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To the poster that said I wanted to turn this into another conversation I never start conversations like this therefore NOT READ MY orginal post was asking about alternative events however even if we don't go to a alternative event we would make it a family night. The choice is ours. Now I am not a JW by faith. I am Christian I am not surprise that some will try to make this more that what it is . Now too the person that wanted to know why people don't celeberate Halloween. Many people don't because of it's history and choose to not let their child or themselves practice it and don't want their kids tied with those type of ties and they have the choice. If you teach your child and give them a understanding according to their age and give them a alternative event they are just fine and want sit sulking. Teaching your kids to run with the crowd is not exactly a good thing either as one poster stated everyone's doing it don't mean you have to do it. What will you tell them when friends do drugs, sex ect... O look everyone's doing it . I'm sorry but teaching them why we don't celebrate according to their understanding is just important when they are grown then they can make their own choices. ... Lastly many occult celebrations are done on halloween do your research on orginal meaning of Trick or Treat, Jack O' Lantern ect.. and how it came about in many parts of the world people have choices and their choice should not be belittled if they choose to not celebrate Halloween. Below is also some reasons Halloween is not celebrated. Too Dreadlocke your right it doesn't make you different not celebrating Halloween or not doing what everyone else do. Teaching your childeren this early will help them in life and they want want to follow the crowd...... It didn't hurt me when my parents found out the real meaning and told my siblings about the true meaning of Hallloween....
Ten Reasons Christians Should Not Celebrate Halloween
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 or Prayer Nights during this time of year. Churches can hold a Fall Fun Festival and/or celebrate Reformation Day (also October 31). They should not endorse or promote Halloween.
This is the kind of stuff that makes kids flee christianity when they grow up and leave the house.
They make their own choices when they grow up. we pray for them. Some flee it and come back when they are in a hard spot. If they flee christianity based on halloween there is a problem. Christianity is your entire life.
Wow, occultists and witchery and hob-nobbing with the devil himself? That didn't happen on our street last night.
I think you have a lot of your facts wrong, and I think it's kind of sad, but it's your life. However, I wanted to point out that people flee Christianity when they get older for all SORTS of reasons, including absolute religious zealotry from their parents. Finding a balance in your life will make sure that your prodigal son returns and you do the right thing and welcome them with open arms.
nitpick, your arguments are getting sillier and sillier. Are you really trying to connect letting your kids participate in Halloween to participating in drugs and sex. L, double O, triple L
Gosh...I also let my kids go to school too (YIKES!!) Just like aaaaaaall the other kids. Dear gawd, what message is that sending them!!!! But, hey, I'm sure some far right "christian" focus group will eventually dig up "statistics" proving trick-or-treating does, in fact, lead to sugar addiction, then marijuana use, teenage preganacy, devil worship and eventually -- gasp -- some link to the democratic party.
Sigh. I think "Christians" should stop being such a killjoy, stop misinterpreting the bible and finally focus on what it truly means to be a christian.
All right...that's my last comment on this silly subject. Have a busy day ahead slaughtering pigs, drawing pentagrams in blood, reading my tarot cards and paying homage to a paint chip on my wall which bares a stricking resemblance to Satan himself. O course, I blame the Halloween of '83 for my behavior. It was that rubix cube costume that eventually led me to a life of crime, I just know it. Hmmm...do you think I can sue rubix...you know, like those McDonald's customers
This is the kind of stuff that makes kids flee christianity when they grow up and leave the house.
I agree 100%.
Basing your beliefs in something that people did or practiced hundreds of years ago is just silly. It was a different time.....people believed that there was some allmighty power that made it rain, the sun shine, violent storms, snow, etc. etc. .....they just didn't know any better. We know what causes those things now.
If you want to live your life and your children's lives by what some millionaire in a suit tells you...go ahead. I have my own religeous beliefs which include God, but I am not going to have my life controlled by it, or by someone that tells me I have to live my life a certain way, or I'm going to hell for it.
I celebrate Halloween, Christmas, Easter and other holidays for what I believe it's for...and thats for the children. The smiling face of a child is priceless. It is a shame that holidays like this have become a commercial enterprise with the goal of making more money from it every year. Oh well...enough preaching off subject...I hope everyone had a good holiday- however you decided to celebrate it....or not.
