Should Christians not participate in Halloween?

[Mayflower]

When I first got convicted on Halloween I was 20 in College. My family were very unsupportive of my decision and really did tease me for this decision and got angry with me about it. Since then it has been a back and forth struggle in my mind and spirit. But I think between here and Pastor Oschner's message, I am to be obedient to Christ and present my body as a living sacrifice. As.my daughter gets older, I'll make a fun alternative with explanation as to why we do not participate.

 

[Marymog]

October is here again and all the children are going to dress up and come for candy. How do others handle Halloween? Is it an evil holiday or harmless fun for children?

The fish was used for millennia worldwide as a religious symbol associated with the pagan "Great Mother Goddess." It was meant to represent the outline of her vulva. That's what some pagan religions used long before Christ.

The cross had been used for centuries in the Hindu religion, in Babylon, Egypt, and Assyria. During prehistoric times in Europe a human would be sacrificed and hung on a cross. Then the human would be taken down, chopped up, and pieces would be planted with the crops for fertility. Hislop claims it is "T" in Tammuz, the pagan god, synonymous with the devil.

The wedding ring that thousands of Evangelicals wear on their fingers can be traced by creative historians to pagan origins.

Christianity has taken many pagan things and repurposed them. Have a Halloween party at your church and give out bibles.....with a little bit of candy......OF COURSE....

 

[Marymog]

Why not celebrate Reformation Day

Hi David Taylor,

Why would we celebrate division?

Jesus prayed that we would all be one so that all may believe that his Father sent him. (John 17:21-23) The Reformation brought about opposite of that.

Scripture says that we should no longer be tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting (Ephesians 4:14). That is exactly what happened with the Reformation.

With the Reformation men began to question the 1,500 year teaching of The Church and questioned the exact truth about the things they had been taught (Luke 1:4).

The Reformation was the time when people stopped putting up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they gathered around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear (2 timothy 4:3).

Soooooo why should we celebrate it???

Curious Mary

 

[farouk]

So what do you consider paganism in my post? Is it the pumpkins, the carving or the symbols? I see no harm in taking something all kids know about today and turning it into something good and positive.

Did you see the pumpkin carving video I posted?

(If not I can paste it again...)

 

[farouk]

Hi David Taylor,

Why would we celebrate division?

Jesus prayed that we would all be one so that all may believe that his Father sent him. (John 17:21-23) The Reformation brought about opposite of that.

Scripture says that we should no longer be tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting (Ephesians 4:14). That is exactly what happened with the Reformation.

With the Reformation men began to question the 1,500 year teaching of The Church and questioned the exact truth about the things they had been taught (Luke 1:4).

The Reformation was the time when people stopped putting up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they gathered around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear (2 timothy 4:3).

Soooooo why should we celebrate it???

Curious Mary

The Reformation brought ppl back to Scripture, so this is not a negative.

 

[Josho]

My only concern now, is like Easter was a pagan holiday before it became a holiday to honor Christ's resurrection...

Easter was Christianized, taken back, turned into a date to recognize and celebrate Victory over Death, Victory over the grave, New ressurected life, New Life, it's when we remember what Jesus did on the Cross and the Resurrection after, Easter celebrates the core of Christianity, and is the most important time on the Christian calender, therefore there is nothing wrong with it.

But Halloween on the other hand is a celebration of the grave, it's a celebration of witchcraft, all things death, the demonic, darkness, horrors and terrors, ungodly fear, and it opens the door for the Devil when Christians celebrate it or anyone that celebrates it. And is also going further into darkness, with the amount of pagan activities growing year by year, yes there has been a growth of atheism in the West and has been for years, but the Paganism scene is rapidly growing behind it, and many are turning back to moon worship, nature worship and goddess worship.

On a separate note it's important for Christians to hold their fort in the sticks, in the bush, in the woods, in the rural areas, especially the high places, high mountains and hills and the communities around them. A lot of Aussie Christians, even some Kiwi Christians, and British Christians will know what I mean. But this is another subject, but those places are where we really need more Jesus people and prayerful Christians at.

 

[Marymog]

The Reformation brought ppl back to Scripture, so this is not a negative.

Hmmmm.....so for the first 1,500 years of Christianity ppl didn't know Scripture? Luther, Calvin Zwingili brought everyone back to Scripture but they all had different interpretations of Scripture sooooo which version of Scripture was the right version they brought everyone back to?

In a nutshell...which one of them had it right?

Curious Mary

 

[Waiting on him]

Hmmmm.....so for the first 1,500 years of Christianity ppl didn't know Scripture? Luther, Calvin Zwingili brought everyone back to Scripture but they all had different interpretations of Scripture sooooo which version of Scripture was the right version they brought everyone back to?

In a nutshell...which one of them had it right?

Curious Mary

The one that said read it yourself.

 

[Triumph1300]

Hmmmm.....so for the first 1,500 years of Christianity ppl didn't know Scripture?

Nobody on this thread suggested that.

