Halloween Poll -- Open Discussion

[speedpro50]

I am wanting to get everyone's views on how or if you celebrate Halloween. Any other discussion about Holloween is welcome!

Lee

[speedpro50]

I know some churches that will have a Fall Festival and some do other things like Hell Houses and such. I know of others that do nothing at all. I know Christian families that let their kids go out and trick-or-treat and then I know some families that will get them involved in a church program. There are many alternatives out there with as many program bountiful churches as we have in DFW. What do you do and what do you think about the holiday?

In Christ,

Lee

[Monsoon X]

I celebrated it as a child and I can see no bad ramifications that it had on me.


But me and my wife after doing some research on the holiday decided not to celebrate such a day of evil.

My daughter can go to a "Fall Festival" and she can dress up but no evil stuff.

[Monsoon X]

BTW- What is Holy Eve?

[StangTamer]

I really don't look at it as a celebration. I just look at it as free candy for kids and something fun for them to dress up in a costume.

[speedpro50]

Originally posted by Monsoon X
BTW- What is Holy Eve?

Taken from www.equip.org

"Halloween" is a contracted form of "Holy Evening" and refers to the evening of All Saints Day (November 1), when Christians traditionally remember believers of other times who are especially good role models of faith; many of whom were persecuted, tortured, and/or died rather than renounce Christ. The Christian Church kept the Jewish custom of marking a holiday (contracted form of "holy day") for the twenty-four hours beginning with sundown and ending with sundown the following day. Even today Christmas Eve is almost as special as Christmas Day; and in Eastern Orthodox churches, the resurrection (Easter) is first celebrated on Easter Saturday at sundown. Another tradition the Church inherited from its first century Jewish roots was to divide each year into commemorative events, doctrinal remembrances, holidays or seasons so that, throughout the calendar year, the God’s redemptive history would be recounted. This is called the "Church year" or "Church calendar." It took many centuries before most of the dates were standardized throughout the Church. Some Protestant churches today do not follow a church calendar except for Christmas, Easter, and perhaps Pentecost.

Frequently the Christian Church in an area deviated from a standard church calendar in order to directly challenge the popularity of a local pagan custom, event, or idol. For example, the Church in the Roman Empire chose December 25 to celebrate the birth of Christ in direct opposition to pagan Roman holiday activities of the season, including the worship of Saturnalia, which celebrated the sun god. Easter, celebrating the resurrection of Christ, corresponds to the historical time of the crucifixion and resurrection and to the end of the Jewish festival of Passover, in which God prefigured the coming sacrifice of Christ, the "Lamb" who was slain for the sins of the world. Pentecost, celebrated fifty days after the Jewish Passover, was a Jewish holiday commemorating the beginning of the harvest (the "first fruits"), thanking God for His blessings. When the Holy Spirit came on the disciples in Jerusalem on Pentecost in fulfillment of Joel 2:28-32 (cf. Acts 2:1-41), it marked the "first fruits harvest" of Jews, (and later, Samaritans and Gentiles) brought into the kingdom of God by the gospel preaching of the disciples (Matt. 28:19).

One of the biblical inspirations for honoring believers of past times and thanking God for their service in His Name comes from Hebrews 11:1-40. The writer of Hebrews encourages us that our faith is completely trustworthy because it is faith in God, who has proven His character and power so many times in the past in the lives of others that we can be confident that He will accomplish whatever He has promised for the future. From this grew the idea of picking a special day during the church year on which to honor believers who were good role models of faith. This became known as "All Saints Day."

Although marked a special day to honor believers of the past, there was no consistency in the dating of All Saints Day until Christianity began to flourish in northern Europe and the British Isles. There Christians found well-entrenched pagan harvest/winter festivals. One of the best known was called Samhain. They determined that All Saints Day should be celebrated at the same time to directly challenge the sentiments of pagan festivals of the season, including Samhain.

[Monsoon X]

mmm. I guess I'm not gonna celebrate that either.


My daughter can dress up as a cute little something. (no witches or crap like that.) I will not have a jack-o-lantern outside my door nor will I offer candy for trick or treaters.

I will take her to our Church and to the Christian school she goes to so she can get some candy from a safe source.

[The Punisher]

Originally posted by StangTamer
I really don't look at it as a celebration. I just look at it as free candy for kids and something fun for them to dress up in a costume.

Ive also kind of always looked at it like Stangtamer dose.

