Halloween.... how to deal with others when you don't celebrate it (same as)

Well for my family Everybody knows that we do not do traditions of men. Most people we know , Know us. My 5 year well tell people flat out that is against YHWH we do not do that. He does not have a problem with it at all> He understands that we Keep the feast days to YHWH. We avoid a lot of store this time of year and around christmas, easter.
Just because we really do not like to deal with it.
And we usually Go someplace peaceful and out of the way on Helloween night.
But where we live now it will not make a diffrence.We are out of the way.

But really the best way is just to let people know that you have your reason for not believing in it.
Be like My Son (Zildjian: and say we don't do that, it's against YHWH.)

DISCLAMER:This may not be a popular view but I believe it is one that honors the L-rd.


Not sure if you are asking the right people, most of us (I hope) do not celebrate Christ mass. Many of us believe that we are in the season of His birth right now, there are many scriptures that point to this and not one for the December date. The L-rd called it our season of joy.


I know that you many not like this but having a costume party for your sons B'day may be even more confusing for him, he might not understand why he can do it then but not on Halloween when all the other kids do. I would stay away from the costumes, for to me they are disguises, meant to cover up the truth or cover up who you are. ( Think burglers with masks, or stockings over their faces). We should teach out children to be joyful in who the L-rd made them to be and celebrate that alone every day.

Remember if it does not honor G-d it honores the one who wants to be g-d.

Celtic in origin, Halloween celebrates the mid point for the Celts between the autumnal equinox and the beginning of the winter and the New Year celebrated on November 1st. The Celtic tradition held that demonic possession was most likely on this day so the people that believed this myth dressed in costumes to make themselves look like demons and witches. It was believed that by wearing these costumes the wearer of the costume would be protected against the demonic possession. During this time sweets were offered around bon fires as the participant believed this brought protection.

Eventually during the ninth century of the Common Era the Catholic Church proclaimed that November 1st was "All Saints' Day". In the west "All Saints' Day" is still kept on November 1st as it was instituted by Pope Gregory IV in 837 CE.

Considering that Halloween is a festival not found in the scriptures it would be hard to imagine that those who believe in the Heavenly FATHER participate in such an observance. The fact is that a majority of the Christian world observes Halloween and is resistant to giving it up. Many of the proponents to Halloween defend it as a tradition and not a religious observance. For those proponents I ask if it is just a tradition then why are the original pagan Celtic practices still found in today's observance. Just the costumes alone should be a clue that the origin of dressing as a witch or other satanic figure goes back to the time of when this was done to scare off evil spirits. Unfortunately to the benefit of the proponents of the pagan holiday common sense is not a part of Halloween at all.

Adults celebrate Halloween today with parties while their young adults destroy the neighborhood. Needless to say no aspect of Halloween is reflective of the fruit of the spirit. Galatians 5 reads, "22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 meekness, self-control; against such there is no law." One example of how Halloween goes against the fruit of the spirit is kindness and goodness; if a trick-or-teater doesn't get the kind of candy they want it is not uncommon for the child to vandalize the person's property. Halloween is contradictory to Galatians 5:22-23. A better match for Halloween would be Galatians 5:19-21 which reads, "19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, 21 envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they who practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of Yahweh."

Halloween resembles exactly the practices that will lead to a person not inheriting the kingdom of YHWH. Proponents of Halloween rely on their own understanding and have led much of the world astray. Perhaps if the Catholic Church would have never incorporated "All Saints' Day" into their worship we wouldn't hear of Halloween today. With the allure for both adults and children it is doubtful that this Celtic custom would have ever been any different than it is today. For many Christians the acceptance of Halloween by the Catholic Church is like a stamp of approval.

You have made a vow that you believe in YAHSHUA the Messiah and you will follow Him through out your life. It is time to give up on the religion of the world which is sin the result of which is death. Halloween holds no lesson for the believer in truth.

2 John 1:4 I rejoice greatly that I have found certain of thy children walking in truth, even as we received commandment from the FATHER.

I actually called my Mom last night and told her...

Click to expand...

I applaud you! It is not easy to take that kind of stand but we are not to be conformed to this world. I am sure that the L-rd will bless you for this.

And we think it is pleasing to God to focus on Him in all things and not to do the things that don't focus on Him.

Click to expand...

Absolutely!

I would like to look more into how to celebrate Sukkot And have the only thing we do at Christmas be visiting family

Click to expand...

