Why do some Christian Churches Celebrate Halloween???

[TaliOrlando]

Why do some Baptist Churches and other denominations celebrate halloween. I have seen that they had carved out pumkins and stuff. Also some parents just so that their kids dont feel bad allow them to join the fun at school. What up with that??? Any stories on how you had to explain to your kids about halloween and how bad this day is?

 

[annsni]

You have to understand - today is NOT a bad day. It's my son's 6th birthday and to celebrate, he gets to go to a few neighbors' homes wearing his dress-up costume (that he'll wear around the house sometimes) and get some candy as a gift!


LOL!!

Here's an article about Halloween that I thought was interesting:

http://www.ransomfellowship.org/D_Halloween.html

Ann

 

[TaliOrlando]

You have to understand - today is NOT a bad day. It's my son's 6th birthday and to celebrate, he gets to go to a few neighbors' homes wearing his dress-up costume (that he'll wear around the house sometimes) and get some candy as a gift!


LOL!!

Here's an article about Halloween that I thought was interesting:

http://www.ransomfellowship.org/D_Halloween.html

Ann

I understand your point of view!! However it still doesnt make it right. Also by the way HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Still, it doesnt make it right. As Christians we are giving way too much ground to the world.

"Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." Song of Solomon 2:15

One very evil tradition is the celebration of Halloween. No Christian should partake in the activities of this holiday, nor should they allow their children to do so. We can discern the evil of this day by taking a look at the festivities that are associated with its celebration. Children are dressed as witches, goblins, ghosts, little devils and fortune tellers. All these are representatives of Satan's kingdom. Games played at carnivals promote fear in children as they are ushered through spook houses and horror rooms. Skeletons, black cats and bats represent death and darkness. No carnival is complete without the gypsy who tells fortunes. Satan has gained man's approval to celebrate his day by simply making it a tradition that seems like a fun day. The opposite is true, however, as more damage and harm are done on this day each year than any other holiday. Children are taught to go door to door chanting "trick or treat." It is unchristian to demand a gift under threat of playing some trick. Police are on the alert for juvenile vandalism and caution parents to be watchful.

Because so many of us have grown up celebrating Halloween, and seemingly did not experience any negative effects, some feel that not celebrating Halloween at all is an extreme measure. However, we would encourage you to pray about this. Is any holiday that glorifies death and darkness (even in fun) a proper thing for a Christian to do since we have been called out of darkness into His marvelous light?

1 Peter 2:9: "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light."

 

[annsni]

Did you read the article I posted? What did you think of it?

 

[tragic_pizza]

"Celebrate?"

Some churches acknowledge Halloween, and have events surrounding the holiday... but celebrate?

Please define your terminology.

 

[TaliOrlando]

"Celebrate?"

Some churches acknowledge Halloween, and have events surrounding the holiday... but celebrate?

Please define your terminology.

Well....for example. I have gone to Churches that have plays and stuff and they are awesome. But I saw this church that worried me because it said. Halloween Fest and below it stated come join us with your kids on Halloween and dressed up in costumes. It just worried me a whole lot..

 

[SaggyWoman]

We have to figure out a positive way to eat candy at church.

 

[annsni]

As if we need another reason to eat at church.

There's the Freshman 15, and then the Fundamental 50!

ROTFL!

 

[TaliOrlando]

Did you read the article I posted? What did you think of it?

Hey!!! I dont agree at all with it. I really dont.... I just want to seek the Kingdom of God not the World. Its simply amazing how the world has influenced church to the extent that some churches now accept celebrating Halloween.

 

[annsni]

Well, I haven't seen any churches around here "celebrate" Halloween - or do anything about it at all. Our church preschool had a "Harvest Party" a few weeks ago (to separate enough from Halloween) where they dressed up as story characters and paraded around the parking lot - and had a little party with cut up fruit and pumpkin muffins. It was cute.

We don't 'celebrate' Halloween either - but we do dress up in our dress-up things (that we already have) and go to the 4 neighbors on our block to see them and get a little candy. I really see nothing wrong with that - especially since we DO teach our children about some of the darker aspects of Halloween and they understand the bad stuff about it - and the OK. Just like with Christmas.

Ann

 

[TaliOrlando]

Well, I haven't seen any churches around here "celebrate" Halloween - or do anything about it at all. Our church preschool had a "Harvest Party" a few weeks ago (to separate enough from Halloween) where they dressed up as story characters and paraded around the parking lot - and had a little party with cut up fruit and pumpkin muffins. It was cute.

