Should Christians celebrate Halloween?

[JehovahsWitness]

Harmless fun or Satanic propaganda? What is your opinion?

[ttruscott]

[Replying to JehovahsWitness]

Out of curiosity, are you opposed to Halloween in general, or only if includes spiritism, witchcraft, etc. What if someone dresses up as a bumblebee and goes trick-or-treating carrying a bag that looks like a pumpkin. Is that acceptable?

Since I too hate halloween, I think this suggestion is interesting...but I wonder, why do such a thing if not in memory of a more pagan time and practice? I suggest that once we know the meaning of Samhain, trying to sanitize it will be as useless as giving it a new Christian name. As a pagan fertility ritual it is not unfair to say that it extends back to the times of the Ba'als and Asherah, the despised enemies of YHWH.

[catnip]

[Replying to JehovahsWitness]

Jw? Why would God hate Halloween? I am very curious to read your response.I can understand hating the fact of him being angry because we don't serve his people, or that we don't put him first, but dressing up and getting candy?

Well, Peds Nurse, the candy is gotten by extortion, the tricks of trick or treat.

When have you ever had to do a trick to get candy unless it was some very simple little thing? With laughter and pleasure.

The dead are not thanked and revered by family memory rituals like the Day of the Dead in Mexico (with its attitude of casual mockery of death supplied by faith in the resurrection) but rather dead things and evil things are a source of fear and horror alleviated not by Christ but by materialism - it's not real you know.

On All Saints Day in the Church we read the names of all those who have died that are submitted by the members of the Church, even those long dead. So, it is linked to religious observance.

All the pagan ritualistic holidays have accepted a patina of Christian churchism at worst and have become (for a few) totally eradicated of pagan meaning by the meaning of Christ at best...except halloween. Is there even one symbol of Christ expressed in any of the ways of celebrating halloween? Not any beyond the new name...

Think about it. Think about the ancients beliefs in demons and fear of hell. It is very old, Old English being the source of the name you know--so it goes back to Saxon times in England when the British were first Christianized.

And, for the record, the Romans had also Christianized Britain and destroyed the Druids--were destroying the Druids at the time of the outbreak of Boudica's uprising.

So, if it did begin in Saxon times, most of the Celts had been subjugated and their ancient religion already replaced.

I'd say that it is more Christian than most secular traditions related to Christmas.

[ttruscott]

On All Saints Day in the Church we read the names of all those who have died that are submitted by the members of the Church, even those long dead. So, it is linked to religious observance.

Is your All Saint's Day service done up in halloween regalia and attitude ? or is it Christian? I did not demean All Saint's Day in Churches, I abhor halloween, pagan Samhain and its modern methods.

I'd say that it is more Christian than most secular traditions related to Christmas.

If you are referring to All Saint's services in church and not secular halloween extravagances, I agree.

[bjs]

[Replying to JehovahsWitness]

Out of curiosity, are you opposed to Halloween in general, or only if includes spiritism, witchcraft, etc. What if someone dresses up as a bumblebee and goes trick-or-treating carrying a bag that looks like a pumpkin. Is that acceptable?

Since I too hate halloween, I think this suggestion is interesting...but I wonder, why do such a thing if not in memory of a more pagan time and practice? I suggest that once we know the meaning of Samhain, trying to sanitize it will be as useless as giving it a new Christian name. As a pagan fertility ritual it is not unfair to say that it extends back to the times of the Ba'als and Asherah, the despised enemies of YHWH.

Why do such things if not in the memory of pagan practices? Well, “candy,� “the fun of dressing up,� and “seeing children smile� are the first three answer that come to mind.

When I was a child I played the game Risk. It is a game of world domination (it says so on the box). One could ask, “Why do that if not to glorify war.� Yet at no point did I glorify war. I understood the concept of the game, but I recognized it as something playful that I in no way considered to be supporting actual warfare or violence.

Having written the above paragraph, it occurs to me that I still play Chess. That is also based on war, and yet I am not acting in the memory of or honoring actual warfare.

It seems to me that one could dress up, enjoy Halloween, give thanks to God for the atmosphere of fun, and in no way support anything ungodly.

[catnip]

On All Saints Day in the Church we read the names of all those who have died that are submitted by the members of the Church, even those long dead. So, it is linked to religious observance.

Is your All Saint's Day service done up in halloween regalia and attitude ? or is it Christian? I did not demean All Saint's Day in Churches, I abhor halloween, pagan Samhain and its modern methods.

You suggested that the Mexican Day of the Dead is okay with you. And yet, it is, like All Hallows (Holy) Evening, related to All Saints Day or All Hallows Day or Hallowmas, Holy Mass in modern English that is celebrated in the Church the day after. Like our Hallowe'en, they dress up like the dead and it is a celebration of the remembrance of their ancestors and is distantly and linked to their own pre-Christian rituals.

No matter how you crack it--you are actually saying the word HOLY in Old English and you are denigrating it! IT IS NOT PAGAN!

Actually, when I was a child, I did dress up as Saint Ann in the Church one All Saints Day along with the other children who were dressed for the occasion. But it is not normally done--at least not in our church.

As for the source of the Mexican Day of the Dead, here is an article by the National Geographic Society: http://nationalgeographic.org/media/dia-de-los-muertos/

In it you see that it, too, is a combination of Catholic and indigenous celebration. As I said, this is how the faith was spread, giving to God what is his--our joy and our reason for celebration.

I'd say that it is more Christian than most secular traditions related to Christmas.

If you are referring to All Saint's services in church and not secular halloween extravagances, I agree.[/quote]

It is a beautiful thing to have community wide celebrations. In the old days communities did this regularly and we are slowly eliminating such days from our calendar. And yet, we have added a few in recent times such as Labor Day and Memorial Day (initiated to remember our war dead).

But to turn a holiday (Holy Day) into something evil--that is purely ignorance!

Added later: Mexican Day of the Dead

http://nationalgeographic.org/media/dia-de-los-muertos/

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 15 by catnip]

I think different countries have different celebrations about this time of the year. It's a big date for Satanists as well.

JW