Great! you have come to the right place. Visiting family is a wonderful thing and this will give you a testimony to bring. my Rabbi as well goes to his in-laws during Christmas time to visit, the time is given off from work and they live four states over so this is a perfect time.

I read on one sight that Sukkot is kinda like a Jewish Thanksgiving.

Click to expand...

Actually the pilgrims who were escaping the commercialization of their day wanted something Biblical to use in celebration of their new home and survival as well as in appreciation for the harvest the L-rd had given them and turning to the Bible they found Sukkot. Thankfulness and joy are a big part of the festival! As far as I know both believing and unbelieving Jews celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving as a different holiday.

What is the one Jewish holiday... the one where they tell the story of Ester... don't they dress up in Bible costumes sometimes?

Click to expand...

Yes, Purim. A "play" about the events of the book of Ester is celebrated by a reinactment of the events of how one Jewish woman stopped HaSatans plan ( or final solution) to annihilate all the Jews living in the Empire on one day. It demonstrates how G-d is always working in the background even when you can't see Him, He is there ( because in the book of Ester the name of G-d does not appear even once). I wouldn't equate this with Halloween dressing up though, the costumes are used like in any play or movie or show, to denote who the characters are ( the King, Achashverosh would be recognized by the one wearing the golden crown ) And Haman.......BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, would be very recognizable by that huge Hammenstachen on his head!

Please forgive if this seems too harsh - sometimes I just can't seem to find the other words to use......

OnederWoman said:

Do you do Halloween alternatives? Until this year we went to our church's 'Hallelujah Night'... our son could dress up (in non-scary/non-satanic) costumes and have a good time where he got to play games, get candy and hear about Jesus (it is open to neighborhood kids as well as church kids). But... we moved last December. The church we are going to is only a few months old (a newly planted church in a fast growing area) and isn't having anything like that this year. So... we may not dress up at all... which is fine with us... but our son is a bit disappointed. He is just 5 and doesn't understand why we don't do Halloween and other kids do (yes, we've explained... but he's 5).

Click to expand...

My son was about that age the last Halloween we did - he went as a pumpkin (I was under conviction even then). (That was well over 20 years ago). Was he disappointed, yes, but he handled it - teaching our children to handle disappointment without envy, rancor or bitterness is part of our parenting job. We talked about the fact that I had learned we had been wrong and that G-d had better plans for his people (us), that G-d called us to different and special for him, and that scripture, not traditions nor the opinions of others were the rule by which we measured our choices.

OnderWoman said:

My parents have a big problem with this (and that we don't do Santa, the tooth fairy or the Easter Bunny.... just we don't pretend fantasy characters are real... our son does know about them, we just don't lie to him). They feel we are robbing him of the joys of childhood.... that doing these things didn't harm my husband or myself... so why would we think they'd be bad for our son? We still try to make holidays fun and special... we just want the focus more on Jesus and not make-believe characters and material things. They are afraid that our son will resent us for keeping him from these things.

Click to expand...

Well, the converse is also true. All the generations of children that grew up in this country and around the world without Halloween, and the Easter bunny and the Tooth Fairy, etc. were not harmed either!! What about all the Jewish children that never heard of these things?? Did not seem to harm them either!



My parents also had trouble with it - I had to be firm. But even then they found ways to circumvent our family choices. Perhaps you have a healthier relationship with your parents and can discuss things with them as adults. Ask them how *they* would have (or did) felt if their parents had so obviously and concretely tried to countermand and nullify the family/parental decisions.

OnderWoman said:

I got an email from one of the Elders wives from our home church a few months ago about families that are like ours. One example they gave about how they make things special for their kids so they don't feel like they're missing out is.... making the kids birthdays be a bigger deal than Christmas, etc. We plan to this year start giving fewer gifts at Christmas time and more at birthday. Birthdays will be costume parties (for as long as our children want to dress up) and we'll do special things, like have a clown or whatever.

Click to expand...

What is so wrong with having our children knowing that at a very fundamental level they ARE different, and that it is a **good** thing?? I feel very strongly about NOT **replacing** or providing quasi-alternative activities. These are not our festivals. We have the L-rd's festivals and they should receive from us, and give to us, all the attention, community, effort and delight that others reserve for the pagan festivals.



For Halloween we do not turn on the front porch light and we do not give anything out. We may go out to eat or see a movie, or play family games together. After the first year in a new neighborhood we rarely get any "callers" on Halloween - and we have yet to be egged.

