halloween

[ReformedChapin]

Can we as christians celebrate halloween? Some christians say yes while others say no? State your opinion and why..

 

[fishstix]

Can we as christians celebrate halloween? Some christians say yes while others say no? State your opinion and why..

Sure, we can celebrate Halloween. Precisely which activities are appropriate ways of celebrating though is something that Christians differ widely on. Dressing up as devils and witches would probably not be the best idea. Playing destructive pranks on other people's property would be a bad idea. But taking time to remember Christian martyrs and those who have gone before us could certainly be beneficial. And other stuff, like allowing children to go trick or treating or attending Halloween parties or making candy apples is something that each family or adult individual will have to decide for themselves. Halloween does have some Christian traditions that can be celebrated; they've just gotten buried under a lot of other stuff. Every holiday is like that actually, not just Halloween.

 

[buffedstuff]

________________

 

[5stringJeff]

I personally do not celebrate Halloween because I feel it is a holiday that honors the devil. I would also warn others to at least investigate the background of the traditions of Halloween, so they can make an informed decision on whether or not they should celebrate.

 

[JVD]

We have decided to not celebrate halloween with our children. Primarly because occultic images are already so glorified in our culture that we do not want to send mixed messages to our kids. ei...the devil is bad, except on halloween.

However, we do not judge other families on this issue. Everyone needs to make his/her own choice in the matter.

If we are home during halloween and children come to our door, we do give them candy.

 

[Tumbleweed64]

I personally do not celebrate Halloween because I feel it is a holiday that honors the devil. I would also warn others to at least investigate the background of the traditions of Halloween, so they can make an informed decision on whether or not they should celebrate.

I'm with you 100% there gopjeff!

 

[bethdinsmore]

ETERNAL TREATS

amen, gopjeff and JVD.

God tells us to avoid every appearance of evil, so that we will not cause others to stumble. To me personally, that includes participating in Halloween. With one exception - I use the occasion to hand out children's Gospel tracts with the candy.

Aloha in Jesus

 

[5stringJeff]

I use the occasion to hand out children's Gospel tracts with the candy.

I did that one year when I was living in an apartment complex. I only had one visitor that night, though - word must have gotten out!

 

[Tumbleweed64]

What I do not understand is, these so-called "Christians" who go nuts on Halloween, acting as if it were Christmas or something and have you seen all the junk in the stores lately?

 

[Tumbleweed64]

Whether you realize it or not, acknowledging "Halloween" aka Devils night! is allowing evil into your life~ think about that

 

[bliz]

Whether you realize it or not, acknowledging "Halloween" aka Devils night! is allowing evil into your life~ think about that

Actually, Devil's Night is the night before Halloween...

Do you mean that my salvation is in jeopardy becasue I hand out candy to the neighborhood kids?

I don't see how my daughter dressing up as a bag of jelly beans and my son as a box of McDonald's French fries lets the devil into our lives. Bad nutrition, yes, but I assure you, no one in my house is thinking of Satan or demons or the occult on Halloween. It's costumes and candy time. Evil costumes are out of the question, and we talk about all of that. But I'm tired of Christians surrendering the culture to the pagans without a hint of a fight!

But perhaps all this means is that I'm not a "true Christian". Tell me, how do you define "true Christian"? What things are on your list?

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him, and does not celebrate Halloween, he shall have eternal life? I don't think so.

 

[snoochface]

My church - Southern Baptist, btw, made up of a whoooole lot of TRUE Christians - throws a "Hallelujia Party" on October 31st. The kids dress up in fun costumes (nothing scary allowed, including witches and ghosts), bob for apples, and get candy from the adults who are present.

So tell me how this is different from letting your kids dress up in a fun costume and get candy on that same night? Is there something "less" evil about it because they use a more Christian-PC name than calling it a Halloween Party? Why don't they do it on November 1, or September 30?

Halloween is evil if you celebrate it as evil. If you perform incantations to the devil, if you vandalize people's houses, if you worship evil forces, you're on the wrong road. But if you let your kids dress up in a Spongebob costume and get candy from the neighbors, there is NOTHING evil about that. If you did that on July 4 you might get some strange looks, but would it be just as "evil" in your mind?

I have a serious problem with someone being so judgemental as to call into question the salvation of other Christians, throwing out that "so-called" remark.

 

[Tumbleweed64]

I shall keep you all in my prayers, Nuff said

 

[Philt]

My family and I go to our church for a "Fall Festival" The kids dress up. We encourage them to dress in "friendly" costumes. We have games and food. Everyone brings candy and puts in a big pile. Later all the kids help themselves to the candy. We "advertise" it as a safe alternative to Trick or Treating. We use it as a tool to spread the Gospel to young people who may not have heard it.

 

[livingondreams]

If you are celebrating Halloween in a manner that is evil, then yes, I would say that it's wrong. But I just can't imagine how allowing children to dress up and go trick or treating could be seen as "evil" and "wrong" for Christians to do. (Christians like to eat candy, too!) Being a Christian does not mean that all the fun has to be completely sucked out of your life.

 

[janny108]

I celebrate it, and I'm a true Christian.

Halloween is what you make of it. If you make a big fuss about it, then thats what it will be to you. For us, its just another day, but with candy and costumes.

Matthew 7:3
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

~ ~

I agree, it's what people want to make it. My daughter is going to be a cheerleader and we'll go to churches and the mall probably. That's as far as I go. I pray lots during Oct. I feel there is a lot of oppression esp this time of the year.
Jan

 

[janny108]

For those of you that give out gospel tracts, what kind do you give out, who publishes them?
Jan

 

[LiberatedChick]

I've never really celebrated halloween...my parents hate it so that ruled out doing anything much when I was a kid (wasn't allowed to go trick-or-treating) and the only other time was when I was pagan...and that weren't your harmless trick-or-treating and dressing up. *cough* moving on... I don't see anything wrong with it but it's just not a real big thing here. Sure there's costumes, masks and sweets in the shops...though most adults turn off the lights, put the volume down on the TV and pretend they're not in (even though there's not many trick-or-treaters for them to avoid).

That said, I did carve a pumpkin last year...for the first time ever and of course there's a spooky film or seven on TV so we usually watch one of them. I know my church has an alternative halloween party...not called a halloween party though. Can't remember what they call it but they do the usual things...dress up, bob for apples, get sweets etc, nothing scary. But then again, is halloween really halloween without the scary stuff? It's meant to be scary, that's why there's horror films on TV and all kinds of ghost, dracula, skeleton, etc costumes in shops. That's why I wanted to go trick-or-treating, dress up, tell ghost stories in the dark, etc when I was a kid...I wanted to scare and be scared

 

[cheering4jesus]

I will hand out candy in some costume at our door. I love seeing the real little kids in their costumes.



Jess

 

[miracle26]

I am going to give out candy to all the little children, because they are all precious. I do not believe you should dress in devil's costumes though. Maybe dress as an angel and scare all the devils away..LOL..