 

[Soverign Grace]

Yeh... I decided we will buy candy half off after Halloween and buy a costume each year to play dress up. Because there is nothing wrong with this. This is why I really liked it anyway. I mean, teaching kids to go to a car trunk to get candy doesnt seem like a wise idea...but my family really pressured me and made me feel like I was wrong and acting superior to them not celebrating it. And I think this is why I really have had so much trouble going back and forth. But persecution will happen when turning to God and turning away from the world.

Persecution is right. I've had my share of it.

 

[Soverign Grace]

I don't celebrate Halloween, and I don't recommend any other Christians to celebrate it either, you can see a lot of the reasons above, and it's sad that Halloween is such a big thing in America, especially among many American Christians, and it's sad that it's rapidly growing in other countries.

It should also be noted a lot of ex-witches, ex-warlocks, ex-satanists and all that sort, that have found Jesus and have left their old lives behind, strongly recommend against any Christian celebrating Halloween as well.

I would rather celebrate life, joy, peace, happiness, and the wonderful Lord Jesus Christ

@Reggie Belafonte Is right on point about Australia and Halloween

And @FHII has a pretty good reply on the first page of this post.

You should see our neighborhood - a guy a few doors down has his entire house outfitted with ghoulish decorations. All the stores are advertising. Everyone is pretty much clueless as to what Halloween is really about. When our town canceled it years ago I wish they had kept it canceled and the cancellations spread. Too many unsaved love the holiday though I guess.

 

[Marymog]

The one that said read it yourself.

Thank you for joining the convo. For 2,000 years of Christianity the Christians that could read always read it for themselves soooo you theory doesn't work.

All the reformers could all read and The Church never stopped anyone from reading Scripture. The reformers all had different interpretations of Scripture and a different idea on what one needed to do to earn salvation.

Which of them was a wolf in sheep clothing tickling the ears of men and which one wasn't since they all couldn't have been right? Which one's were ignorant and unstable who distorted Scripture to their own destruction? Which one of them had the Spirit of truth to guide them into all the truth?

Curious Mary

Ref: Matthew 7:15, 2 Timothy 4:3, John 16:13

 

[Marymog]

Nobody on this thread suggested that.

Hi Triumph,

Hmmmm......so what did farouk mean when he said "The Reformation brought ppl back to Scripture,....".

If the Reformation brought ppl back to Scripture that means they were AWAY from Scripture. If they were away from Scripture then they couldn't have known Scripture. To me that is a VERY STRONG suggestion that the ppl didn't know Scripture.

Or am I misunderstanding his statement? Please enlighten me.

Mary

 

[Pearl]

Halloween is All Saints Eve as All Saints day is 1st November so this is something Christians can celebrate, that 'great cloud of witnesses' mentioned in Hebrews.

 

[Waiting on him]

Thank you for joining the convo. For 2,000 years of Christianity the Christians that could read always read it for themselves soooo you theory doesn't work.

All the reformers could all read and The Church never stopped anyone from reading Scripture. The reformers all had different interpretations of Scripture and a different idea on what one needed to do to earn salvation.

Which of them was a wolf in sheep clothing tickling the ears of men and which one wasn't since they all couldn't have been right? Which one's were ignorant and unstable who distorted Scripture to their own destruction? Which one of them had the Spirit of truth to guide them into all the truth?

Curious Mary

Ref: Matthew 7:15, 2 Timothy 4:3, John 16:13

We’ll never know, the Catholics murdered most of them

 

[Willie T]

We’ll never know, the Catholics murdered most of them

I am blunt and direct, but even I think that was unnecessarily antagonistic.

 

[Waiting on him]

I am blunt and direct, but even I think that was unnecessarily antagonistic.

Maybe your right, they do proclaim it was in the name of God.

 

[Willie T]

Maybe your right, they do proclaim it was in the name of God.

What I meant was that those atrocities were committed by the corrupt leaders of a particular group during an isolated long-ago period of time, and no Denomination is free of similar skeletons in our own closets. Thus, we really should not be trying to get a rise out of the members of other denominations by poking at them with fairly invalid and irrelative verbal sticks.

Remember, EVERYONE, the members you are posting to did none of those things.

 

[Triumph1300]

Please enlighten me.

I would not even try.

 

[Willie T]

Hi Triumph,

Hmmmm......so what did farouk mean when he said "The Reformation brought ppl back to Scripture,....".

If the Reformation brought ppl back to Scripture that means they were AWAY from Scripture. If they were away from Scripture then they couldn't have known Scripture. To me that is a VERY STRONG suggestion that the ppl didn't know Scripture.

Or am I misunderstanding his statement? Please enlighten me.

Mary

To be honest, "The Reformation" was not an evangelistic outreach to non-Christians. It was to, and for, and about the same people who began it. "Yes", as much as all sides want to deny it, they were all members of the Catholic Church to begin with. It is just that the particular Catholics wanting reform of the church felt that the leaders had gotten off base.