We don't 'celebrate' Halloween either - but we do dress up in our dress-up things (that we already have) and go to the 4 neighbors on our block to see them and get a little candy. I really see nothing wrong with that - especially since we DO teach our children about some of the darker aspects of Halloween and they understand the bad stuff about it - and the OK. Just like with Christmas.

Ann

Hello Ann!!! Now if Halloween has anything at all dark in it.. why even take part in it. There is no ground in between.

Revelation 3
To the Church in Laodicea
14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

 

[annsni]

Here's another good article for you (it is a PDF, so hopefully you can read it):
http://www.equip.org/free/DH011.pdf

Halloween is not the 'evil Satanist holiday' that so many believe. It's actually the beginning of the day where we celebrate the saints who have gone on before us. It's also Reformation Day - the day when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the doors of the church in Whittenburg.

 

[TaliOrlando]

Daniel 1

8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your [c] food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you."
11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

We can try to justify dressing our little kids up in costumes in Halloween all we want but the bottom line just as the king in Daniel served Idol Gods. Daniel took a stand and said " Nope.. I just wont eat from that food " " Not me" and sometimes brother and sister especially now in the world we are living we also have to take a stand for the Kingdom of Christ and understand that there are things we are eating right now in our lives that its not healthy..... and then we ask.. why are we getting divorced... why are my kids rebelling.... ext.... Instead of asking why to GOD!!

Why dont we ask WHY to our selfs... who have allowed the world to change us....GOD is #1 in our lives...household ext..... our priorities are not straight now and days..

 

[annsni]

Yet, in the New Testament, doesn't Paul tell us that food served to idols is fine for us to eat? It is not what goes INTO the mouth that defiles us but what comes from the heart.

My children dressing up as Buzz Lightyear and Cinderella is not going to cause my family to fall apart. We are saved - secure in the blood of Christ. We are not celebrating Satan, darkness or any of that. I have teens that have have dressed up for Halloween and are now 14 and 16 and have hearts for God - it didn't harm them in any way.

If you are convinced it is a sin, then it IS a sin for you to do anything with Halloween, but I do not see anywhere in Scripture that says to not dress up and go trick-or-treating.

Colossians 2:16-17 says "Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. "

 

[genesis 12-15]

Tali, maybe you need to think about how the Christian church has REPLACED pagan holidays. We don't continue to observe pagan holidays ~ we REPLACE them. The content of the holiday should then be totally Christian. If the children want to dress up, okay, come to the church to do it, where it is safer. No one in the church is going to attack a kid, or feed him or her razor blades, etc. I get a little weary of folks talking about how bad pagan holidays are. YES, they were, and they are, if they are observed as such. But we Christians REPLACE them. We can't be criticized for taking something evil and remaking it in His image!

 

[TaliOrlando]

Ten Reasons Christians Should Not Celebrate Halloween

Ten Reasons Christians Should Not Celebrate Halloween

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Many in our secular society believe Halloween is nothing more than a harmless festival that allows kids to collect candy. But is it? Its origins lie deeply rooted in the occult, and Christians should stay away. Here are ten reasons why.

1. October 31st has long been known as "The Festival of the Dead." The Celtic tribes and their priests the Druids celebrated this day as a marker for the change from life to death.

2. Halloween today is performed usually by adherents of witchcraft who use the night for their rituals. Witches celebrate Halloween as the "Feast of Samhain," the first feast of the witchcraft year. Being a festival of the dead, Halloween is a time when witches attempt to communicate with the dead through various forms of divination.

3. Christians should not be involved with occultic practice or divination. Note God's command against divination in Deuteronomy 18.

4. Occultists believe Halloween is a time of transition between life and death. Some occult practitioners practiced divination and believed you could learn the secrets of life and wisdom by Iying on a grave and listening to the messages from the long-departed.

5. Occultists also taught that spirits and ghosts left the grave during this night and would seek out warmth in their previous homes. Villagers, fearful of the possibility of being visited by the ghosts of past occupants, would dress up in costumes to scare the spirits on their way. They would also leave food and other treats at their door to appease the spirits so they would not destroy their homes or crops but instead move on down the road. That is the real reason why kids dress up in costumes today and go door-to-door seeking treats.

6. Occultists also would try to scare away the spirits by carving a scary face into a pumpkin. This horrible visage would hopefully move the spirit on to another home or village and spare that home from destruction. Sometimes the villagers would light a candle and place it within the pumpkin and use it as a lantern (hence the name, Jack-o-Lantern). This is the origin of carving pumpkins at Halloween.

