Why do some Christian Churches Celebrate Halloween???

In a word - "Legalism"!

But I guess in some minds, we would have been better off at our church last evening if our members had all gone out to a movie or something (No- wait! Can't do that either, 'cause you don't know what is playing on the other screens- there might even be a PG (that stands for 'Pretty Good' maybe?? ), PG-13, and/or R ratings on others, than the one you were viewing!) rather than gathered at our church to have something called "Trunk of Treats", to provide a safe supervised environment for kids to attend, (and get the names of the parents to follow up with), provide food and snacks inside (Not candy ), and instead let the tykes roam semi-freely in an urban environment. BTW, as our church is located out in the rural are a bit, some adult had to accompany them, basically. And FTR, my wife and I have no children. Or maybe we should have just "pretended" we weren't home, locked the doors, and turned off the lights, hid in the dark and turned off the TV or radio when we heard a car coming up our drivew...

It's called being "honest", I think.

Ed

 

Just thought I'd toss in my 2 cents worth.

As a pastor, I encouraged my church not to let or encourage their children and (grandchildren) to "pretend" to be something that is evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 says, "Abstain from every form of evil." (NKJV) I pointed out that I believe it would not please God to pretend to be what God calls evil. That would not be wise.

Cinderella is not evil. Superman is not evil. A black cat is not evil. A mouse is not evil. (Just some of the costumes I saw last night.) And, having fun is not evil!!

I'm glad that the children go trick-or-treating in my neighborhood. I was also glad to see parents walking with their small children. We had the youth of our church over last night for hot dogs, and they passed out candy bags with gospel tracts to every kid, even the ones with evil costumes. We prayed that God's would do great things through His Word.

 

For those who think Halloween is not evil or does not have occultic roots, go to the following link and check out the articles on Halloween. Children need to be taught the history of Halloween and its occultic roots.

http://logosresourcepages.org/HalloweenBook/history.htm

Halloween History

He caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. 2 Chronicles 33:6

Our Pilgrim forefathers knew well of Halloween's occult roots. In fact they banned celebrating Halloween in America. Halloween was not celebrated in this country until 1845. At that time multiplied thousands of Irish emigrants flooded into New York because of the Irish Potato Famine of 1845-46. They brought with them an old Druid Holiday they called Halloween. Gradually celebrating this day spread throughout the rest of the country.

To understand Halloween's roots better we need to go back further into history and take a look at the Druids and the Celtic people. The Druids were the pagan priests of the Celts. They were idolaters, occult practitioners and witches of sorts. Let’s begin with the information found in the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Depending on your source material, the Druid Lord of Death and evil spirits was called Saman, Shamhan, Samana, Shamhain or Samhain. I have received numerous letters and e-mail from witches telling me there was no such Druid god. Yet, in the source material that I have used, (see the above quote), such as the historic 11th edition of Encyclopedia Britannica, it identifies the Druid Lord of Death as Saman and his holiday named after him as Oidhche Shamhna, translated "Vigil of Saman." Other reliable sources call his "holiday" "The Vigil Samhain" (Shamhain is pronounced so-wein). I ask you, are the protests of the occult community an effort to "white wash" the truth about Saman and how they worshipped him in fiendish, bloody worship rituals? I believe that is probable.

Suffice it to say, at this point that the pagan worship day Samhain evolved into Halloween. But what of their Lord of Death? You probably have seen a modern day version of SAMAN without even knowing it. This pagan god was shown as a ghostly, skeleton holding a sickle in his hand. He later came to be known as THE GRIM REAPER.

 

I am with SBCPreacher on this issue and I speak as a pastor myself.
Dressing up as a superhero, a mouse or any other animal and going around recieving candy from the neighbors and friends is not evil. I do not think dressing up as something scary is evil but I hesitate to condon it because it does give the appearance of evil.

 

Why is participating in the Halloween festivities, such as wearing costumes, not evil? Is Halloween an evil holiday, a righteous holiday or are lukewarm on the subject?

 

What's the problem? They're just pretending to be Playboy bunnies

 

I just love these kind of questions particularly since the answer isn't even a choice. The act of dressing up and going around recieving candy is neither forbidden nor commanded. It is a matter of adiaphora and therefore left to the Christian conscience. As much as people try to make them the same, Halloween and Samhain are not the same, Halloween for most people is a time to dress up, get some candy, and may be scared. The worst thing Halloween leads to is an upset stomach from to much candy and maybe some soiled pants. Samhain, however, is a religious festival where people try to appease and invoke spirits, be they gods or dead people.

I would say the Playboy bunny is over the limit as it does advocate pornography and the exploitation of women. My daughter wouldn't be allowed to have that costume, hopefully will never want to be dressed that way.

 

I hear ya and agree...pretty disgusting. I saw a girl of a similar age who was a vampiress and her gown had a slit that went up her thigh. They were selling french maid outfits for teens this year as well as "Transylvania Temptress," "Handy Candy," "Major Flirt," and "Red Velvet Devil Bride," as stated in this article:http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/1016sexy-halloween16-ON.html

We are a compromised people who are prone to compromise. Kids dress up as heroines from movies that participate in withcraft and we say "that's not evil". They dress up as ogres, ghosts, vampires skeletons and all sorts of heinous creatures but we say aaaww junior is just having fun. It's good that there are still one or two people out there who get offended when young girls dress up as Heffner Hoes.

 

just in the interest of accuracy: I don't see anyone defending eleven year-olds dressing up as Playboy bunnies.

 

I don't think anybody has advocated dressing up as a demon or a witch either.

I think that so many christians enjoy being against stuff they actively seek out things to be against.

 

If it is a child dressing up as a witch the sin they are pretending to engage in is witchcraft.

If a child is dressing up as a poor mistreated step-sister like Cinderalla who rises to good fortune by being the object of witchcraft, then they too are pretending to promote the the sin of witchcraft.

If a child is dressing up as a character who gets visions by gazing into crystals, like Superman, then the sin the child is promoting is divination.

If a child dresses up as a mafia boss, then the sin they are promoting is extortion.

If a child dresses up as a sorcerer from a popular movie, like Gandalf the Gray, the child is promoting the sin of sorcery.

If a child dresses up as a playboy bunny, the child is promoting the sin of a pornographic, fornicating, harlot.

All of these issues are the same, just different sins. You're right, no one is defending playboy bunnies but it's a bit hypocritical to criticize playboy bunnies while defending all of the other sinful characters that kids are pretending to be.

 

I think so many Christians love the world so much, they have no idea how far they have compromised.

 

If a child dresses up as David, he is promoting adultery and murder.
If a child dresses up as Paul, he is promoting persecution of Christians.
If a child dresses up as Noah, he is promoting drunkenness.
If a child dresses up as Rahab, she promotes prostitution.


The loud "snap" you folks heard is your logic stretching past its breaking point.