SCL

when i was little we had “hallelujah night” at our church, and i was the city on the hill…yes i was wrapped in brown fabric and had a paper city stuck on my head.

Been hiding out from halloween for years…no Biblical basis…just hate it. This year my grandbabies came over and we gave them Little Einstein fruit snacks…Princess E.(3 1/2 yr. old) looks up at mommy and says”is this safe to eat? did you check it?” Someone was listening at preschool yesterday. BTW, do you give out skittles?

Dude, Gho, I am so with you on the controversial bible characters! Growing up I would always beg my mom to let me go as Jezebel. What no one has yet mentioned is that Bible-character only Harvest Parties really screw over the girls. You can be Esther, Mary, or Ruth. My mom wouldn’t even let me be Eve, she was too scandalous. I think I vaguely recall trying to persuade her that I should go as Jesus and/or the Holy “Ghost.” I do remember settling for Ruth (after failing to convince her on both Jezebel AND Methuselah) and leaving a trail of “wheat” (read “dead weeds”) all over the church carpet.
I feel that as an adult I am fulfilled because the last one of those harvest parties my brother and sister went to I dressed them up as Methuselah and Eve (fig leaves and all).

History (wikipedia)

Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (Irish pronunciation: [ˈsˠaunʲ]; from the Old Irish samain).[1] The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes[2] regarded as the “Celtic New Year.”[3] Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient Celtic pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the living and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them.[4][5]

why would you want to give recognition to such a day?
I know God created all days and we can make of them what we want, so we treat this day as any other day, not giving satan any glory in recognizing the evilness of the day.

“There are legalists among us.” I have come to the point in my walk with Christ that I see a lot of my former “spirituality” was simply legalism. Now, of course, when I see others be that way it really bothers me. (Isn’t it funny how we most hate the last thing that we were?)

“I don’t watch PG-13 movies.”
“You can’t watch Harry Potter and be a Christian.”
“If you raise support you’re not spiritual.”
“The only way to raise your infant is according to ‘Baby Wise’.”
“If you buy some candy out of the machine and two items fall out–a real Christian gives the second one back to the vendor owner.”

I think we are straining out gnats and swallowing camels.

Who did that before??

Wow — know what amazes me about this line of commenting? It’s really super Christian-like. No stones were thrown. I’ve been on a lot of other Christian sites about “Halloween” and some got downright angry and hateful with each other. Lots of stone throwing. I gotta hand it to your audience, Jon. They are great!!

My convictions were as “anonymous” has stated — the history of Halloween made me feel sick to my stomach when I read it and I decided not to participate. And this was our first Halloween in a new kid-friendly neighborhood and I truly don’t even think anyone noticed that we weren’t participating. We had fun eating pizza and watching Tinker Bell (my kids are 4 and 2 1/2).

Have a wonderful weekend.

Heidi

In Australia, we don’t really make a big deal of Halloween, although in Spanish class we had a little ‘Day of the Dead’ party thingo….

We always have at least one trick or treater, but ussually not any more than that

Nick the Geek: I find your use of r#tarded as a casual adjective very offensive. This word has long been used as an epithet and very hurtful insult against people with intellectual disabilities. Like any racial insult, “r#tard” is also hate speech directed against an overlooked minority group.

“Words hit like a fist.” (Dave Hingsburger) Were you ever taunted growing up? Words really do hurt. Can you imagine what it would be like to hear people call you this and ignore your personhood every time you go out in public?

On the topic of this post, the campus Catholic ministry here does an annual community service project called Trick or Treat so Others Can Eat. We pass out flyers in the local neighborhood the week before Halloween and go around Halloween night to pick up non-perishable items. We get a lot of contributions from people who are not home or not passing out candy but still leave bags on the doorstep for us.

What in Joyce's (and others') description(s) is so Satanic? It sounds like the whole thing started because of a fear of dead spirits roaming around, not because of some evil desire to consult them! People talk about Halloween like it has its origins in devil-worship, but nowhere have I read a description of it that mentions anything of the sort. Yes, its basis is in the false beliefs of a pre-Christian culture, but I don't think that makes it demonic, especially when its modern form has nothing to do with the original myths.

I think people have made a way bigger deal out of Halloween than it is. If your conscience bothers you, or if you think you might cause another to stumble because of his conscience, you are wise to avoid it. (1 Corinthians 8 & 10) If not, I see nothing wrong with dressing up and collecting candy, which is all it is to 99% of the population. And if you are going to call something Satanic then you should know your history and be able to provide a sound, logical explanation for your judgment.

