What’s your take on Halloween? Is it okay for a believer in Jesus to enjoy the costumes and candy? Can it be used to glorify God and show His love to others?
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cedarwood on October 28, 2009 at 6:58 pm
while many people do things without realizing the meaning or the reason why, halloween is so well publicized as Satanic, and the elements are so negative: fear, death, evil, threats, vandalism, etc. that it is hard not to see that it is the opposite of what any Christian stands for. The Bible in 2 Corinthians 6:14 makes it clear to not touch anything unclean. Stay away from it and be a witness for Jesus Christ who defeated the enemy on the cross, once for all.
Melissa on October 28, 2009 at 9:18 pm
There’s no denying that the origins are pagan. But then again, so are the origins of Christmas. We should all know by now that Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th or anywhere near December, really. The reason we celebrate his birth in this month is because the church at the time wanted to eliminate all pagan festivals. December 25th happens to be … Read Morearound the time that Greeks would have their Winter Festival. If 2000 years later, we don’t celebrate Winter festivals but instead the birth of Jesus (even though this isn’t his birthday), why can’t we override a formerly pagan holiday by celebrating it in a Christian way? The belief of Halloween way back when was that the Celtic god of the dead would let evil spirits roam the earth during this time. People believed that if they wore evil disguises, the evil spirits would get confused and think it was just one of them, and leave the people alone. The basis of it was fear. So why can’t we, as Christians, use this day to preach about the opposite of fear: FAITH! Who says Halloween can’t be a day to celebrate the fact that we have nothing to fear because our faith in God has saved us? Who’s to say we can’t override THIS pagan holiday with a Godly message, just like Christmas?
During Christmas time, we all do many activities that don’t directly celebrate the birth of Christ, but we do them anyways because they’re harmless. As far as I’m concerned, if we celebrate Halloween by preaching faith and not fear, there’s nothing harmful about the other activites like dressing up. Of course, we should dress up modestly though.
Michaelcolmes on October 30, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Melissa,
Totally agree with you. I sincerely believe that it is time for God’s children to begin to stand up for what they believe in–stand up for Christ. It took one woman to remove prayer from public schools. We as Christians can use the opportunity to preach Christ and as you said to preach faith instead of fear for as we know that where faith is there is no fear.
As you mentioned about the pagan holiday of Christmas (which was really the birthday of the pagan sun god Silvanus), being turned into a day where we show love and appreciation for each other, Halloween can be turned into a day where Christ shines.
marcia.arumugam on October 29, 2009 at 7:53 am
I never knew what Halloween was or perhaps never experienced it cause in my country its not a celebration at all. Anything that is scary or evil is avoided as its noticed to be fear deriving matters.
I only knew what Halloween was over the internet when advertisements for the celebration was put up. That is when I realised it was a holiday for certain countries.
If a small child fears something, I guess its evil to even consider celebrating it, besides it does not bring in a peaceful and calm feeling, but the opposite.
I don’t find halloween “christian” at all. I believe if we study the needs of a certain celebration, we shall discover the “WHY IS IT CELEBRATED” instead of christianising the celebration and call it a christian halloween.
It does not make sense to me to bring in anything christianized without scripture proving it is what we’re supposed to celebrate.
There are many christians who do not even accept Christmas to be fancily decorated but more spiritual instead in remembrance of the Lord’s Birth. So it really depends on individuals and their judgements.
I think we make the mistakes of creating “Christian” concepts of celebrations. We are to blame if the future do not see the satanic features in certain celebration.
Michaelcolmes on October 30, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Hi Marcia,
What country are you from anyway?
I am in agreement with you. We, especially Americans, tend to want to Christianize everything. Now they have “gospel reggae” or “gospel rap” or “gospel rock.” I mean, when does it end. I remember once a young lady suggested that their should be “gospel clubs” where young Christians can go and enjoy themselves. If a Christian does not enjoy church or the word of God, that Christian needs to increase their prayer and fasting life.
We fail to recall that this whole business of Christianity is about Christ and not us. He, and only He gets the glory.
Thanks for you post.
joyce on October 29, 2009 at 10:47 am
I agree with Melissa: Why don’t we take the day and make it into a day of faith! I HATE Santa and the Easter bunny and Easter eggs because the World has overtaken the message about Jesus’s birth and resurrection. If the Christian community work together, the World’s message of fear could be stamped out.
Aside from caroling at Christmas, Hallowe’en’s candy gathering is the one day when people open their doors, or knock on strangers’ doors, with little reservation. What a great time to reach out! Each year, I pass out tracts along with the candy. God’s word doesn’t come back empty! As a child, I loved reading Christian “comics” even though I was not saved at the time. They prepared my heart.
Paulajo on October 30, 2009 at 10:51 am
I always take the satanic part of Halloween out of the night and just decorate with pumpkins, scarecrows, and fall colors. When trick or treaters come knocking on my door, it is the perfect opportunity for me to make sure that along with the candy, I hand out gospel tracts to go home with them. It is an evangelism night that should not be over looked by Christians. Also, in our youth outreach at our church, we just have a Costume Party with a night of great food, games, contests, and a short gospel message. All costumes cannot be scary, offensive, or inappropriate in any way. This is a great alternative for our young people on Halloween.