7. In some witchcraft covens, the closing ritual includes eating an apple or engaging in fertility rites. In the Bible (Genesis 3), eating a piece of fruit brought sin and death into the world. In witchcraft, eating an apple is symbolic of bringing life. The practice of bobbing for apples brings together two pagan traditions: divination and the fertility ritual.

8. Schools are removing any religious significance from Christmas (often called winter break) and Easter (spring break). Isn't it ironic that most public schools still celebrate Halloween even though it has occultic origins?

9. Participating in Halloween gives sanction to a holiday that promotes witches, divination, haunted houses, and other occultic practices.

10. Christians should avoid Halloween and develop creative alternatives. Churches can hold a Fall Fun Festival and/or celebrate Reformation Day (also October 31). They should not endorse or promote Halloween.

 

[Chemnitz]

Hmmm... This sounds just like the why Christians shouldn't celebrate Christmas "but pagans celebrate something on that day" arguments. Dressing up and going door to door for candy does not constitute an endorsement of pagan religions.

Officially as a church we neither condemn nor support Halloween.

 

[TaliOrlando]

Hmmm... This sounds just like the why Christians shouldn't celebrate Christmas "but pagans celebrate something on that day" arguments. Dressing up and going door to door for candy does not constitute an endorsement of pagan religions.

Officially as a church we neither condemn nor support Halloween.

Let's Talk About What It's About

Children walking outside in the dark, dressed up as something they are not, in search of receiving candy from neighbors and strangers in the cold dark night.

The holiday is about witches, ghosts, goblins, magic spells, monsters, scary creatures, spooky black cats, haunted houses, tombstones, graveyards, masquerades, impersonations of people or creatures dead or alive, scaring people, causing fear, screams, etc. There is nothing pure or lovely about Halloween. There is nothing godly about Halloween. - This holiday has nothing to do with life. Jesus said in John 10:10, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

John 12:46 [Jesus said] "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness."

Deuteronomy 18:9-13 "When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God."

Has God changed His mind in our modern times?
Malachi 3:6a "For I am the LORD, I change not;"


The Bible Says:

1) Avoid the very appearance of evil.
1Thess5:22 "Abstain from all appearance of evil."

1Peter 3:11 "Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it."

2) As true FOLLOWERS of Christ Jesus, we are to seek after the things above.
Col 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

3) We are in the world and not of it.
1John 2:15 "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

4) Christians should follow the Lord Jesus Christ!
Luke 9:23 And he [Jesus] said to them all, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."

Ephesians 5:1 "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;"

1Peter 3:13 "And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of
that which is good?"

3John 1:11 "Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not
seen God."

5) Seek ye first the kingdom of God.
Matthew 6:33-34 [Jesus said] "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

1Peter 3:12 "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil."

6) As Christians and followers of Christ Jesus, we are supposed to redeem the time... make good use of our time here on earth because the days are evil. Does celebrating Halloween redeem the time? Is celebrating Halloween a part of the will of God for your life?
Eph 5:15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Eph 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Eph 5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.


7) What does light have in common with darkness?
2Cor 6:14 says, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"

Ephesians 5:11 "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."

1John 3:10 "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother."

1John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."

1Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light

 

[Rufus_1611]

Tali, maybe you need to think about how the Christian church has REPLACED pagan holidays. We don't continue to observe pagan holidays ~ we REPLACE them. The content of the holiday should then be totally Christian. If the children want to dress up, okay, come to the church to do it, where it is safer. No one in the church is going to attack a kid, or feed him or her razor blades, etc. I get a little weary of folks talking about how bad pagan holidays are. YES, they were, and they are, if they are observed as such. But we Christians REPLACE them. We can't be criticized for taking something evil and remaking it in His image!

There is a group of men that go to northern California and perform a mock human sacrifice to Baal. Even though they are pretending, this practice is abhorrent.

On Samhaim, Druids used to kidnap a human from people's homes for a human sacrifice and in replace of the human they would leave a jack-o-lantern by the door. People (and many Christians) today, now engage in this mock ritual without the detail of kidnapping a human and sacrificing her. Even though they are pretending, this practice is abhorrent.

In my view, these Pagan Holidays are not being changed to Christian Holy days, but rather Christians are engaging in Paganism.

 

[rbell]

Ten Reasons Christians Should Not Celebrate Halloween...
10. Christians should avoid Halloween and develop creative alternatives. Churches can hold a Fall Fun Festival and/or celebrate Reformation Day (also October 31). They should not endorse or promote Halloween.

It sounds like most folks here are doing this in their churches. So what's the problem?