[StangTamer]

Like JC I did the trick or treat thing and saw no effect on me. I will continue to let my children do the Halloween thing. I don't want my kids to turn away from God because I was to strict with them and wouldn't let them do something. I think as long as you explain to them what it is about they will shew from the evil part. I always felt sorry for the kids that weren't allowed to go trick or treating. Because when you are a kid your friends will give you a hard time about it and that will harden their hearts towards God. Kids aren't thinking hey lets worship the devil. They're thinking I want to have the best costume and get the most candy. I saw some stuff on the movie Harry Potter about witchcraft. I told my daughter that she wasn't allowed to watch it. I could tell she didn't understand what the big deal was. She has two sisters that lives with her Dad. When she went to go visit they had the movie. She told her Dad that she wasn't allowed to watch it. I could imagine what was going through their minds. Anyways, we got the movie through free or something and I went ahead and let her watch it. I just told her before she watched it, that witchcraft is not good. I told her that the movie is trying to make it look like it is all great and good and it is really evil. She didn't even watch all of it.lol

[Girls can too]

I am pretty laid back about this whole situation. I am a firm believer that if you have issue with doing something "commercial" for Halloween (i.e. dressing up, trick-or-treating, visiting haunted houses, etc.) then you should also have issue with doing "commercial" things for Christmas. i.e. Decorating a tree, hanging lights, wearing red/green, etc. Because Halloween is nothing more than a commercialized day of tricks and fun. Even as a kid I never once thought about worshiping the devil...If Hailey does one day...well, then I screwed up somewhere besides this. haha!

For us, Hailey knows what each holiday is about. Like what Christmas is all about. She knows the TRUE meaning and we celebrate it. However we enjoy how much the festivities (that are commercially wrapped in green and red) bring us together as a family. We do so much together during those last two months of the year it brings us closer in the year to come.

Halloween to her is simply a "play day" - make believe. She knows it and we know it. Yet she loves to dress up, what little girl doesn't? And we love taking her trick or treating, far more than the overwhelming fall festival at her school. It's such a beat down - whereas trick-or-treating is more about us as a family spending quality time together.

We load her cute butt up, take her to an area we frequent, and let her hit up about 20 or so houses. When done we go to Braums to grab an ice cream and head home. She then chooses 9 (one for every year old) pieces of candy from the loot and the rest is picked up by the Great Pumpkin (remember Charlie Brown?) in exchange for a Barbie or something similar. Duff is usually still eating the candy in February. LOL!

Anywho, I'm just saying that we've raised ours with the knowledge that a little make-believe fun at the holidays is great! She'd NEVER think about celebrating the Devil in any way. The moment I make her believe she is doing so when participating on Halloween will be the moment I remove her innocence. I'm just not ready to do that any time soon.

[DarkWolf]

Originally posted by Monsoon X
BTW- What is Holy Eve?

The word, Halloween, means Holy Eve. All Hallows Eve.

I'm also reading in this thread about pagan holidays being evil ... I can understand you feeling that way because you're taught to believe that way.

Samhain, in the traditional sense, was celebrating the harvest, and remembering the dead. People would put candles in their windows, and food by the door, to guide the spirits home (heaven), and to give them a treat. That's where the words Trick or Treat came from, people believed that if you didn't light a candle, and leave food, that the spirits would become lost, and would then haunt your house ... playing tricks on you.

I think it's funny how early Christians, and Jews just changed the names of pagan holidays, and attempted to fit their belief structure into it ... but kept all of the traditional pagan practices intact. Where do you think the practice of decorating Christmas trees came from? Or dancing around the maypole? Or the Easter bunny, and painting the Easter eggs? Why do you think Leprechans are associated with St. Patricks day? The fact is, these holidays or celebrations weren't evil in the slightest ... otherwise, early Christians and Jews would have completely changed the traditional practices. They retained the practices to entice more pagans to convert to Christianity. Like saying "Hey, see we've got these holidays and here's what they mean to us, but look, we do the same things you do on these days, so you don't really have to change anything, just convert and be saved."

I'm not saying blood sacrifice didn't happen ... we all know it did. It also happened in early Christianity (or Judaism). That doesn't make it 'evil', because the people believed that was required. God even favored blood sacrifice according to the Old Testament ... does that make God evil?

Pagan has nothing to do with religion, by the way. It's associated with it now, and has been adopted into the modern vernacular as such, but the traditional meaning of Pagan is country dweller (or someone who lives in the country). It's derived from the Latin word Paganus.

[Mashdaddy]

HMMMMMMM, this is a tough subject! I was raised to believe that halloween was nothing more than a pagan holiday but as a child I never saw it that way. The only reason I knew that it had to do anything with paganism was because that's what my family told me. I was not allowed as a child to trick of treat or participate in any halloween functions. However, now that I am an adult I really don't see the problem with participating in halloween functions, parties, etc... As a matter of fact I have thrown halloween parties for the last 3-4 years. I don't look at it like I am celebrating any specific event of the past, or some satanic holiday, or so on and etc... It's not everyday you get to see your friends dressed up in ridiculous costumes, LOL! I don't think once that I have ever thought of it as being a pagan holiday. I agree with Girls can too, over the years halloween has become a very commercialized holiday and I really don't think that people think of it as a day of giving praise to satan or any other type of pagan god. The kids like halloween cause of the free candy. I have yet to come across a person (kid, adult, etc..) that celebrates halloween as a wicked holiday. I am a firm believer that God knows my heart and he knows what type of person that I am. I don't think that he would be offended by my actions. That might be completely different if I was honoring paganism through my actions but I'm not.


MASH

[JohnStang]

i used to celebrate it when i was younger, but after doin some research my family doesn't celebrate it anymore. we understand the the commercializing of the holidays, but choose not to celebrate because of what the holiday stands for. instead our church leaves the doors wide open and we play live contemporary christian music and the kids still get all the candy they want, to a certain extent, which is all they really want anyway. my 9 y/o sister hasn't had a problem with it yet and neither have any of the other kids at the church as far as i know.