Michaelcolmes on October 30, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Paulajo
Great use of the night to hand out tracks to young Christians. I really think that is an awesome idea and I will seriously consider incorporating it into my family’s October 31.
dja on October 30, 2009 at 11:29 am
My husband and I regret that we were so legalistic when our children were young. We did not allow them to participate in trick or treat night and even turned all our lights off so that no one would come to our door. The church we were attending made us feel like it would be a sin if we participated. What a poor testimony we were to our neighbors. Thankfully, our children never held it against us (we laugh about it now), and they are having fun times with their children on Halloween.
Michaelcolmes on October 30, 2009 at 11:55 am
The customs and traditions of Halloween have their origins in the religious practices of the Druids and the Romans. The Druids believed that on the night before November 1 (October 31) the god of the dead, Samhain, would call all the wicked souls who had died and have been condemned to live in the bodies of animals throughout the year. The Romans worshiped various gods on October 31, one such goddess was Pomona who was the goddess of fruit trees. Because they were afraid of the condemned spirits they chose October 31 as a day to sacrifice to their gods for protection. They believed that on October 31 they were surrounded by these strange, condemned spirits, ghosts, witches, fairies, and cats (cats were thought to be holy animals and used for the reincarnation of condemned evil individuals); this explains why the costumes and the date.
As for the idea of going door to door for candy and the term “trick or treat,” Irish farmers would go from house to house, begging for food in the name of their ancient gods; these food would be used at the village for the Halloween celebration. Those who gave food would receive a promise of good luck and those who didn’t receive threats. The farmers would say, “You treat me, or else I will trick you!”
During the rule of the Roman Catholic Church, during the reign of people such as Constantine, to encourage some pagans to convert to Christianity, some of their pagan traditions and feast were brought into the church. Pagan habits were modified to fit Christianity. One pagan worshipper, Gregory the Wonder Worker, encouraged newly converted Christians to have the feasts of their old gods celebrated as feasts of the Christian martyrs. For example, the pagans would pray to their heathen gods and the Catholic Church encouraged and still practices praying and celebrating their dead saints. Another example is Dec. 25, which was the birthday of the pagan sun god, Sylvanius (Sol Invictius). Today it is celebrated it also as the birthday of Jesus Christ. The ritual of kissing the holy objects was a pagan practice before it was adapted by the Catholic Church. Pagan peasants who used to pray to a pagan female goddess began praying to Mary, the mother of Jesus as the guardian and creator of their grain. Thus many of our rituals and customs are derivatives of pagan practices.
Should we stop celebrating December 25 as Christ birthday? Yes. Did He leave a decree for us to celebrate His birthday? If He did He would have told us what day to celebrate. Should we continue to give gifts on this day to our loved ones, why not? I think as long as we as Christian knows that this day has nothing to do with Christ, except that it is a day given to us by Him and that we choose the day to show, materially, our love for each other. As for Halloween, I would altogether not celebrate it and not allow my children to celebrate it. If they want some candy I can buy some candy. Considering that it is a day used to call on evil spirits (no true Christian can say he/she believes in God and angels and not believe in the devil and demons), a person should be careful of the spirits they let into their homes and more importantly into their body, the temple of God.
An alternative to Halloween for children would be to have a Sweets Party where parents can purchase candy, cake, ice cream, etc. and celebrate the sweet love of Christ for His children. No trick or treaters at the door, no costumes.
malos on October 31, 2009 at 10:47 am
There is nothing wrong with having gospel rap, or gospel raggae. God said to come to him with songs of praise. The songs can be in whatever genre as long as it glorifies the Lord. I listen to gospel rap, raggae and rock, and the music i listen to uplifts me. There are good songs that speak of God’s love and turning from sin. My mother thought the same about gospel rap until she listened to it one day and she finally realised that there is actually a message that is good and uplifting. Music changes with the times. This generation is into rock and rap and raggae. Several decades ago, it was rock and roll, swing music, and blues. my fellowship group has used gospel rap, rock and raggae to reach out to the youth. i know people personally who have made a decision to live for God because of a gospel rap cd that someone gave to them. There are a lot of artist out there and for anyone who does not believe the effectiveness of this genre, they should check them out. one good artist is lacrae, and da truth. On the halloween theme. we once decided to go out and give out tracts and gospel cds instead of dressing up. Halloween is a celebration of the dead, and it can be turned for good. To show pple that we do not have to live in fear and that God gave us the power over fear and that He is mighty to save. We must stand up for our believes as Christians and show the world the love of Christ and show others the salvation of Christ, because the end is near and there are many that are decieved. We must all do our part. Sometimes the way we live our lives is the best witnessing tool. Bettr than any tract or scripture we can give out
Lightweaver on November 1, 2009 at 12:20 pm
While I realize that Halloween has long been thought to be a pagan holiday, and is most often celebrated by those of the Wicca faith, our society does not view Halloween in this respect.
Halloween over the course of decades has become recognized as the day we can step out of our “skin” so to speak and put on a different one (costume). I view Halloween in this decade as a way for children and adults to “fellowship” within their own neighborhood, and others close by that our children frequent.
The act of saying “trick or treat” is part of the fun for the children to receive candy treats (which should always be monitored by parents) and it is the “icing on the cake” which makes the whole experience worthwhile for all to share by celebrating.