I feel that "rushing" to find and provide "replacements" for the treats of the world teaches and sets a very bad precedent of compromise and the attitude that the world has anything we are "having to do without." This gives rise to the innocuous to the inane; "Hanukah bushes" at x-mass to pseudo-harvest festivals at Halloween.

We HAVE a festival of Lights (Hanukah) and of Harvest (Sukkot). When celebrated with the gusto usually reserved for the pagan counterfeits those around us will come to envy our celebrations, rather than us envying theirs.



We are to be raising generations to lead without compromise, not followers of the crowd or multitudes.

Henaynei said:

When celebrated with the gusto usually reserved for the pagan counterfeits those around us will come to envy our celebrations, rather than us envying theirs.

Click to expand...

Have I mentioned how glad I am that Henaynei started posting here? She's a definite blessing!

OnederWoman said:

Yes... but no one has yet given me information on how to celebrate these as Christians. What are these (and any other) festivals about for Christians? What activities does one do on each occasion? How does one decorate? if at all? What games are there to be played? What food is there to prepare? How do Christians celebrate these differently than those who are Jewish (non-messianic) (meaning, how do you put Jesus in there? and make it a Jesus thing?)

Click to expand...

May I suggest an excellent book for getting started?? It is called
"G-d's appointed Times" will get publisher info when I get home

Amein to that!

Halloween falls on the Sabbath this year, I should be doing a lot of praying I think.

Sorry, that was to follow Heinaynei's other post.


I have a book called "G-d's Appointed Customs" by Barney kasdan ~~ which is A Messianic Jewish Guide to the Biblical Lifecycle and Lifestyle that you also may be interested in.

Also I have another book called:

The Feasts of the L-rd By Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal. It takes you through each feast ( Holyday) and explains how it was kept, how it is kept today and the meaning in both times, past and future fulfillment.

It is sub-titled G-ds Prophetic calendar from Calvery to the kingdom.

Both of these I purchased at my Bible bookstore, surprise, surprise! But I think that you should be able to find them available on Amazon.com

Ok, I have found where you can get them, just click on the link I made out of each title.

Onederwoman, you kind of missed Sukkot, which we are in now, but Hannukah is coming up and we will probably be starting another thread in this forum about it soon. Meanwhile have you checked through our other threads in the Index here ( which someone needs to get up-to-date- hint hint).

Hannukah lasts for 8 days so there is plenty to do, new foods to try and much to learn. Start by looking up in your bible "Feast of Dedication".

justinhulsey said:

Have I mentioned how glad I am that Henaynei started posting here? She's a definite blessing!

Click to expand...

Yes she is, as well as all our other members of this forum!

The book Henaynei is talking about (I think) is also by Barney Kasdan. God's Appointed Times: A Practical Guide for Understanding and Celebrating the Biblical Holidays does a fairly decent job of explaining the holidays, and how Y'shua(Jesus) is connected to each.

Yes, very. Online sources abound as well, Try searching on Google for the holyday you wish to learn about, but please don't only go to one site. Try searching, say Channukah ( different spelling too with an H) and then do Channukah- Messianic, you will get both sides views so you have a better understanding.

Here are some links that I keep in my favorites ( or bookmarks)

This link is for Hannukah but the site, Heart of Wisdom has pages on all the Holidays and helps you understand them

http://biblicalholidays.com/Hanukkah/celebrating_hanukkah.htm

Plus leads you to other sites by the links at the bottom of the page.

Messianic Signifigance of Messian in Hannukah

Here is another link that explains all the holidays and gives Jewish thought and insight on other things as well that will help you to understand some traditions or certain passages in the Bible that may not be readliy understandable without Jewish context.

Judaism 101 Click here to go to site

Here is a site that you can go to that teaches on Sukkot which we are now in the middle of, you can even watch a Sukkot service with Real Player, and also learn about the other feasts ( left hand side of page.)

Feasts of the L-rd teachings

justinhulsey said:

Have I mentioned how glad I am that Henaynei started posting here? She's a definite blessing!

Click to expand...

and you are a very generous brother :0)

WOW - you terrific people step right up to the plate and bring quite a lot to the table.....

great, so now I'm hungry!!
Ah well, that brings us to the speed reader's version of the Feasts of the L-rd and their defining traditions:

"They tried to kill us, G-d saved us, Rejoice! Let's eat!!"