[speedpro50]

Who else has views on this-- any newbies???

Lee

[MoonDog]

We decided long ago with our kids were still young to not celebrate Holloween. After reading several books on the subject we came to the conclution that there was nothing about Holloween that was uplifting to God. Mainly because it is one of the biggest holy days in the Wiccan Church. We dont even go to the "Fall Festival" that is held at our church. Although, the past couple of years and this year we will be making the trek up to Tulsa to visit Guts Church where they have a haunted house called "The Nightmare". It is all Christ centered and shows were a life without Christ can lead you.

As for DW comments about Easter and Christmas. I dont refer to it as Easter, I prefer to use the term, Ressurection Day. There is nothing about the ressurection of Christ that has anything to do with bunnys and eggs and we dont have anything to do with that either. Christmas is another story. It is something I have stuggled with for many years. We went several years without a tree because of it. We have baked birthday cakes and sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, because afterall it is his birthday. (and dont get me started on the date of his birth ) You bring up some valid points but the main point that we as Christians must remember during any holiday, keep God first and glorify Him.

[dragradialstang]

I was wondering about this myself, I feel the same way as Monsoon and Tamer.

[MadKat]

Every day is the Lords day.
Satan doesnt own a one of them.
As far as going around trick-or-treating.
I dont see a problem with it if you just out having fun.
I think it all originated from some evil junk, but
its kinda like what Paul said about eating meat sacrificed to
idols. Most are just out to get candy and could care less about
what it once might have originated from.

I can explain if someone doesnt understand what Im saying.

[DarkWolf]

Originally posted by MoonDog
We decided long ago with our kids were still young to not celebrate Holloween. After reading several books on the subject we came to the conclution that there was nothing about Holloween that was uplifting to God. Mainly because it is one of the biggest holy days in the Wiccan Church.

There's no Wiccan Church ... some have tried, namely Gardener, who started this whole "New Age" thing by supplanting new ideas into Wiccan theology. Tried and failed, becuase Wiccans don't, and have never convened in a "church". A Coven is not like a Church. They don't build temples, they don't build idols. The largest Coven on record had fewer than 2 dozen people ... that is, until Gardener came along and tried to amass a HUGE Coven. Which it failed, of course, and broke up into many many smaller Covens.

Halloween is also not one of the biggest holy days to Wiccans. It's the new year. Yule, or the Summer Solstice (Midsummer) are much more prominent holy days to Wiccans. Samhain was a feast, and a celebration and rememberence of the dead (as I explained above), and a celebration of the harvest.

[MoonDog]

I never ment for the word "church" to be used as the name for a building. You are correct in stating that they are more commonly refered to as "covens". Which are rather small groups, not like some of the large congregations found in the Christian Church.

Samhain, October 31, is the Wiccan New Year. Is is when the God departs and the Goddess mourns, but knows he will be reborn at Yule (Dec. 21?) (Litha is the summer solstice). This is a time of celebrating the mysteries of death and of contacting spirits, for it is one of the times of the year when the veil between the spirit world and the physical world is the thinnest. Some trads dress-up in costume in order to attract like energy to themselves.

And yes, this is one of the big "holy Days" along with the others take place on the solstices and equinoxes and also others based on old folk festivals associated with agriculture and the mating and bearing cycles of animals.

Now, the question is this, why should I or my children have anything to do with a "holy day" that is a time for celebrating death and contacing spirits?

Deu 18:10 There shall not be found in you one who passes his son or his daughter through the fire, one that uses divination, an observer of clouds, or one divining, or a whisperer of spells,
Deu 18:11 or a magic charmer, or one consulting mediums, or a spirit-knower, or one inquiring of the dead.
Deu 18:12 For all doing these things are an abomination to Jehovah. And because of these filthy acts Jehovah your God is dispossessing these nations before you.
Deu 18:13 You shall be perfect with Jehovah your God.

[DarkWolf]

It's a holy day, yes, all holidays are. But it is by no means one of the biggest. Summer and Winter Solstice are the biggest. Spring and Autumn Equinox are next in line. Then comes the holidays inbetween the Equinox and the Solstice ... Samhain is in between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice.

And believe me, it's Midsummer, not Lithe. Lithe was J.R.R. Tolkien's Summer Solstice for Middle Earth.

[MoonDog]

You had stated....

Originally posted by DarkWolf
Yule, or the Summer Solstice (Midsummer) are much more prominent holy days to Wiccans.

I was just saying that is was Lithe that was Midsummer and not Yule. Yule is in December, hence the word Yuletide. And yes, Wiccans do call Midsummer, Litha.

By the way, I love the The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

[DarkWolf]

Oooh! Gotcha, ok Yeah, I was meaning Yule, or Midsummer, as in either/or.

Yeah, pretty much each holiday, depending on the tradition, has a different name. Some call it Litha, some call it Feill-Sheathain, or Jani, or Alban Hefin, or Juhannus, or Midsommarafton, or Saint John's Eve. At least those are the most common names.

LoTR = Good stuff!