I know this is late, and no one will see it, but it had to be said. I teach English in South Korea, my students get to pick their own English names. In one class I have a Beckham (which he insists is spelled Backham despite the fact that I gently stapled the man in uniform with name prominantly displayed to his last quiz)… and an Enoch!! No idea where he heard the name, but I thought you should know… at least one kid wants to be Enoch

I took my youth group kids out trick-or-treating last night. But, in addition to candy, of course, we asked for canned food to donate to the Salvation Army. It turned out great – one lady even gave a whole Costco pack of canned corn. And we got a ton of weird looks from parents when we walked by with our wagons.

I think it’s funny there’s a town called Hixville. lol being from the south I can appreciate that.

If anyone is still reading these – besides Jon – my good friend and neighbor told me that her family growing up always celebrated Reformation Day on Oct 31 by cooking a traditional German meal. She doesn’t pass out candy.

My husband doesn’t see anything wrong with halloween, although I personally don’t like it. I scare easily, and there’s so many frightening and gory costumes, images, and movies this time of year. Not to mention that an overwhelming majority of women’s costumes are…a bit fleshy, to say the least.

We didn’t take our (still very young) kids trick or treating this year, or even get them costumes. I did, though, buy good expensive candy and passed it out to trick or treaters, because I feel like it’s an opportunity to love children even if I’m not overtly ministering to them. Like so many others, I just don’t feel comfortable with halloween celebrations knowing the origins of the holiday. I know that several people have said “it’s only evil if you celebrate it in an evil way,” and you’re entitled to believe that. But, (and I am totally borrowing this from another site that I can’t find the reference for just now), just for the sake of argument, imagine that in the 30s and 40s, Nazis had celebrated Hitler’s birthday and called it Hitler day. Imagine that on that day, Jews were targeted even more, even to the point of gentile children attacking or even participating in the kidnapping and blatant murder of Jews, and then had a big feast with elaborate sweets afterward. Imagine that over time, the holiday turned into a day where people went to parties and traded goodie bags of homemade sweets. Now imagine that your great-great-grandchildren are planning their own Hitler Day cookie swap party, and they tell you it’s harmless and it’s only about cookies and brownies anyway. Knowing the origins of halloween, it’s really an excellent analogy.

However, like other non-halloween folks have said, I don’t feel any dislike or anything of that nature for people who choose to participate in either t-or-t’ing or alternative events. I think we all need to follow where we feel like the Lord is leading our hearts, and it’s important to “be in the world” of course. Who else will carry the Light to the lost if not the saved believers?

I attended two events with the name “Hallelujah Party” in one week!

I talked to some kids last year whose mom was really disappointed/ticked off that their church wasn’t going to do their “Trunk or Treat”. Her reason? “Now we have to go trick-or-treating with all the NORMAL people!” (I imagine after that she stormed out of the room and slammed the door as she left)

I didn’t read all the responses, and it’s two days after the 31st at this writing, but I had to put in my two cents.

I trick or treated during my childhood, and was allowed to dress scary or sexy or whatever I wanted. I was not raised in a believing home. I allowed my kids to “do” Halloween, more because of my own parents…they wanted the grandkids to enjoy trick or treating, and I gave in.

My kids are now 12 and 14. Last Halloween, after a little research, they decided that Halloween was the opposite of God-honoring (mind you, my kids LOVED to dress up, so their decision was a surprise to me). They decided instead to invite their friends over for an anti-Halloween party. We had the same party this year. We have food and fellowship and all around good time.

I would challenge all Christians to do your research on Halloween, and its origins. Here is an awesome website to think about, with lots of Scripture:

http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/halloween.html

I’m writing this after Halloween, so my hindsight is 20/20. We all dressed up and went trick-or-treating. The kids had a blast until GREED set in. Suddenly the mood shifted from a happy, light-hearted event to a nasty, tantrum-throwing demise. I feel like I caved — I don’t like Halloween but let my kids participate anyway. And we definitely paid the price in terms of fallout.

Throwing down my 2 cents.

Not trying to persuade anyone either way.

I respect the people who don’t do Halloween, it’s a bad night. My friend works at a pet store and they aren’t allowed to sell black pets the entire week before Halloween because they will be bought and used for sacrifices. 95% of the population (Christian and non-Christian alike) probably have no idea the real meaning behind Halloween. I fully respect the decision to stay away from it.

