Such things as football, a weekly tv show they can't miss, collecting too much of something and paying high dollar for them such as a doll collection, a minister or Pastor, clubs and organizations that have nothing to do with God, a new beautiful car that we treat like an irreplaceable item of utmost value in our life, and so on and so on ......​
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Violet, I see your point. However, this is a gray area. I do not think it is "idolizing" if I don't want to miss an episode of a television program. I am an enormous football fan. I spend time during my day talking about football with people. I watch football on Saturdays. Football is a great time of fellowship for myself and many of my friends. However, if I spend 4 hours a day talking in football forums, watch replays of all the games during the week, am glued to the TV all day Saturday and Sunday, that is idolatry. If I love football MORE than I love God, and sacrifice my time with God for football, then there is a problem. :)
 
LivingWaters said:
Violet, I see your point. However, this is a gray area. I do not think it is "idolizing" if I don't want to miss an episode of a television program. I am an enormous football fan. I spend time during my day talking about football with people. I watch football on Saturdays. Football is a great time of fellowship for myself and many of my friends. However, if I spend 4 hours a day talking in football forums, watch replays of all the games during the week, am glued to the TV all day Saturday and Sunday, that is idolatry. If I love football MORE than I love God, and sacrifice my time with God for football, then there is a problem. :)
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My point exactly, though.
Halloween, IN MY OPINION, is no more of an idolatry than this! :)
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My 11 year old, who is a very innocent home schooled child, dressed very modestly and went out for candy last night (with Daddy).
It was so important to her to go early because she did not want to miss Wednesday night church!
And she went to church by herself!
Her Daddy dropped her off and picked her up~
Normally my sons are there but they were all asleep very early last night~
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Baby Jessie had two costumes...first, he went around as Bugs Bunny. It was sooo adorable! He was angry that we put him into this costume and went crawling towards the door blubbering in babytalk "I don't deserve this, I'm outta here!"

Then when he got home from trick-or-treating we put him into a bumble bee costume. Mom made him a cute little stinger, because the costume didn't have one.

My brother had a haunted house for the kids in the neighborhood, and me and Mom wound up watching TV at her house.
 
My son

My son and I got dressed up as "cholos" (Mexicans from East L.A.... I am Mexican but I don't dress like that lol) and we went down two blocks and just got a handful of candy. I would never dress my kid up as any pagan idol like a wizard or something but I think its more of a Hallmark holiday than anything else. Grant it, some people do desire Halloween because they are pagans but thats their sin, not mine. So I think if I teach my child the word of the Lord and make him see that not just Halloween but that EVERYTHING has its dark side, we will be okay in the long end. As long as he always puts Jesus first.

Our church even has a Halloween "haunted house" which actually is what hell would be like if you didn't accept Jesus. We let the kids dress up but nothing dark...

:jesus-sign:
 
I think as Christian people who do not need to conform to this world but rather be transformed. We need to show them that we are different with different goals without being afraid of being seen as narrow minded. The Word separates, it divides; Jesus said think not that I have come into this world to bring peace but a sword. If we act like them, look like them, do like them, then we are of them. Jesus says to come out from among the world and be ye a separated people. Are we separated or are we compromising?
We cannot make a clean thing out of an unclean thing... just to fit in with the crowd. Touch not, handle not.
Willow99
 
We celebrate life not death,which is what Halloween signifies to me,
It is only the last 4 or 5 years it has become big in the UK.
Before, it was a night that,especially in this country, satanists and witches, especially prayed against christian marriage etc.
Now it is much more commercial.
I did see a really cute baby dressed as a pumpkin,
but mostly the kids were dressed as skeletons/witches/vampires I dont believe there is anything to celebrate there.
We took our kids to an anti halloween party where they played games and talked about things pertaining to life.
I believe scripture says to avoid even the appearance of evil and I believe it would include halloween!
 
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