Halloween - How do we handle it?

Hallowe'en comes from the Celtic celebration of Samhain which was to celebrate the fall harvest (the counterpart to the celebration of spring planting and fertility, or Beltane) and it was believed that the connection between the spirit world and the temporal was at it's most complete. So, I can certainly see how Christians could have an aversion to it, but it's not the same today as it was then. At least, not in America. I have no qualms with it. Besides Christmas, it's my favorite holiday.

Ah Halloween, the time right before the war on Christmas.

pgp_protector said:

Ah Halloween, the time right before the war on Christmas.

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That would be thanksgiving

98cwitr said:

That would be thanksgiving

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Satanists observe Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving
The cornucopia, which is typically seen at Thanksgiving in the United States, was originally the horn of the Great Mother in her cow or goat form. Her names were Io, Ceres, Hera, and Hathor. All good things poured forth from the hollow horn, which was symbolic of prayer to the goddess. Cornucopias are still frequently seen as decorations although many do not know its pagan meaning as a sacred festival (ibid., p. 90). The original day of Thanksgiving was moved to this date for pagan reasons by the early USA secret cults.

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Satan's Days of Worship (No. CB23)

Birthdays are Satanic?!?!?! Oh Noes!?!?!>?!11

Independence Day is Satanic!

Independence Day July 4th in the USA

This is another ancient day of sacrifice in the pagan calendar. It was moved to July 4th so that it would fit in with the ancient Wiccan or Witchcraft calendar, which was a day of human sacrifice.

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Groundhog's Day is Satanic

The name, "Groundhog" was substituted for the Satanic name of the holiday, Imbolg, a night requiring human sacrifice.

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Are there no pure holidays left?

Hand out tracks along with the candy in a little bag. There are a few Chick tracks we enjoy using. I may not agree with all of his tracks but the art work is eye catching and some give a wonderful gospel message.

LargeTrout said:

You struggled with Halloween? How exactly? I've heard of guys struggling with lust, drink, drugs, nicotine, but never Halloween. Also, Halloween only occurs once during a year. Did you have re-enactments?

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I have a coworker who is obsessed with Halloween. He has spent a lot of money over the years decorating his house for Halloween. If he became a Christian he would probably struggle to do away with those things. So don't think it is some ridiculous idea. If you still do think that then your heart for struggling Christians is not in the right place.

I ignore it, my boys have never done it, no lights on so the freaks stay away.

Something too dark about it~even the costumes seem to go more towards the gore...I pass.

My church has a fall festival for the kids and community. We use halloween as an outreach tool.

It's never been a big deal in Australia. The shops try and promote it by selling witch masks etc. but it's never been part of my life and if any kids come to the door, which is rare, we just tell them we aren't into Halloween and they simply go away. I'm sure some people use it as an excuse to have a party, but I'm not a big party person anyway.

I think it's one of those things Paul talked about. . if it's a sin to you, then don't observe it. But there's nothing wrong in observing it, so long as there's no devil worship involved.

JohnKnox87 said:

My parents never celebrated or observed halloween and they were not legalistic. In fact I'm thankful to God for giving me such godly parents. I know many other good Christian families who refuse to celebrate halloween. Your statement is too sweeping to be accurate.

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I'm just saying that Halloween is about being goofy and getting candy and that denying children this is detrimental to them in two key ways.

First, they fail to be part of their community and the fun experiences of childhood. This hurts both their world-outlook, which makes them feel 'special' or 'above' the 'sinners' who do evil things like worhsip the dark-lord on Lucifer-day. This kind of Pharisaical attitude makes it very hard to be evangelical.

Second they feel denied something for no particularly good reason: because of your religion. The more you get away from the basic truth of Christ in raising your children and the closer to the 'christian social norms' you get, the further you get from raising a child in faith and the closer you get to raising that child in law. We need to show the importance of faith to our children and being defeated by a the only day of the year people in need of Christ actually show up on YOUR door step is not the way to do it.

I am passionate about this because I am passionate about evangelism and sharing the good news with the world.

I agree with that too. Halloween gives us a chance to reach people we might not see otherwise.

Forbid not the little children to come to me...I give candy (There's nothing wrong w/adding a "May the Lord Bless You" or invite to church along with it, nor any obligation to do either).but then "I am not easily offended"

I know that some children can feel left out if all their friends are having fun parties and they're not. Nevertheless Halloween concentrates on negativeness.

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but they are only negatives for you, personally. I enjoy scary movies and fantasy/action/sci-fi TV; I enjoy the art of cinema and the art of story telling. Some of the best movies focus on the negatives, such as Schindler list, but offer a valuable life lesson. Other things mock our fears, such as kids dressing up like mummies and vampires and boggy-men. Sometimes things are cute, like my child who's going to dress up like Wini-the-poo, dressed up like a pumpkin. Sometimes it's good fun, like when I setup a speaker in the disembodied head of a cement clown and spooked people with it.

The point is that what is 'negative' for you, personally, may not be for everyone or even be for most people, including most children; Love is not easily offended.

I don't think that Christians can participate in it

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can vs should; You should be careful when you start judging other people's status as 'Christian', it can get you in trouble.