Well it is truly sad that many don't think this is true and believe because it didn't happen on your street it doesn't happen or don't know the history or don't want to accept the history to allow their children to participate. "Hosea 4.6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge' . Today the holiday is primarily secular and non-religious.
Just because as one of the posters said you were not drawing pentagrams ect.. don't mean that this type of thing spirtiully does not affect your children or someone else wasn't drawing one somewhere else. It is many people's choice to stick with the saying because everyone is doing it don't mean you have to do it.... This is the history of Halloween if you want to accept it or not and many still do rituals wheather it is on your street in their back yard or in the woods somewhere. I am glad that many people stick to their guns and don't give in based on what others think that is a big problem with many who want to follow the crowd. Also our kids were not sulking in a corner because they could not be batman or mario Bro or the cute little princess .... Didn't want for this to go this way as stated my orginal post was about other activities but questions were asked I normally don't get into this but my gosh I cannot just sit while other say something about someone who choose to look for alternative activities.
Actually, it's some of the Christians that are starting to scare me more than the pagans and other devil worshippers I saw last night cleverly disguised as Spiderman and princesses!
Seriously, this “holiday” is about kids (big and small) having fun. It lost any connection it had to some kind of religious celebration a long time ago. If someone doesn’t want to participate, that’s fine; but to condemn it as some kind of satanic ritual is simply ridiculous. Heck, even trying to connect it to something long forgotten is ludicrous; but as some have said it is these overblown viewpoints that empty out churches. Sure, you can force your kids to go when they’re young; but the true test of how much faith you’ve actually instilled in your children.
That said, we had a great time in our neighborhood last night. My buddy across the street set up a haunted house in his garage, many of the folks on our street were out in costume, and I dug out the gorilla suit again much to the amusement of the trick or treat’ers. We had a fair amount of kids come by the house, but less than last year which I attribute to the holiday falling on a Sunday evening (school night). Still, we saw some great costumes and it was a lot of fun.
And oddly enough, as far as I could tell no souls were smited/smoted/smittened (which one is it anyway?) in the process!
Churches are empty because some don't want to hear the truth major weather your talking about , adultry, lying stealing, cheating, or even attending church are anything Halloween is just one day should we discount all history because we want it our way. NOT. Then we would have to discount the Bible and it's history. But regardless God gives us a choice. The choice is your !! As stated our choice was to find other activities to do on this day. So everyone have a great day
Churches are empty because some don't want to hear the truth major weather your talking about , adultry, lying stealing, cheating, or even attending church are anything Halloween is just one day should we discount all history because we want it our way. NOT. Then we would have to discount the Bible and it's history. But regardless God gives us a choice. The choice is your !! As stated our choice was to find other activities to do on this day. So everyone have a great day
You know, some of us DO know a lot about The Bible. Some of us read it, study it, and try to live by it. You think you're some authority on it? It doesn't sound like it to me, and I challenge you to find scripture in the Bible that has anything to do with what went on in many neighborhoods last night.
The pastor of the city's largest single church has publicly condemned the world depicted in the Harry Potter books. I assume that church doesn't do Halloween, either.
Hagee also criminalizes homosexuals in his church as well, providing groups that basically reprogram teens and adults who are questioning their sexuality... Now that's classy. It's also to say nothing of his locker-room behavior when visiting Spectrum Rogers Ranch. I've experienced that first-hand.
And then there are the quotes from our founding fathers, who, like many today, felt that religion is used as a weapon and serves no good.
From Thomas Jefferson:
"There is not one redeeming feature in our superstition of Christianity. It has made one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites."
Here's one from James Madison:
"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
I'm just sick of being told by the church what is right and what isn't. What's even more sad is that the flock will follow without thought, without question and without any sense of self. That's madness. That's what allowed Nazi Germany to happen.
Yes, I'm comparing Christianity to Nazi Germany. Think about it: Same amount of judgment, violence, pillage... All in the name of what they think they're doing is correct or 'for the good' of humanity.
Want some enlightenment? Watch Bill Maher's Religulous documentary. It's a fascinating look at modern day belief systems.
BN
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