However, many of the comments talk about being in the community and using it as an evangelical opportunity. I like and respect that as well. We remove ourselves from our communities too much in favor of “not staining ourselves”. it’s a fact Jesus hung out with drunkards and gluttons. Not exactly someone who looked shiny and pure like a Pharisee. I probably lean more in this direction.

Maybe the answer is what Paul penned in Romans 14.

On a side note, I love that on SCL it seems normal that people can state their opinions on very grey topics and their brothers and sisters in Christ respect them for stating what they believe. I rarely see flaming and I commend that. That’s too uncommon in our faith these days.

Anyways, the main point I wanted to make, or rather, question I wanted to ask is this (and it’s mostly sarcastic, because I love you guys.).

To the people who don’t celebrate Haloween or even Christmas because of their pagan roots:

Do you not like the organ either or disapprove of it being found in your churches? Because for the first nearly 1000 years after Christ ascended to Heaven, it was the most satanic, pagan instrument known to mankind. It started to be introduced in churches in the early 800′s when the church decided enough was enough and to take it over, and for the first 3-400 years was not even allowed *inside* of most churches. By the midevil ages, there was one in every church. But it’s origins and for many hundreds of years after it’s induction into the church it was (and probably should still be) viewed as a being a pagan instrument of the devil.

I’ll leave any conclusions you wish to make up to you.

(Learned from my Bible School music prof who is a musical genius and has several degrees in musical theory and history).

Sorry.

“it was the most satanic, pagan instrument known to mankind.”

Should read:
“it was the most satanic, pagan instrument known to mankind, well, to the church anyways.”

I feel I’m a bit too old for trick-or-treating. My friends and I dressed up and went to collect food for the food bank instead. It was pretty awesome – almost everyone thinks it’s a wonderful idea and some give you candy anyway. I think it would be a fun (and worthwhile) experience for kids too!

We have Trunk ‘n Treat at our church and this year we also had a chili and hotdog supper with music, games, and a clown. I was the clown. When it came time to hand out candy from our trunks, my wife had to help with her class, so it fell to me to man our trunk. About halfway through I realized I was dressed as a clown, in a dark parking lot, beckoning little children over to my van with candy. The only thing missing was Chris Hansen, and the Dateline camera crew, saying “local church sends mix messages.”

A church I used to attend showed a very disturbing video on what supposedly goes on Halloween night (with Satanists, etc)…I was probably in 5th grade, and I think the more disturbing thing was that they made it a “family event” so instead of having children’s activities that Wednesday night, they brought everyone in to watch the video. I guess they were trying the scare us kids out of liking Halloween, and maybe rightly so, who knows. Consequently, my parents decided that we weren’t allowed to “celebrate” Halloween, and thought that taking us out to eat would somehow make that ok. Let’s see…as a ten year old child, would you rather dress up and get pounds of candy or go sit at a restaurant with your parents?? Definitely not equal retribution. And somehow, Halloween has wound up being one of my favorite times of year. I love the decorations and costumes and fun. Maybe it’s something I need to do a little thinking about. Unfortunately, it’s become such a mainstream thing that it completely clouds the issue. When I really think about it, I can’t deny that Halloween has always seemed to (at the root) celebrate all things that are evil. Dressing up as “the devil” is glamorized and fun, and gory masks and costumes and decorations are everywhere. I’ve always tried to avoid the gory part of Halloween, and just enjoyed the fun cute stuff. But maybe that’s just sugarcoating something that shouldn’t be sugarcoated. I’m obviously still reasoning with myself on this issue.

I don’t get why churches throw Halloween parties and call it something different, thinking that makes it more holy or something. If you’re dressing in costumes and passing out candy at the end of October, you’re celebrating Halloween. Just admit it. For the record, I’m not at all against the candy and fun aspect of Halloween.

I threw a costume party at my house for adults and one of the couples said,”We just cant come to a party on Halloween. If it was in a different month of the year, we totally would.” I responded with,”You are in luck! Our costume party is Nov 1st.” They ended up coming.

My mother stopped Halloween for me when I was 9 years old. Never did it since and never well. Was upset a couple years but I didn't miss anything. The Lord has blessed me 10 times over. I'd rather have his blessing then Halloween, etc…